The history of the stars

The night sky probably already fascinated our early ancestors just as us today. And many inexplicable events certainly created fear. At any rate, in all cultural circles this is indicated by the many mythological narratives, attempts at a first interpretation of the observed processes. The scientific investigation of these phenomena was soon devoted to astronomy, which flourished in ancient civilizations. However, the prevailing world view was never of scientific significance, it always touched on the self-understanding of man.

The sister of astronomy is astrology. This probably originated in Mesopotamia. Outstanding astronomers and astrologers used to be found mainly among the Babylonians and Assyrians, and especially among the Chaldeans. This type of research has always been ambivalent in perception. While the Church condemned such science, the ancient philosophers took a clear position: Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras believed in the influence of heavenly events on earthly events.

Even the ancient world combined groups of 5-20 stars into a visual entity, which was then named after an animal, an object or a mythological figure. Later, the stars in our cosmos were named after a 400 year old system by the astronomers. For this purpose, the name is preceded by a letter of the Greek alphabet, an indication of the degree of brightness of the star within the constellation. The Latin genitive of the constellation forms the second part of the name. With this method, only 2,112 stars can be named, although well over 15 million stars are registered by the Hubble telecop. This opens the door to name a personal star with your own name or as a gift to a loved one and a wonderful opportunity to secure your place in the cosmos. Despite all attempts at enlightenment, the fascination of the meaning of the star is still unbroken and with it the fascination of giving a person a star with his or her name.