Timeline for How far out can a pre-telescope human society (naked eye observations only) detect planets?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
4 events
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| Dec 21, 2018 at 22:41 | comment | added | Harthag | Yes, astrology in stories is one purpose I intended for this question. And the fact that invisible objects are irrelevant in that sense is also a basis for the question. Determining a full planetary system isn't useful in that type of setting, because anything outside the range of observation couldn't possibly have an effect on the society in that way. However, even if said society classified it as a star, a distant planet could still "behave" noticeably different ("special/important star") from actual stars, and could be given preferential status in their astrology/mythology as a result. | |
| Dec 20, 2018 at 21:40 | comment | added | Geronimo | An addendun - since the question deals with ""primitive"" societies it also deals with astrology, specifically something like the classical, pagan, astrology. In this system what matters is what you see, the human perception of the world. So, invisible objects are irrelevant, even if they exist. Also an object that is too slow won't be classified as a planet but as a fixed star. Also the ancients were aware that the fixed stars werent that fixed in a long enough time, like the crab nebula supernova shown. | |
| Dec 18, 2018 at 21:55 | comment | added | Harthag | Very good points, but not actually an answer to the question ... A Jupiter sized planet (significantly larger than Uranus) that is more reflective than any in our current solar system should (I suspect) be visible at a significantly greater distance, and while speed would make it hard to differentiate from fixed stars, it should still be possible with enough long term observations. | |
| Dec 18, 2018 at 21:41 | history | answered | Geronimo | CC BY-SA 4.0 |