For thousands of years, humans have looked to the sky to make sense of the world. Observations of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars shaped calendars, navigation, and systems of belief across many cultures, long before astronomy became a formal discipline. This book uses infographics and maps to trace the global history of the sky, examining how societies developed the concepts and methods that allowed humanity to interpret the cosmos. It follows early astronomical traditions in Babylon, China, and Polynesia; the emergence of new ideas in classical Greece; the scientific advances that transformed astronomy during the Enlightenment; and the modern age, in which humans have ventured from Earth to the Moon and beyond, sending probes through the solar system and signals into deep space.Designed for astute skywatchers and curious newcomers alike, these fact-packed pages reveal how today's science rests on centuries of observation, argument, and a thirst for adventure--and answers a fascinating question: How do we know what we know about the universe?
