Stars

What we know about stars has changed over thousands of years. Early astronomers recorded the positions and numbers of stars. They did not think that stars could change. The first catalogue of stars was made by Chinese astronomers Gan De and Shi Shenfu around 400 BCE. Astronomers soon realised that 'new stars' could appear in the sky. We know these now as supernovae. The final explosion of a massive star's life.

Claudius was born in Alexandria, Egypt, which was part of the Roman Empire at the time. Very little is known about his life. The information we do have has been taken from the books he wrote. 

Cecilia was born in Wendover, England. Her mother was interested in lots of different topics like nature, music and theatre. Cecilia spent lots of time reading in her home's library.

At the age of 19, she won a scholarship to Cambridge University to study science. During that time, Cecilia went to a talk given by Arthur Eddington. Arthur talked about his recent trip to Africa to observe the stars near a solar eclipse. This sparked Cecilia's interest in astronomy.

There is very little known about Gan De’s life and work, but we do know he was one of the first Chinese astronomers.

Gan De wrote at least 2 books: ‘Treatise on Jupiter’ and ‘Astrological Predictions’. His books have since been lost and are no longer available. We know about his work because later astronomers have made reference to it.