User:Fiat mihi secundum verbum/Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world

Astronomical Methods
Al-Farabi (d. 950) was a philosopher who had a method of knowing what astronomy was. He describes mathematical astronomy but also can convey a sense of understanding of an astronomy presented with music/optics. In a mathematical sense astronomy can be broken up into three parts as explained by Al-Farabi. He shows that inhabited and uninhabited places on earth can be examined with astronomy how the earth moves and from day or night. Another is the movement of different Astronomical objects of where they move to, number of motions, and where they started. The third one is the shapes/sizes/positioning the celestial bodies obtain. Al-Farabi's believes that his idea of a mathematical astronomy is separate from science. Such as physics dealing with the internal aspect of planets, what they can be made out of. As for astronomy is restricted to the external aspect, such as, positioning, shape, and size. This helps show how Al-Farabi's method of figuring out knowledge on what astronomy was can not correct. Namely to separate physics and astronomy as two separate sciences in order to discover more about the subject. Al-Farabi had followed some of the same ideas as Ptolemy. This was because Ptolemy enjoyed observations and only knew mathematics to be accurate way of composing compelling reason. Rather than having to deal with physics and metaphysics because they were seen as unreliable to help prove theories of the universe. Ptolemy had a mathematical way of astronomy just as Al-Farabi. His way was called Analemma, which is a way to calculate the Suns position from a fixed location. Within old historic texts, such as Vitruvius Architecture IX.7, and Hero of Alexandria's Dioptra 35, analemma's were drawn to help solve answers to problems that had to deal with geometry, possibly about astronomy. The analemma was shown to be one of Ptolemy's Hypothesis' for problem solving. An analemma is very complicated and difficult to understand with multiple techniques on how to draw and perform the math of one. It was very common for many people to group the sundial and analemma together. Ptolemy's analemma helped the Islamic period thrive because it was used continuously to locate the sun.