Aristotle discovered that Earth was spherical by observing the round shadow it cast on the moon during lunar eclipses and by noting that different constellations were visible from different latitudes.

In the third century BCE, the Greek astronomer Aristarchus of Samos estimated the distance to the moon using geometry after measuring the length of Earth's shadow during a lunar eclipse.

Earth's circumference was estimated over 2,000 years ago using geometry and shadows

By measuring the angle of the shadow cast in Syene when no shadow was cast in Alexandria, Eratosthenes used the distance between the two cities and trigonometry to estimate the Earth's circumference to within a few percentage points of the actual value.

How the ancients calculated Earth's size correctly

Watch this seven-minute video to hear Carl Sagan explain how ancient Greek polymath Eratosthenes correctly calculated the size of the Earth in the third century BCE. At some point, Eratosthenes noticed a discrepancy in the length of shadows cast in different cities during the summer solstice. This observation grew into a simple experiment that enabled Eratosthenes, the head librarian at the Library of Alexandria, to calculate the Earth's size precisely.

Explaining why the Earth wobbles

Astronomers going back to Hipparchus in the 2nd century BCE have noticed our planet has a distinct wobble. More recently, scientists have observed that the Earth is 26 miles wider at the equator than from pole to pole. The wobble results from our...

Earth's smooth, continuous motion as it orbits the sun prevents detectable motion

Although humans are sensitive to acceleration, Earth's nearly circular orbit around the sun and its slow spin relative to its size produce negligibly small, minimally changing accelerations. However, the changing seasons and the day-night cycle are evidence of Earth's movement through space, as verified by satellites and telescopes.

Earth’s tilt and orbit cause the sun to create a figure-eight pattern

The shape—called an analemma—can be obtained by photographing the sun from the same location and time daily for a year. The Earth's eccentricity created the analemma's width, and its tilt shifts the sun's height in the sky over the seasons.

From the Greek for 'star taker,' the astrolabe allowed individuals to tell time and determine their latitude based on the position of the sun or other stars, as well as calculate the height of objects.

Galileo's Jupiter discovery shattered Earth-centered universe beliefs

Using a telescope inspired by Dutch designs, Galileo spotted four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610, providing undeniable evidence against geocentrism and fueled support for the heliocentric model. Galileo’s original telescope design stretched 20 meters long—a feat of optical engineering for its time.

While the sun, moon, and stars rise and set from east to west due to Earth's rotation, the moon's eastward revolution around the Earth causes its shadow to move from west to east during a solar eclipse.

The Foucault pendulum is direct evidence that the Earth rotates, as the apparent change in the plane of its swing results from the ground beneath the pendulum rotating over several hours.

Four astronomical discoveries from ancient Greece

Modern astronomy relies on making discoveries without being present on the planets, stars, galaxies, and other objects studied. Imagine the difficulty the ancient Greeks had studying them without computers and telescopes. Yet somehow they calculated precise measurements of planetary distances, sizes, and more. Read this page to learn more about early triumphs in astronomical science.

Scientists validated Albert Einstein's theory of gravity by measuring the apparent positions of stars via their starlight as it traveled near the sun on its way to Earth during a total solar eclipse.

Galileo’s discovery of Jupiter’s moons led to multiple scientific advancements

Beyond challenging Earth-centric views upon their discovery in 1610, the Galilean moons were also later analyzed to contribute to early astrometry and astronomical interferometry. Measurements of eclipses were also used to estimate the speed of light.

Some maps may incorrectly identify the boundaries of a solar eclipse's totality because they assume the Earth is a smooth surface.

In 1676, Danish astronomer Ole Rømer determined that light did not travel instantaneously by observing a delay in the appearance of solar eclipses on Jupiter when it was farther from Earth.

A breakdown of the experimental test results supporting the general theory of relativity

Besides accurately explaining the slight wobble observed in Mercury's orbit, general relativity predicted that light would bend around massive objects by an amount matching what was observed when background starlight bent around the sun during an eclipse. The theory also predicted the existence of gravitational waves and black holes decades before they were found.

Scientists can map Earth's shape and structure by measuring the ratios of certain particles arriving from different directions in space, as these ratios change with the density of the material particles travel through.

The geoid depicts what Earth would look like if not for tides and currents, given the planet's rotation and uneven gravitational field.

Over thousands of years, the frequency of solar eclipses is greatest around the Arctic and Antarctic Circles and lowest near the equator.

Ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus created accurate maps of the night sky way ahead of his time, with coordinates sometimes within a single degree of modern values.

Our brains trick us into seeing an enlarged Moon when on the horizon

Humans perceive the sky as a flattened bowl and judge the size of an object by accounting for its perceived distance away from us. Combined, studies have found that the Moon on the horizon is perceived to be larger because the terrain makes it seem like it is farther away, similar to the Ponzo illusion.

Explore the Earth at night from space

See the planet in all its luminosity with this NightEarth app, an interactive spherical globe showing real satellite imagery of Earth. Toggle between views of real-time clouds, aurora borealis activity, and more.

Ancient Greek told to kick rocks after claiming moon wasn't a deity

About 2,500 years ago, ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras theorized that the moon probably wasn't a goddess. This article explains how this belief led to his exile. Anaxagoras also argued the sun was just a burning rock, writing that it was the sun that illuminated the moon. According to this resource, this theory enabled Anaxagoras to accurately explain eclipses and lunar cycles.

