We can assume that people have been observing the stars for as long as we have had minds enough to wonder. Throughout most of history there have been two reasons that people looked to the heavens: as a tool for predicting seasonal events such as planting and harvest times, and as a source of spiritual guidance and mythological explanation. Rare elements of true science have occasionally shown up, for example in ancient Greece, but it is only in the last few hundred years that we can really say that astronomy has become a science in the modern sense.

Sadly, we still live in a world of irrational people who are prepared to believe in astrology and other nonsense. For these people, I have only sympathy that they have given up the very essence of what makes us human: our ability to reason. For our ancestors, who didn't know better, I give credit for the observations and discoveries that were made and which contributed to our knowledge today. When I travel, I always enjoy visiting sites with some historic astronomical significance, and I share here some of those places.