Analyzing Observational Data and Planetary Analyzing Observational Data and Planetary Parameters of Muḥyī al-Dīn al-Maghribī in Maragha Observatory (Case Study of Structural Parameters of Saturn’s Orbit)

تاریخ و فرهنگ

Article 4, Volume 42, Issue 2 - Serial Number 85, March 2011   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/history.v0i1.11761

Authors

Sayyid Muḥammad Muẓaffarī^* ; GholamHosein Rahimi

Abstract

Muḥyī al-Dīn Maghribī is among the few astronomers of the middle ages whose astronomical system is entirely based on new measures of planetary parameters and whose measurement of the observational data and calculation processes for determining their amount have been carried out in Maragha Observatory. He has explained the details of his observations and calculations in a volume called Talkhīṣ al-Majasṭī. In the present research, Muḥyī al-Dīn’s data, calculations, and final measure for the structural parameters of Saturn’s orbit (eccentricity and the position of the zenith of the vector circle) are examined through the application of two methods: A. numeral analysis with respect to new amounts, and B. critical study in the course of history.
Keywords: Maragha Observatory, observational astronomy, Saturn, mean opposition, eccentricity, zenith.