by Eklavya Doegar, Student, 8th grade

Amazing stories from Ancient Astronomy

Aryabhata I: The Young Stargazer 

A long time ago in the land of India, there lived a boy who couldn’t stop looking up at the skies.

This was in the 5th century CE. At an age when most children are into playing or learning life skills, Aryabhata loved watching the skies. Every night, he would lie on the ground and stare at the sky, wondering, why do the stars move? Why does the Sun rise every day?

Aryabhata used to write down everything he saw. He noticed that the stars seemed to move in a circle across the sky. 

Most people at that time believed the Earth was still, and the sky moved around it. But he asked the question challenging this assumption: 

“What if the Earth is moving instead?” 

Aryabhata thought differently. He observed, calculated and figured out that the Earth spins on its axis! That’s why the stars appear to move.

Aryabhata conducted even more observations and estimated how long it took the Earth to go all the way around the Sun (what we now call a year), and his answer was almost exactly right. 

Aryabhata also worked on the number pi, which we still use to calculate circles and orbits today! He wrote all this in a book called the Aryabhatiya when he was just 23 years old. His observations, findings supported with calculations were found to be very powerful, and they even traveled across countries and centuries.

So the next time you look at the stars, remember Aryabhata. The curious boy who made detailed observations, asked questions, and changed the way we see our planet!