That's What Space Looked like to Ancient People

That's What Space Looked like to Ancient People

it was the spring of 1900 when a group

of Greek sponge divers got blown off

course by a storm and came across a

wreck of an ancient Roman ship

The Vessel which had sunk more than 2

000 years before was literally loaded

with treasures

a year later a spectacular Hull of

Antiquities was brought up to the

surface and among those precious items

there was something amazing

divers found a startlingly complex

cosmological calculator it was one of

the world's first analog computers and

it was made by the ancient Greeks

between the third and the first century

BCE

it could track the phases of the moon

and the position of the planet but we

can't give all the credit to the Greeks

most scientists believe that their

knowledge was based on the learning of a

much earlier civilization

the ancient Babylonians were considered

the first astronomers and no wonder they

were enthusiastic star gazers for

example around 6 000 years ago they

built watchtowers to scan the sky

and after mapping the stars and visible

planets they recorded their observations

on Clay tablet

now let me tell you about the most

paradoxical thing

the observations made by the ancient

Babylonians were extremely precise

they were the first known people to

predict eclipses

they successfully calculated the length

of a year

but their understanding of the cosmos oh

boy it was so different from ours

see for yourself they imagined their

world as an oyster surrounded by water

their sky was a solid Dome

moisture sometimes seeped through this

Dome as rain The Waters from below

sometimes broke through this dome in the

form of natural springs and every day

the Sun the moon and the stars took part

in a slow dance across the ceiling they

entered from the East and exited in the

West

now let's move on to another great

nation the ancient Egyptians their

Universe was rectangular kinda box-like

at first they believed the sky was a cow

with each of its feet planted at Each

corner of the rectangular Earth

later they changed their mind they

started to compare the sky to a vaulted

metal lit the deities of the Sun and

Moon sailed along the river flowing upon

an elevated Gallery running around the

inner walls of the box

early Greek cosmology was no less

exciting their world resembled a

floating disc that was surrounded by

oceans that was a majestical mythical

River encircling the world but this

theory was soon debunked with time the

ancient Greeks started making tremendous

advances in figuring out how the

universe actually worked even better

they became the driving force behind the

development of Western astronomy and

science

if we speak about the solar system in

the past there were two theories about

what it looked like the first one was

called heliocentric that's because the

sun was considered to be the center of

the known universe Earth was believed to

revolve around the Sun once a year and

rotate around its axis once a day

at least this Theory managed to

correctly map all the planets known at

that time in order of their distance

from the Sun

the other theory was known as the

earth-centered model of the universe

according to it our planet was the

center of the universe and all other

space bodies including the sun rotated

around Earth

this model was around for about 1400

years it was toppled only in the 16th

century

you might have heard that in the past

people believe that our planet was flat

interestingly this myth had already been

debunked by the 5th Century BCE it was

widely accepted that our planet was a

sphere

ancient astronomers watched lunar

eclipses and observed the shadow our

planet cast on the moon it was clearly

round which made them conclude that

Earth was a sphere

and still despite some correct theories

the ideas of ancient civilizations about

the world often seems somewhat funny and

naive to us

on the other hand guys I guess the day

will come when our descendants will

start discussing our theories about

space and I bet they'll find them both

ridiculous and amusing too

is said to be the first animated film

ever it was made in 1908 and it's one of

the earliest examples of hand-drawn

animation but did you know that ancient

people entertain children with cartoons

about 2.6 million years ago

a new study reveals that ancient people

were the ones who first made pictures

look animated

how

they carved pictures of animals on

stones and placed them around fires

when the light starts bouncing around

those ancient animals just can't help

but shake it and shimmy

the prehistoric carvings come to life in

the flickering Fire Light with those

animals jumping in and out of focus like

