Kepler and Weather Prediction

Table from Kepler's Ephemerides. Table from Kepler's Ephemerides.


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Kepler believed that the earth's atmosphere was susceptible to planetary influences, for instance the conjunction of Saturn and the Sun would produce cold weather. Just as planetary aspects affect humans because their soul may perceive that geometrical relationship, so too Kepler speculated that the Earth had a soul that stretched up to the moon and was affected by these aspects, which in turn produced weather variations. From 1593, Kepler began recording the daily weather in Graz, with the hope of clarifying the influence of the stars on the weather. The Ephemerides part II, for 1621 and 1629 contained Kepler's daily weather observations for 1617 to 1620. His calendars between 1617 and 1624 included weather predictions

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