No map of the Earth is perfect because each introduces inaccuracies in the shape, size, or orientation of landmasses and oceans by trying to flatten the planet's curved surface.

Astronomers inferred Neptune's existence through mathematics while attempting to explain irregularities in Uranus' orbit, but Neptune had been directly observed 234 years earlier by Galileo.

Are there any planets in the universe that aren’t round?

We think of all planets as spheres, but do they have to be spheres? To be classified as a planet, an object has to be sufficiently massive to reach a spherical shape through gravity. However, this doesn't mean they're perfectly round; for example, Earth has a slight equatorial bulge caused by centrifugal force from its rotation. Other observed planets feature tear-shaped formations while theorists posit donut-shaped planets. Read more here.

All rainbows are 'raincircles' caused by water droplets separating white sunlight into a spectrum of colors, but Earth's surface blocks the bottom half of the circle from our line of sight.

Early timekeeping tools included sundials, water clocks, and astrolabes

Astrolabes also provided a person's latitude based on the height of the stars in the sky, thus aiding in navigation. Incense and candle clocks relied on the constant burning rate of fire to track the passage of time based on premarked locations with equal-interval spacing.

By identifying patterns in the periodic movements of the sun, moon, and Earth, ancient civilizations realized that identical eclipses repeat about once every 6,585 days, known as the saros cycle.

Records of Earth's magnetic field on the seafloor validated plate tectonics

Matching glacial, fossil, and rock records, mountain ranges, and continental shapes across oceans was insufficient evidence for continental drift. Precise measurements of magnetic minerals on the ocean floor revealed seafloor spreading, which could only be explained by moving landmasses.

Because the half of Earth that faces the sun is larger than the area of the shadow cast by the moon during a solar eclipse, observers may experience a total, annular, or partial eclipse.

Craters found on the moon and the calculated dates of these impacts, based on rocks returned by the Apollo missions, suggest that Earth was pummeled by asteroids for millions of years—a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment.

According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the first person to successfully predict a solar eclipse was the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus in 585 BCE, with the resulting celestial event ending a half-decade-long war.

The crew of Artemis II captured a photograph of Earth setting as they orbited the moon

On April 6, 2026, the Artemis II astronauts captured a striking image of Earth setting as their spacecraft orbited the Moon, echoing the iconic Earthrise photo taken by Apollo 8's Bill Anders 58 years earlier.

Visualizing the history of Saturn and its rings

Every 13 to 16 years, Saturn's rings become far less visible because its plane becomes exactly even with Earth's. This visual-rich essay explores the history of humanity's perception of Saturn, from Galileo's first sighting (and dubbing the rings "ears") to the idea that the rings won't last more than a few hundred millions years more. Explore this fascinating planet here.

Scientists define sea level as the elevation to which water would settle on Earth's surface, given the planet's gravitational field and rotation.

Just as light bends at different angles as it travels through different materials, seismic waves move in different directions through Earth's interior, revealing the presence of layers with varying properties.

Railroads and long-distance communication led to the development of time zones, with Greenwich established as the prime meridian—the longitude of 0 degrees—due to British advancements in star mapping and navigation.

Gravity Probe B verified that rotating objects drag spacetime

The experiment involved attaching four freely floating gyroscopes to a telescope aimed at a distant star for a year. The observed angular shift of the gyroscopes as a result of Earth's rotation pulling on spacetime was approximately 0.0000012 degrees from the amount predicted by general relativity.

This flat map is still wrong, but it's the least wrong of all flat maps

While flat maps can never be as perfectly scaled as a globe, they're far more practical than carrying around a sphere. Researchers set out to minimize six major errors of flat maps, including boundary cuts and skewed proportions, by simply squashing...

The solar system's planets orbit in the same direction in a nearly flat disc because the particles that made up the gas cloud from which the system formed had an initial, overall plane of rotation.

Imagining a fourth dimension

Famous astronomer Carl Sagan attempts to describe what it's like to think about the fourth dimension using the famous Flatland example from author Edwin Abbott in this classic video.

View photographs of solar eclipses on Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn caused by the moons of these planets blocking sunlight.

While the leading hypothesis for the moon's origin involves a Mars-sized object called Theia striking ancient Earth and forming from the resulting debris, it cannot explain why lunar isotope abundances match Earth.

Just before and just after a total solar eclipse, sunlight can pass through uneven terrain on the lunar surface, producing disconnected bits of light around the moon called Baily's beads.

View historical records of solar observations and discoveries, from telescopes in the early 1600s revealing sunspots to NASA's Parker Solar Probe photographing the sun from within its outer corona in 2025.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Albert Einstein's theory of gravity arose from what he described as 'the happiest thought of his life': realizing that a person who fell off the roof of their house would not feel their own weight as they fell.

The overview effect is a cognitive shift experienced when viewing Earth from space

Astronauts regularly report profound realizations after seeing Earth from space for the first time, sometimes prompting significant philosophical changes, including a greater awareness of the interconnectedness and fragility of life.

The theory of plate tectonics was not initially accepted until evidence became undeniable

Alfred Wegener proposed continental drift—the movement of large landmasses—in 1912 to explain why similar rock layers, plant and animal fossils, and glacial deposits were found on continents that were then unconnected. In the early 1960s, this was combined with evidence of seafloor spreading, mantle convection in Earth's interior, and earthquake and volcanic data outlining plate boundaries to produce the accepted theory.