they're ready to party

imagine how fun it would have been for

prehistoric families to sit around a

fire and create these animated carvings

it turns out that even some of the

ancient wall paintings and carvings

found in caves were inspired by their

appearance in the moving light and

shadows of flames so basically these

old-timey carvings were made to come to

life when firelight hit them

and now researchers made a movie showing

that cool effect on a 3D model of some

horse Engravings

the study says our brains are wired to

see moving things and changing light

which is why these carvings probably

mattered to our ancestors

in other words cave people were like hey

let's carve some cool stuff on this rock

and when we light a fire it'll look like

it's moving and now these scientists

were like that's awesome let's make a

movie to show this everyone

Andy Needham and his teammates used

modern scanning and virtual reality Tech

to study 50 flat carved rocks called

plaquettes made of limestone these rocks

were found in southern France back in

the 1800s and now sit in a museum in

London they are covered in 77 realistic

carvings of all sorts of animals like

horses reindeer and shamwa

apparently Homo sapiens with a lot of

time on their hands made these

Engravings a whopping twelve thousand to

sixteen thousand years ago

Needham realized that many of these

carved rocks were harmed by fire some

covered in White Ash others dried or

fractured because of heat upon closer

examination he discovered pink bands of

discoloration resulting from Iron

deposits in the stone what's more

interesting is that the animal

Engravings were often superimposed on

top of each other sometimes even melded

together or fitted around each other

like some kind of prehistoric animal

jigsaw puzzle

rather than tossing out the old and

starting Anew the ancient artists took

animal body parts to create new hybrids

for instance one of the Rocks depicts

both a horse and a wild cattle-like

creature known as a bovid

in this masterpiece of prehistoric art

the horse's abdomen and neck become the

back and neck of the bovid while the

horse's head forms the boved's ear what

a creative way of recycling

researchers believe that the prehistoric

rocks from montestric were used as Prime

Time Entertainment for our ancestors

more than one person carved the animals

people from different levels of skills

showed their artistic glory and it was a

group effort

the fact that these rocks were found

together also suggests that this was a

community activity so it's like families

were all gathered around the TV carving

rocks and cheering on their favorite

carved animals who needs Netflix when

you have Paleolithic TV

the Engravings on these rocks and the

signs they were exposed to heat suggest

they were created to look like they were

moving

sometimes you see different animals in

different poses so one would come to

life and then another and then a

different one it's like a stone age

version of Disney

similar techniques might have influenced

some of the ancient cave paintings such

as those at the breathtaking Chauvet

cave in Southeastern France the animal

portraits there are also overlaid on

each other and some look like they were

heated by fires underneath them which

means that our prehistoric ancestors

might have been the first animators in

the world

alright since we talked about young

people's favorite pastime activity shall

we take a trip back in time to discover

the world's oldest toys

one of the most ancient toys discovered

was a simple ball made from clay and

found in the ruins of ancient

Mesopotamia

it might seem like a simple toy but our

ancestors were playing with them as far

back as 3000 BC

but back then they didn't have fancy

video games or elaborate board games so

a ball was the Pinnacle of entertainment

but the Mesopotamians weren't the only

ones having fun in ancient Greece

children played with dolls made of clay

in Egypt kids had toys shaped like

animals but they also had dolls made

from materials like clay Papyrus and

ivory but the most impressive thing

about these dolls they had movable limbs

that's right our ancient ancestors were

playing with articulated dolls before it

was cool

but it's not all fun and games toys also

had a practical purpose back in the day

in fact many of the toys discovered by

archaeologists were actually used to

teach children important skills for

example Egyptian children played with

dolls that were shaped like doctors

which helped them learn about medicine

and health care

and let's not forget about the toys that

were used to train future Warriors

in ancient China kids played with toy

horses and chariots which helped them

