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The southern part of the astronomical ceiling in Senenmut’s tomb (TT 353)
Source publication
The celestial phenomenon have always been a source of wonder and interest to
people, even as long ago as the ancient Egyptians. While the ancient Egyptians
did not know all the things about astronomy that we do now, they had a good
understanding of the some celestial phenomenon. The achievements in astronomy
of ancient Egyptians are relatively well...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... astronomical ceiling in Senenmut's tomb (TT 353) is divided into two sections representing the northern and the southern skies. The south- ern (Figure 1.) is decorated with a list of decanal stars, as well as con- stellations of the southern sky belonging to it like Orion and Canis Major. Furthermore, the planets Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury and Venus are shown and associated deities who are travelling in small boats over the sky. ...
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Citations
... Egypt is considered one of the oldest countries whose people studied astronomy. The celestial phenomena have always been a source of wonder and interest to people, even as long ago as the ancient Egyptians, as evidenced by the architecture and landscape, apparently associated with the observation of cosmic phenomena (Novakovic, 2008). Astronomy tourism started recently to gain more attention. ...
... The oldest, best known and preserved astronomical ceiling and star map is found in the 18 th Dynasty tomb of Senmut TT 353 (Fig.7) (Novakovic, 2008). Other interesting examples of such ceilings are found in; Hall K in the 19 th Dynasty tomb of king Seti I KV 17; the tomb of Merenptah (KV 8); the tomb of Tawosret (KV 14); the tomb of Ramesses IV (KV 2); the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9); the tomb of Ramesses VII (KV 1); the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV 6); the second hypostyle hall of the Ramesseum (the funerary temple of king Ramesses II) (Kondo, 2016); the 26 th Dynasty tombs of Pademenope TT 33 and Montuemhat at El Assasif (DeYoung, 2000); and the sanctuary of the Roman temple of Amun at Deir el Haggar in Dakhla Oasis (Lull and Belmonte, 2009). ...
Astronomy goes back many centuries throughout the world. Especially in Egypt its origin appears in the ancient Egyptian texts referring to the surrounding nature, temple orientations, and paintings on the ceilings and walls of tombs, temples, and sarcophagi. Further, Egypt combines different phenomena that could be seen either with the naked eyes or the telescopes as African skies remain the most accessible and biggest astronomy laboratories as the continent is situated under the clearest such and darkest night sky. This study explores astronomy tourism, travelling for astronomy-related purposes as a significant tourism phenomenon, though a rising trend is an innovative offer of tourism to Egypt during and after the covid-19 Pandemic. The principle aims of this study are to give insight into astronomy tourism; explore the current practices and the ongoing construction of astronomy tourism in Egypt; explore the group culture of astronomy tourists, their behaviors and individual travel experience; which kind of astronomy tourism do they prefer; andthe current situation and the prospects for the future development of astronomy tourism in Egypt. This study made use of mixed methods, which included both qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (Questionnaire) research analyses. The interviews targeted the tour operators’ managers operating this kind of tourism and the admins of online travel groups to gain an in-depth understanding of the current situation of astronomy tourism in Egypt and its future developing prospects. Other interviews were held with the directors of observatories and astronomy societies in Egypt to explore the current practices and the ongoing construction of Astronomy tourism in Egypt. The questionnaire targeted the international and domestic tourists, utilizing the Leisure Motivation Scale (LMS) to make an assessment of the most influential factors that draw tourists to astronomy activities and events. Based on the results, astronomy tourism in Egypt should gain more attention from stakeholders to be promoted and developed as a new trend in Egypt.
... Egypt is considered one of the oldest countries whose people studied astronomy. The celestial phenomena have always been a source of wonder and interest to people, even as long ago as the ancient Egyptians, as evidenced by the architecture and landscape, apparently associated with the observation of cosmic phenomena (Novakovic, 2008). Astronomy tourism started recently to gain more attention. ...
