Astronomical clock. Astronomical hour is how much?

Time is one of the most difficult to understand categories in philosophy and physics. It is easiest to define it as a necessary condition for the possibility of any change. People already at the dawn of their history realized the need to somehow determine the course of time. First, only large enough intervals were measured: year, month, day. Drops of fleeing time people noticed by the sunrises and sunsets, the change of seasons, their own aging. Gradually, it became necessary to determine shorter intervals. Appears hours, minutes, seconds. With the complication of human activity, methods of measuring time were also improved. Each gap began to acquire an increasingly more precise meaning. There was an atomic and ephemeral second, an astronomical hour ("This is how much?" - you ask.) The answer is a little lower). Today, the focus of our attention is precisely the hour most often used in everyday life is a unit of time, and also the hours without which it is difficult to imagine the modern world.

A bit of history

It is not difficult to see that the timing of the calculation is fundamentally different from the current method of calculation. It is based on the duodecimal system, which was used by the Sumerians in ancient times. The division of the hour into minutes also goes back deep into the times. It is based on a sexagesimal number system, also invented in the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates.

The first to divide the day into 24 hours was the Egyptians. The hour then had a different duration depending on the season and whether it belonged to the night or day. The Egyptians and Babylonians divided the day into two equal parts. Day and night, that is, a dark and bright time, included 12 hours each. Accordingly, the duration of the hour varied in each half, depending on the season.

Similar systems existed in Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages in Europe, a day was divided according to church services.

The term "hour" was first used by the Greeks. Variable duration of time intervals was preserved all over the world long enough. In our country in the XVI-XVII centuries the duration of the hour was constant, but the number of hours varied day and night depending on the season. In Russia, time is measured similarly to Europe after 1722.

Astronomical hour is how much?

The word "hour" is often used to denote different lengths of time, close to 60 minutes. Everyone knows what, for example, is a quiet or curfew. The lengths of time indicated by these and similar concepts can last 60 minutes, a little less, or a little more, or not a gap, but a specific moment of the day after which one process must end and a new one start.

And the astronomical hour is how many minutes? This concept denotes a standard time span, a fixed duration. It is the astronomical hour that is 60 minutes or 3600 seconds and is often referred to simply as "hour". This unit of time is not included in the modern metric system SI (International System of Units of Physical Quantities). One of the reasons - the hour does not belong to the usual today decimal number. However, it is actively used all over the world along with the accepted SI units.

How long is the lesson?

Academic and astronomical hours - different concepts. The first term denotes the time period during which the lesson lasts. Its magnitude is not the same for different age groups. When working with children in orphanages, educators shorten the duration of the academic hour to 20-30 minutes, a year before release, it sometimes increases to 40 minutes. In schools, lessons take 40-45 minutes, couples at the university - 90 minutes. The reason for such differences is in the ability to concentrate attention. With age, it increases. If in the kindergarten to enter classes of 45 minutes, and at school - 90, the students will be very tired and hardly remember and learn the material in the required amount.

Measuring minutes

Time in our consciousness is inextricably linked with the mechanisms by which we notice its running. The clock appeared at the same time when people first felt the need to somehow measure the intervals shorter than a day. The exact date of their occurrence is now impossible to learn - so long ago it was. The first specimens measured the time, marking the movement of the sun across the sky, and by running water. Also, as the base of the clock, sand and fire were used.

With the improvement of knowledge and the increase in the pace of life, more accurate designs were required. Sand, fire and water clocks were refined and complicated, then they were replaced by mechanical time meters.

Gears, spring and pendulum

The oldest mechanical clock was found at the bottom of the sea off the island of Antikythera. They date from 100 BC. Antikiterskie astronomical clock is unique: they have a rather complex design and have no analogues in the culture of Hellenes. The mechanism, according to several undertaken reconstructions, consisted of 32 gears. The clock showed a change of days, the movement of the Sun and the Moon. On the dial, the signs of the zodiac were depicted. It is possible that the design was capable of simulating and moving across the sky of Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter.

The watch with an anchor mechanism first appeared in China in 725. A little later, in 1000, a pendulum was used in Germany. The tower clock was the first in Western Europe to be built in 1288 in Westminter.

The mechanisms that measure time have become increasingly accurate. Their manufacture required considerable skill. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe, the astronomical hours, which are astonishing in their beauty and delicacy, are created, which today the whole world admires.

A masterpiece from Lyon

The oldest working astronomical clock in France adorns the cathedral in Saint-Jean (Lyon). They were created in the XIV century, destroyed, then restored from 1572 to 1600, decorated with a Baroque decor in 1655. Initially, like all the watches of this era, they were equipped with only an hour hand. The dial was installed only in the 18th century.

In addition to time, looking at Lyon's astronomical clock, anyone can find out the date, the position of the two main luminaries, the Moon and the Sun in the sky. The mechanism also shows when the brightest stars rise above the city. During the day, the clock is struck four times (at 12, 14, 15, 16 hours). At the top of the structure are the pupae, which begin to move during the ringing.

Pride of Prague

The astronomical clock of the eagle, located on the tower of the Town Hall in Prague, is famous all over the world. Their history can be called dramatic. Created by Orloj was more than 600 years ago, in 1402, he earned a bit later - in 1410-m. The "fathers" of the clock are the astronomer Ian Shindel and the master Mikulash from Kadan.

The decoration of the town hall had to be repaired several times. In 1490, Ganush of Rouget made changes to the mechanism and, according to legend, was blinded by order of the Prague authorities, so that he could not repeat the created one again. At the same time, the clock was decorated with allegorical figures and equipped with calendar disks.

New significant design changes occurred in 1865. Then Josef Manes supplemented the eagle with a calendar dial with medallions decorated with symbolic images of the months, with the signs of the zodiac. The golden cockerel that appears after the movement of the figures has appeared on the watch in 1882.

Orloj today

Prague watches amaze not only with their beauty, but also with the virtuosity of the work of the masters who created them. Orloj shows Old Bohemian, Babylonian, stellar, Italian and, of course, "present" time. By the hour you can find out the date, the position of the Earth and the signs of the zodiac. They mark the sunrise and sunset of the Sun, the Moon. Every hour the figures decorating the eagle begin to move, they talk about human vices, remind of the eternal.

Clock of Strasbourg Cathedral

The astronomical clock of the Strasbourg cathedral was finally completed in 1857. Their predecessors were established in 1354 and 1574 years. The uniqueness of the clock is in their ability to calculate the dates of the passing church holidays, as well as a mechanism showing the precession of the earth's axis. Its full turnover is completed in more than 25 thousand years. Strasbourg watches show local and solar time, the orbits of the Earth, the Moon and the planet from Mercury to Saturn.

This is not a complete list of masterpieces adorning different cities around the world. Even 1 astronomical hour (the very one that is equal to 60 minutes) does not contain a description of all the subtleties of the mechanisms and adorable ornaments of such creations. However, this is not necessary - such masterpieces embodying a fusion of knowledge, skill, mathematical calculation and creative inspiration, it is better to see with your own eyes.