prepare for a life of battle

talk about getting a head start on your

career

moving on to primitive board games which

have been around for over five thousand

years

the oldest board game is called CNET and

was discovered in ancient Egyptian tombs

it's a bit like a cross between chess

and backgammon and it was so popular

that it was played for over two thousand

years now that's a game with staying

power

but let's not forget about toys for the

little ones archaeologists have found

ancient rattles and whistles that were

used to entertain even younger members

of their families and if you thought

your kids toy collection was impressive

just wait until you hear about the

ancient Egyptian princess who had over

100 wooden toys in her chamber

but perhaps the most surprising toy of

all was the yo-yo that's right the yo-yo

has been around for over 2 000 years it

was first invented in ancient Greece and

was often used in battle believe it or

not but eventually people realized that

it was much more fun to just play with

it and do tricks

marbles are also around as a toy that

has been entertaining kids and some

adults for thousands of years

archaeologists have found evidence of

marble dating back to around 5000 years

ago in the Indus Valley Civilization

back in those days marbles were made

from all sorts of things want to take a

wild guess okay I'll tell you fruit pits

and small pieces of smoothed Stone

that's right those ancient kids were

getting creative with their playthings

some Artisans even went the extra mile

and crafted marbles from clay

let's head back to ancient Egyptians and

their adorable miniature boats made from

Ivory wood and clay

these Miniatures may be acknowledged as

toys but they were also meant to

represent crossing over to the other

side Viking kids had similar types of

items too

a wooden toy boat over a thousand years

old was found on a Farmstead near the

coast of Norway

this toy looked like a real boat and it

would have been the ultimate cool thing

just like how kids today go nuts over

race cars and drones you can imagine

little ones back then showing off their

toy boats to their friends

many of these toys are still pretty fun

to play with today

there are many others left aside Like

Toy Soldiers and spinning tops

do you want to know more about ancient

toys or gadgets from the early days of

Cinema

you take off from Earth and park your

spacecraft somewhere near the moon

you're now almost 240 000 miles away

from your home planet that's almost 100

widths of the United States now you take

out a giant hammer and an enormous

chisel using the robotic arms of your

spaceship you place the Chisel at the

Earth's north pole and strike its head

with the hammer Earth splits open like

an eggshell and you see it another

planet

it's there and it's hiding inside our

planet like a yolk in an egg you'd need

to go back in time 4.5 billion years to

find out how it got there

this beautiful nebula will soon become

our solar system colored dust and

various space debris are slowly coming

closer toward the Common Center soon

this jigsaw puzzle of debris becomes too

heavy and dense the temperature inside

the giant is rising soon it gets so high

that it triggers a nuclear chain

reaction

Another Second and Bam there's an

explosion so powerful that the shock

waves travel far into dark space and the

blinding Flash from this blast can be

seen from the other side of the Milky

Way galaxy

when the dust clears a little you can

see that a bright light is still shining

at the very center of the explosion this

newborn star is the sun it weighs as

much as 333 000 Earths if the sun was a

bucket you'd need 1.3 million

earth-sized planets to fill it

you are interested in a small object

over there 93 million miles away from

the Sun this pile of rocks and hot lava

is Earth right now the planet is busy

forming its core while the oceans of

lava are gradually cooling down

but a few tens of million years after

the sun's birth you notice a strange

object hurtling toward Earth it's Thea

this small planet was born at about the

same time as Earth and now it's

following a crazy spiral trajectory at

enormous speed

scientists believe Thea was kind of a

ball Jupiter and Venus played with Venus

was pulling Thea in One Direction then

Big Brother Jupiter pulled it back but

the sun makes up 99.8 percent of the

mass of the entire solar system that's

why the star sets its own rules it makes

Thea move in almost the same orbit as

Earth

so they inevitably come closer and

closer to each other until they become

next door neighbors we see that Thea is

the size of Mars and as wide as the

Atlantic Ocean from New York to Portugal

[Music]