... The oldest, best known and preserved astronomical ceiling and star map is found in the 18 th Dynasty tomb of Senmut TT 353 (Fig.7) (Novakovic, 2008). Other interesting examples of such ceilings are found in; Hall K in the 19 th Dynasty tomb of king Seti I KV 17; the tomb of Merenptah (KV 8); the tomb of Tawosret (KV 14); the tomb of Ramesses IV (KV 2); the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9); the tomb of Ramesses VII (KV 1); the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV 6); the second hypostyle hall of the Ramesseum (the funerary temple of king Ramesses II) (Kondo, 2016); the 26 th Dynasty tombs of Pademenope TT 33 and Montuemhat at El Assasif (DeYoung, 2000); and the sanctuary of the Roman temple of Amun at Deir el Haggar in Dakhla Oasis (Lull and Belmonte, 2009). ...
... Egypt is considered one of the oldest countries whose people studied astronomy. The celestial phenomena have always been a source of wonder and interest to people, even as long ago as the ancient Egyptians, as evidenced by the architecture and landscape, apparently associated with the observation of cosmic phenomena (Novakovic, 2008). Astronomy tourism started recently to gain more attention. ...
... The oldest, best known and preserved astronomical ceiling and star map is found in the 18 th Dynasty tomb of Senmut TT 353 (Fig.7) (Novakovic, 2008). Other interesting examples of such ceilings are found in; Hall K in the 19 th Dynasty tomb of king Seti I KV 17; the tomb of Merenptah (KV 8); the tomb of Tawosret (KV 14); the tomb of Ramesses IV (KV 2); the tomb of Ramesses VI (KV 9); the tomb of Ramesses VII (KV 1); the tomb of Ramesses IX (KV 6); the second hypostyle hall of the Ramesseum (the funerary temple of king Ramesses II) (Kondo, 2016); the 26 th Dynasty tombs of Pademenope TT 33 and Montuemhat at El Assasif (DeYoung, 2000); and the sanctuary of the Roman temple of Amun at Deir el Haggar in Dakhla Oasis (Lull and Belmonte, 2009). ...
... Humans have been dreaming about Mars since the ancient Egyptian astronomers mapped its retrograde movement in1534 BCE (Novakovic, 2008). In 1877, Giovanni Schiaparelli used a 22 cm telescope and created the first map of Mars displaying the famous Martian canals. ...
The journey to explore our red neighbor will entail the application of
all our terrestrial lessons learned and of some we have yet to discover.
A Mars mission represents the extreme in terms of both distance and
uncharted environment. The selection, monitoring and support of Mars
bound crews will challenge existing technology and knowledge. The human,
at the center, represents the greatest strength and the greatest
weakness for a Mars mission. Human response to confined and isolated
environments has been shown to be characterized by serious stressors and
a Mars mission will represent the most extreme of such environments. The
impact of such stressors on coping, performance, motivation, behavior,
cognitive functioning and psychological well-being must be taken into
account. The extraordinary duration of the mission poses special
challenges in planning for mission support since very different needs
may be driven by particular phases of the mission. Selection, monitoring
and!
support will similarly be significantly affected by anticipating
potential differential characteristics and needs across the travel
phases to and from Mars and the period on the planet's
surface.
Mars has been a stated goal of major space programs since the 1960’s. However, humanity is always “a decade or so away.” Beyond the technical issues associated with human spaceflight, the problem of launching a full-scale exploration of Mars is compounded by lack of proper funding, lack of political will, and an abundance of risk aversion. Using telerobotic exploration, both orbital and in situ observations of the Red Planet have revealed that it may once have been a hospitable home to life, but more detailed human exploration is needed to determine if life has ever existed there. Proposed mission plans for a crewed Mars mission were evaluated using a pass/fail grade based on crewmember health, funding feasibility, and sustainability. Such grading was accomplished using original materials about each plan to determine the feasibility of each area independent of the other two. Analysis reveals that while Robert Zubrin’s Mars Direct plan has the greatest potential for a Mars mission in the shortest timeframe, SpaceX’s Mars Colony Transport plan has the highest probability of achieving a crewed mission to Mars. I recommend a hybrid mission which uses the Mars Base Camp plan as a precursor and Zubrin’s architecture as a springboard into the larger SpaceX colonization plan. This would be sufficient to drive both alacrity and mass colonization within 50 years.