The Scientific Method and Myths surrounding Astronomical Ancient Structures

Pic credit- thegarethwiscombe

  The scientist is not the person who gives the right answers; he is the one that asks the right questions.

-Claude Levi-Strauss

Hello to all of you astrophiles! Welcome to another blog on astronomy. In this one, in accordance with the above quote, I will attempt to address two basic questions. The first one is-

What is the scientific method and how does astronomy vary from lab sciences?

The second one is a little absurd. It’s about how would I tackle some people who claim that Stonehenge and other ancient astronomical structures are “evidences” of ancient astronauts and visits from aliens? 

To begin with, let me first introduce in plain words what the scientific method is all about. The scientific method relies heavily on data and evidence. It attempts to reach the truth (not ultimate) through experimentation and observation. It involves the formulation of hypotheses which when tested and proved repeatedly become theories which can apply over a generalized set of things.

So, the way in which astronomy differs from lab sciences like chemistry and biology is that, astronomy depends heavily on observations while the latter depends more on experimentation. The former uses observatories while the latter uses laboratories.  Astronomy is a field of science that deals with the observable universe as a whole and whatever is beyond that. It has a vast scope for imaginative thinking. Lab sciences perform experiments which are under the control of the scientists but for astronomers, they cannot control the celestial objects. We can only avail of some rocks from Moon and Mars, but that is pretty much it. The rest of the information about the universe is received by us in the form of electromagnetic radiation. In astronomy, experiments are essentially observations. Astronomy first requires a speculation in terms of a hypothesis which is then tested by observations of the night sky using telescopes and images taken by spacecrafts and rovers, while the lab sciences perform various experiments to prove the hypothesis. 

So as it turns out, in astronomy, the sky was never the limit.

   

As an additional note, I would like to add that fields of science are always intertwined. They are not independent of each other and that is the beauty of the scientific method. Ways and knowledge of astronomy are somehow applied in biology and chemistry and vice versa resulting in emergent fields of astrobiology and astrochemistry.

Before I begin with the second answer, I want you to take a minute or two and think deeply about it. The way we tackle these situations are different for each person. Once done, go ahead and read my way of doing so!

To address the second question, let me first tell a bit about what these monuments are. Stonehenge is a historical monument that was used to make astronomical observations and it took several hundred years to build it using blue stones dragged across miles. The other two, in brief so to speak, are also of astronomical significance.

So when, some people assert that these structures are in fact evidences of “ancient astronauts” or visits by some intelligent extraterrestrial life or aliens, I will try to reason with them. I will ask them if they have any type of data that recorded visits by these aliens or astronauts. As I know that there is no such confirmatory data, when they inform me about the same, I’ll further ask them a question, ‘ Do you all (the people) think that aliens from light years away would use their technology in space travel just to come and visit earth, build these structures, and go away, leaving these indefinite “evidences” of their arrival?’ This would be an attempt to get them thinking about the statement they made in a more practical light.

 The ancient societies of the world felt a need to have a mechanism in this case, these impressive monuments to monitor the motions of planets, the earth (including the winter and summer solstices and eclipses) and other objects so as to organize their activities, mainly agricultural processes. Some of these ancient monuments had a religious and cultural significance like that of worshipping the solstices. The Chaco Canyon, an amazing example of this was made entirely by the ancient civilizations. It makes total sense that they were capable of building these without any external help of aliens or astronauts. People who lived millennia ago were not very modern but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t practical in their thinking and way of living. Some even did groundbreaking work in the field of astronomy.

In conclusion, I would reinforce the rules of the scientific method and tell them to drop the merely baseless ideas that have no evidence to back up the claim. 

In the end, it all comes back to the logic of little green men coming in their flying saucers with building tools to build these structures so that we earthlings could progress in astronomy. How very generous of them, alas, it’s just a wild fantasy.

- Fatema Petiwala