a collision can't be avoided Thea is

traveling toward Earth at nearly 9 000

miles per hour that's 11 times faster

than the speed of sound if the smaller

Planet crashes into Earth at a

particular angle Earth will most likely

be torn apart as well as Thea itself the

Collision will cause a huge blast

visible on other planets even on a

bright day nothing will be left but some

burning dust and debris

even if Thea touches Earth only lightly

it'll still knock out a chunk of our

planet the size of Australia

but the collision with Thea happens at a

perfect 45 degree angle it strikes the

Earth at tremendous speed the explosion

literally vaporizes huge amounts of rock

and the shock wave sends the remaining

debris into Earth's orbit a huge crater

is formed at the impact site soon it

gets filled with boiling lava

the remnants of Thea and the ejected

fragments of earth begin to orbit our

planet according to one version these

fragments form Two Moons at first they

travel together but one day they get too

close to each other and Collide forming

one large space body

the other Theory claims that all the

shards start being pulled by the

remnants of Thea some time later they

form the moon as we now know it at that

point in the past though it's just Red

Hot Rock and lava

the collision at this angle slightly

tilts our planet and accelerates its

rotation it's because of Thea that we

have different seasons and 24 hours in a

day

Earth has lithospheric plates these are

enormous solid pieces that make up the

crust of our planet after the collision

with Thea they start to break and crack

it causes carbon a primary component of

all known life on Earth to start moving

all over our planet so Earth gets some

kind of metabolism

after a few hundred million years the

first living creatures start to appear

on our planet over nearly 4 billion

years simple single-celled organisms

have been evolving into the life you see

today

according to scientists such a collision

is a very rare event the probability

that somewhere out there there's a

planet like ours that has survived the

same catastrophe is extremely small this

may be the reason why we are yet to find

traces of other civilizations out there

in space

meanwhile the remains of Thea are still

here on Earth of course it doesn't look

like an entire planet stuck inside our

own most of the fragments have melted

and blended into the Earth's crust

if you take the top layer off our planet

you'll see two huge lava blobs the size

of entire continents they're right below

Africa and the Pacific Ocean presumably

these are the remains of Thea they

didn't mix with Earth's mantle because

of different densities

it's like mixing water and oil in a

glass the oil will always float up over

the water and create an even layer on

top of it but if you raise those lava

patches up to the surface they'd be 100

times higher than Mount Everest

other remains of Thea might be on the

moon the Apollo space missions brought

back many soil samples for analysis

scientists have concluded that the Moon

is very similar to Earth and structure

people could drill deep down and take

samples there then they'd analyze the

blobs from Earth if their structure

matched it'd be 100 proof that Thea did

hit Earth 4.5 billion years ago and

that's how he got the Moon

but for the time being Thea remains

somewhat mysterious scientists are still

not sure that the planet actually

existed the whole idea perfectly fits

the model of the moon's creation but in

fact this incredible Collision may have

never happened

hop on the bright side of life together

with our brand new teas hoodies and more

click the link to pick your choice now

you travel 41 light years away from

Earth to the Planet 55 cancri e it's

about twice the size of Earth and eight

times heavier you take out your giant

hammer again and use it to hit the

Chisel the planet cracks and you see

it's a giant diamond

the temperature on this planet is tens

of times higher than that of earth and

its soil is rich in carbon the heat puts

a lot of pressure on this carbon its

structure changes first it turns into

graphite some more pressure and graphite

turns into diamond

on Earth diamonds form at depths below

60 miles where the pressure is 50 000

times greater than on the surface the

temperatures there rise over a thousand

degrees which is as hot as fire diamonds

are rejected closer to the surface in

volcanic eruptions still people have to

dig mines 1500 feet deep to find these

beautiful gems

the golden jubilee diamond is the

biggest cut and faceted diamond on Earth

it weighs as much as a chocolate bar and

is the size of a hamster its price is

about 12 million dollars now imagine a

diamond the size of an entire planet

you decide to fly back to the solar

system your destination is Jupiter's

moon Europa it's as wide as the distance

between Seattle and Houston and its mass

is less than one percent the mass of

Earth its surface is enclosed in an icy

crust it's about 19 miles thick

but what if you crack this crust with

your giant hammer wow Europa is

completely covered in water it's

freezing here three times colder than at

the North Pole on Earth the water turns

into ice almost instantly but the ocean

beneath the surface is still liquid

Europa interacts with Jupiter

gravitationally just like the moon with

Earth this creates tidal forces and

heats europa's core the core melts the

ice around it the result is a huge ocean

two to three times larger than all of

Earth's oceans combined

scientists believe that water is the

basis of life it may mean that life may

exist on Europa there could be thermal

Springs just like at the bottom of our

oceans the water there is probably much

warmer and even though the pressure and

temperature in such places are likely to

be extreme simple bacteria may live

there

Europa is almost the same age as Earth

this means there's been enough time for

living organisms to appear and evolve

who knows maybe some Advanced

civilization is already blooming under

this Cross of ice they may be building

big cities and dreaming of conquering

space right now

but the only thing people can do at the

moment is send a probe to Europa and

find out if life is possible there.