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Llaman
hamun tutayaypi punaman / quyllor hina ñawintin / llantullamanta paqarin, llaman hamun.
Viene
La constelación de la Llama / por la noche / por la puna / con ojos estrellados
/ nacida de sombras / viene la Llama.
Comes the
constellation of the Llama / through the night /
over the highlands / with eyes made of stars /
born in shadows / comes the Llama.
@www.andes.org
Picture: The dark constellation of the llama and Mayu (the celestial river).
ANDEAN ASTRONOMY
Here are some Qechua (the language of the
Incas) words related to astronomy:
· Inti: Sun, Killa: Moon, Qoyllor: Star, Ch'aska:
Venus, Qollqa: Pleaides.
Mayu: Milky Way
· Wata: year, Killa: month, Tuta: night, P'unchay:
Day, Chaupy p'unchai:
Noon, Chaupi tuta:
Midnight
· Intiwatana: Solar Observatory
· 
Quipu: Database and calculator (like a computer ...). Perhaps it
was also a written system. A quipu is an assemblage
of colored cords with knots. Several scientists have tried to break the quipu code, but there is still a lot to learn. I think that
precious astronomical information was written on quipus.
Who knows ... so much information ... comets, supernovae, eclipses
...
· The 3 rules of the Inca society: Ama
Sua, Ama Llula, Ama Kella:
Do not be a thief, liar neither lazy.
HARVARD STATION IN 
· Using plates taken from
·
and from spectra taken at the Harvard Station in Peru, Annie Cannon (and
others) built the famous Henry Draper (HD) catalogue, classifying thousands of
stellar spectra, and introducing the most used classification system in
astronomy (OBAFGKM).
DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN ASTRONOMY IN
· The first Peruvian to earn a degree in astronomy (Univ. La
Plata) is Prof. Astronomer Maria Luisa Aguilar (about 1970).
·
In 1982 M. L. Aguilar founded SPACE
(Seminario Permanente de Astronomia
y Ciencias Espaciales) at
the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM),
the oldest university in the Americas. SPACE is the major organization that
promotes astronomy (research, teaching, popularization) in
· In the 90's several Peruvian students went abroad to study
astronomy. The first Peruvian to get a PhD in Astronomy is (as far as I know)
Rafael Carlos. He is currently working at the UNMSM.
· In the 2000's Prof. Maria Luisa has been working hard to put
a telescope in the highlands of
SUPPORT ASTRONOMY IN
· You are very welcome to make a donation. Want to get rid of
your old Pentium IV (or Pentium III) notebook? Our students will really
appreciate your contribution. Please, contact Jorge Melendez (jorge@mso.anu.edu.au) or Ivan Ramirez (ivan@astro.as.utexas.edu), we can take the notebooks to
· Books, Fellowships, Travel Grants, Equipment (we need at ST-7 or
ST-8 SBIG CCD camera), Subscription to journals and magazines, etc., will be
greatly appreciated.
·
Some books we would like to receive: Astrophysical
Quantities 4th ed., Astrophysical
Formulae 3rd ed., An
Introduction to Modern Astrophysics (Carroll & Ostlie
1995), Fundamental
Astronomy 4th ed. (Karttunen 2003), Astrophysical
Techniques 4th ed. (Kitchin 2003), The
Observation and Analyses of Stellar Photospheres 2nd ed. (Gray 1992), Radiative Processes in Astrophysics (Rybicki 1985), Astrophysical
Concepts 3rd ed. (Harwit 1998), Space
Physics (An Introduction to Plasmas), The
New Solar System (Beatty 1998), Sky
Atlas 2000 2nd ed, Norton's
Star Atlas & Ref. Handbook 20th ed., Observer's
Handbook 2004, Observing
Variable Stars (Good 2003)
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E-mail: NO_SPAM_jorge AT astro.mso.anu.edu.au |
Last updated: April 14, 2004 |