Why Space Matters Part 1: Space Is Our Past

DUSTIN WALKER, Technical Business Development Associate

6 minute read

Space has captivated imaginations for centuries. From the wonders of the cosmos to the exciting possibilities of space exploration, there are countless reasons why space truly matters. This three-part series explores the human fascination with this still unfamiliar frontier and aims to portray our reliance on space and why it’s so vital to humanity’s past, present, and future. Part 1 starts our journey at the beginning, our past. It examines our history and highlights how space and celestial objects have influenced and shaped our cultures and propelled the desire for technological advancement. How stars were used as navigational tools, how cosmic events and formations led to supernatural heroes, villains, and myths, and how aspects beyond our comprehension were interpreted to develop religious beliefs.

It’s not surprising that our ancestors relied on the Sun and night sky for navigation. Considering that the visible horizon is slightly over three miles away in the best conditions, attempting to travel long distances by land or sea required the use of reference points. And what better reference point than the skies above us? The ancient Greeks were among the first to use the stars as a guide across the seas. Tales are provided to us through Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, where Ulysses is given direction to embark on a long sea voyage to Ithica (presumably west of the hero’s island). Likewise, the Greek poet Aratus writes about Eridanus and Orion as celestial waypoints to pilot the seas. As early as 2,000 BC the Polynesians began exploring and inhabiting the Pacific using their masterful awareness of the night sky. Fascinatingly, our ancestors used the “star at zenith” method to determine their latitude. If a particular star is directly overhead, the observer could establish their latitude by the star's known declination. They also expertly mapped “star paths'' to govern direction, using rising and setting points of up to 17 different stars to maintain their course.

Unhindered by the limitations of the human eye and unblockable by high mountain ranges, the stars that illuminate our planet and decorate our evenings were virtually the most reliable and constant waypoints available for early humans, and ultimately led to the creation of navigational tools. Several celestial navigation techniques were developed by the great minds of the past and they were applied over many thousands of years. These techniques, initially measuring the elevation of starry objects with arms and fingers, were further refined by the inventions of devices to provide much more accurate measurements of stellar altitudes such as the nautical astrolabe, the nautical quadrant (shown below), and the nautical cross-staff. Harnessing the consistency of the skies allowed us to bravely explore beyond our homelands. It enabled us to discover new worlds, meet foreign civilizations, and confidently return home to plan daring new adventures in new directions. More importantly though, using the skies to guide us on our journeys granted us the opportunity to study the stars, observe how they move across space, advance science and engineering, and take our first steps into uncovering the mysteries of our universe.

The first representation of the nautical quadrant (from Repertorio dos tempos by Valentim Fernandez).

Some stars and asterisms used as "star paths" by Polynesian navigators (from Lewis, We, the navigators).

The observation of stars and the perceived constellation figures were not limited to just tools for navigation. The night’s sky captivated the imagination of ancient humans and was a source of inspiration, associating the assemblage of stars with animals, objects, and people. These interpretations were inherited between cultures and passed down through the ages, giving rise to various mythical creators, destroyers, heroes, and legends. As these stories were transmitted across different civilizations and through diverse perspectives, they evolved according to the cultures that were telling them. Keeping with the ancient Greeks as an example, they learned the designs of the constellations and their associated lore from the Eastern Phoenicians, who adopted them from the Assyrians, who, in turn, inherited them from their ancient Sumerian ancestors. The Greeks added their own interpretations to the constellational tales, including new ideologies while perceivably removing others.

Heracles, the Erymanthian Boar & Eurystheus 6th BC (British Museum)

The Greek hero Heracles, most commonly known by the Roman spelling “Hercules”, is a prime example of how different societies transformed mythologies of Eastern influence to conform to their respective societies. Drawing many similarities from the Phoenician hero-god Melqart, Heracles and the twelve legendary champions he battled can be portrayed through the constellations, including the Nemean Lion represented by Leo, the Cretan Bull by Taurus, and the centaur Cheiron and Pholus were envisioned through the Sagittarius and Centaurus constellations. Similarly, our very own Corinne Moore details how different ancient civilizations viewed the Milky Way in her column “The Mythology of the Milky Way” and highlights another example of shared theologies between cultures. In Corinne’s descriptions of the various mythologies, she captures the similarities between the Greek and Egyptian stories, both comprising motherly gods who spill their milk into the skies to form the Milky Way. The Melqart and Heracles tales and the Milky Way theories are just a couple of hundreds of fascinating sagas that our ancestors created to idolize and revere the heavens. The study of the stars was not just a scientific pursuit, but a spiritual and cultural one as well. Early humans saw the stars as a divine creation, and their movements and patterns were connected to those deities. They brought light, darkness, food, famine, warmth, and winter. The sky’s impact on the Earth was profound and was deserving of the worship it received.

Space and the celestial bodies that seemingly revolve around our Earth were seen as mystical, impossible, and mysterious objects. The only primitively reasonable explanation of their existence had to be the supernatural. It’s then understandable how historic humans affiliated religious symbolisms with their observations. They saw the Sun and the light it provided as goodness and life while the darkness of night was associated with evil and death, which makes it fascinating to imagine what native people thought of the “progressive” colonizers when they arrived worshipping a cross while the natives themselves worshipped the life-giving fireball in the sky. The ancients didn’t see the stars how we see them today, they saw gods and devils locked in an endless battle of light and dark and developed these ideologies into religious beliefs, potentially branching across various faiths. Still today, the afterlife for many is conventionally imagined as a paradise in the sky or a netherworld below the Earth.

Our pre-historic ancestor’s “primitive” cosmology went as far as mapping their progression across the skies and marking significant milestones such as the solstices. Their fascination drove them to construct magnificent temples and megalithic monuments, often mirroring the celestial bodies or with precise alignments to them. This is most famously seen in the Giza desert of Egypt where the tremendous pyramids, Sphinx, and associated temples still can be studied. The ancient Egyptians mirrored their fantastic monuments in line with the stars that they believed our souls passed through in death. The pyramids themselves are suspected of aligning with Orion’s Belt at the time of their construction, the Sphinx with the constellation Leo, and the temples with the rising and setting of the Sun, creating a marriage of heaven to Earth.

“With precision and an eye to the sky, the great builders of the pyramids replicated Orion’s belt” (Image: Getty)

The sunset over the right shoulder of the Sphinx during the spring equinox. (Egypt Ministry of Antiquities)

The skies have served as a source of life, direction, and gateways to the beyond to many cultures and civilizations. They housed gods, legends, and evils that controlled their movement. It was a source of knowledge, inspiration, and spirituality, shaping our worldview and our understanding of the universe. Similar to our ancient forebears, the modern world still revolves around space, although in a less mystical manner and, instead, more mechanically with the development of satellites and methods to travel to the once thought unreachable. Developed as humanity raced to physically explore beyond our atmosphere, satellites and their services provide a persistent link for humans to the heavens, opening new approaches in how we view navigation (digital GPS signals rather than stargazing), commerce (through electronic transactions as opposed to long and difficult seafaring voyages), and determining the future (due to national weather reports rather than kingdom-wide astrology). With so much in our past, it is imperative that we take the actions needed to preserve space and ensure its availability for present and future generations.

For all this fascination, hope, and history over our heads, at KMI we stay committed to protecting the greater appreciation for space and all that it represents, from stargazing to satellites alike. At KMI, we stay driven in Keeping Space Clear For All.

Recommended column to read next: Better Calendars