SPACE MICRO-ROBOTS

The article proposes a method of dealing with space debris. This method is based on the use of a large number of controlled space micro-robots, which are moving in a retrograde near-earth orbit (towards the particles of space debris). Strategy of struggle space debris consist in targeting micro-robots at large and medium-sized objects to change their orbit (in case of a threat of collision). The task of such an impact is prevention the chain reaction of propagation of space debris because of the collision of these objects. Destruction of small particles of space debris will occur due at the expense of random collisions with micro-robots. The control system makes it possible to divert the micro-robots away from the operating spacecraft’s. In addition, each micro-robot is equipped with a self-destruct system, which helps prevent collisions with the operating spacecraft in the event of a control system failure. It is shown that the new method allows cleaning the space corridor from small particles of space debris for the safe movement of spacecraft’s in a short time and at low cost. In parallel with the elimination of space debris, the some additional possibilities of orbital grouping of micro-robots is being consider. For example, the orbital grouping of micro-robots can be used for detection and to refine the orbital characteristics of particles of space debris (i.e. perform the functions of an astronomical instrument and navigation system). Micro-robots can perform functions of orbit correction, deceleration, or acceleration of operating spacecraft. Considered the possibility of creating a fundamentally new space engine (using micro-robots as a propellant). It is shown that the new engine has high efficiency and can be used to launch spacecraft to Mars. This engine allows recycling a large number of old micro-robots (which must be removed from Earth orbit).

A matemática aplicada à astronomia para o ensino básico: concepções de discentes e relato de experiência de uma oficina

Resumo: Neste artigo relatamos uma experiência de realização de uma oficina para um grupo de 30 estudantes do Ensino Fundamental e Médio que participaram de um projeto de extensão da Universidade Estadual de Maringá (Paraná) denominado TIME – Teoria e Investigação em Matemática Elementar. Na oficina relacionamos matemática e astronomia com uma proposta de construção do instrumento Quadrante. Ademais, com a finalidade de entender as concepções dos discentes sobre geometria nãoeuclidiana e conhecimentos sobre astronomia, elaboramos um questionário respondido previamente. A investigação efetuada se baseou nos pressupostos da pesquisa qualitativa do tipo descritiva. As nossas observações mostram que o trabalho com a astronomia possibilitou aos estudantes desenvolverem noções sobre geometria não euclidiana e euclidiana para o entendimento do funcionamento do instrumento. Além disso, testificamos a fragilidade relacionada ao pouco conhecimento dos estudantes da Educação Básica no que diz respeito aos conceitos básicos de Astronomia.Palavras-chave: Geometria não Euclidiana; Astronomia de Posição; Instrumento Astronômico. Mathematics applied to astronomy in the framework of basic education: conceptions of discents and experience report of a workshopAbstract: In this article we report an experience of conducting a workshop aimed at a group of 30 elementary and high school students who participated in an extension project at the State University of Maringá (Paraná) called TIME – Teoria e Investigação em Matemática Elementar (Theory and Research in Elementary Mathematics). In the workshop we related mathematics and astronomy to a proposal to build the Quadrant instrument. Furthermore,in order to understand students’ conceptions about non-Euclidean geometry and knowledge about astronomy, we prepared a questionnaire previously answered. The investigation carried out is based on the assumptions of qualitative research of the descriptive type. Our observations show that working with astronomy enabled students to develop notions about non-Euclidean and Euclidean geometry to understand how the instrument works. In addition, we testify the fragility related to the lack of knowledge of Basic Education students regarding the basic concepts of Astronomy.Keywords: Non-Euclidean Geometry; Positional Astronomy; Astronomical Instrument.

Observational Instruments in the Arab Scientific Heritage Perspective Ismail ibn Heba Allah al-Hamawi | Al Alät Al Rosydiyyah fi At Thurost Al ‘Ilm Al ‘Aroby ‘Indä Ismäil ibn Hebä Allah al-Hämäwi

The article is an edited and critical study of an unpublished astronomical text entitled "The Astronomical Instrument Known as The Two-Pronged Machine" of a Damascene astronomer from the thirteenth century AD, Ismail ibn Heba Allah al-Hamawi. ancient scientific texts on this instrument are written by al-Kindi then Ibn Abbad and al-Nayrizi. Al-Kindi's text is the only text published from ancient texts, and today we present to researchers in the development of astronomical instruments a new text to contribute to enriching our knowledge of the scientific tradition of astronomical instruments in Islamic civilization.

