Naked-eye astronomy
Human vision and geometric alignments were the first astronomical instruments.
Overview
Before telescopes, observers relied on careful naked-eye watching of the sky, tracking seasonal star risings, lunar phases and planetary wanderings. Alignments built into monuments and hand-kept records turned this tradition into quantitative positional astronomy over millennia.
Key discoveries
- Prehistoric solstice and equinox alignments
- Babylonian and Chinese records of eclipses and comets
- Early catalogues of planetary retrograde motion