Złoty Globus Jagielloński ze zbiorów Muzeum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego – niezwykły obiekt z fascynującą historią

The Golden Jagiellonian Globe from the Jagiellonian University Museum Collection – an unusual object with a fascinating history “The Golden Jagiellonian Globe” (early 16th century; in the collection of the Jagiellonian University Museum) is the earliest globe of the Earth in the Polish collections and one of the oldest in the world. The oldest known globe of the Earth was made by Martin Behaim in 1492. The second in order are two globes from the same period: the Hunt-Lenox Globe (c. 1510, now in the New York Public Library) and the Jagiellonian Globe. Despite its name, the Jagiellonian Globe is an astronomical instrument – a mechanical armillary sphere. On the orb hiding the mechanism there is a map of the Earth, dated 1510–1511. This object has been sparsely analysed, especially in the last decades. Those analysis that were performed have until now mainly focused on the depicted map and the typology of particular details, though there are also studies on its operation and provenance. Research performed in the 21st century focused on WWII history of the globe.A preliminary analysis of the sphere and the clock mechanism allows a connection with French products from Blois near Paris. The map of the globe, associated with the Italian centre, presents information on geographical discoveries of the time, based on maps by Martin Waldseemüller and letters by Amerigo Vespucci, published in the edition of Ptolemy’s Geography (Saint-Dié, 1507). The map is a twin to the layout of the lands and seas depicted on Hunt-Lenox’s Globe. It is distinguished by a mysterious continent-island, noted on the Kraków globe as “America Noviter Reperta.” The provenance of the globe is known since the 17th century, when the Kraków professor, Jan Brożek, donated it to the Collegium Maius library of the Jagiellonian University. Its fate during World War II, when it was hidden from the Nazis by docent Jadwiga Schoen, is extraordinary. After the war, the globe found its way to the Jagiellonian University Museum, where it has been exhibited ever since.

Self-orienting armillary dial of the Professor Radovan Danic

Prof. Radovan Danic, PhD (1893-1979), an honorary lifetime President of the Astronomical Society Rudjer Boskovic in Belgrade, owned a brass universal equinoctial ring sundial (98 mm in diameter), preserved by his descendants, who continued his work on popularizing astronomy through the activities of the society. The sundial (ring dial) was measured, tested and compared to similar portable sundials (pocket sundials) exhibited in various European museums. In the classification scheme, along with the Parmenion?s and astronomical rings, it belongs to a group of pocket armillary sundials that do not require a compass. More precisely, it is a self-orienting armillary sundial whose rings are located under the circles of the celestial sphere of the same name at the moment of measurement. Therefore, when the apparent solar time is known, it turns into a solar compass. A corresponding sundial on the horizon to the self-orienting armillary sundial is the analemmatic sundial. The construction of a self-orienting armillary sundial was first described in the late 16th century by the English mathematician William Oughtred (1574-1660). In collaboration with the gnomonists from England and Austria, we determined where and when Professor Danic?s sundial was constructed: Vienna, second quarter of the 18th century. Originally, the sundial was adjusted for the latitude of Belgrade or Zemun (nowadays, a Belgrade municipality), which were under the Austrian rule for a long time during the 18th century. It is a beautiful, well-crafted, well-preserved, expensive sundial and astronomical instrument that should be kept in a museum, in the first place in the Museum of Astronomy of the Astronomical Observatory in Belgrade.

‘I found this written in the other book’: Learning Astronomy in Late Medieval Monasteries

Recent histories have challenged narratives of a late medieval decline in monastic scholarship. This article extends that work to the natural sciences, showing how monks could learn astronomy and mathematics through their scholarly labour of reading, copying and glossing. Although the processes of learning are often poorly documented, and are often conflated with teaching, it is possible, through close reading of annotations and reconstruction of mathematical processes, to get a glimpse of an individual in the moment of acquiring scientific skills. Focusing on a piece of adaptive copying carried out by an English Benedictine monk c.1380, this article explores the devotional motivations underlying his work, and argues that it was through such copying and compilation that he acquired the expertise necessary to invent an astronomical instrument some years later.

Mixed-Media Domestic Ensembles in Roman Sicily: The House of Leda at Soluntum

Built in the second to early-first century BCE, the House of Leda at Soluntum, a city on the northwest coast of Sicily, was renovated in the first century CE. The most prominent change to the residence was the inclusion of figural Fourth-Style wall paintings in its dining room. The fresco ensemble reveals a particular interest in the painted depiction of stone, such as an image of Leda and the swan as a marble statue and trompe l’oeil blocks of colored marble and granite from around the Mediterranean. The house renovation was not wholesale since the owner also chose to preserve a number of decorative elements from the earlier, Hellenistic-era phase of the residence, including two sculptures, cut-limestone pavements, and an intricate mosaic of an astronomical instrument. In this article I argue that the tension created between the medium of paint, and its use to mimic marble and stone, resulted in a unified, mixed-media domestic ensemble. The viewer was encouraged to compare and contrast the faux marble and stone in the dining room’s Fourth-Style frescoes with the Hellenistic-era marble and stone artworks throughout the rest of the house. This juxtaposition of older and newer decorative elements reveals that the owner of the House of Leda positioned himself as both a member of the Roman provincial elite as well as a local benefactor and custodian of Sicily’s rich Hellenistic culture.