Astronomy and astrology in Middle-Earth?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Morwen

I wasn't trying to suggest that any of the things I mentioned were astrology in the sense that you seem to be using.
Short point - From what I have read (and subject to correction) there doesn't seem to be clear evidence of astrology in Middle earth.

Oh yeah, then - okay. Only since the point was astrology before, I thought you had that in mind (also with all the centaurs things). All right then.

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

Astrology and astronomy aren't SO different...

Now probably quite a lot of astronomers - and astrologues maybe as well - would look at you as on a poor uninformed person (in the better case) if you said such a thing in their sight. The origins of both lie in the ancient times and in the same roots, and they were both considered "sciencies" (or so we would say now) at these times; this is also what explains the controversial name of astrology (with the ending -logy we are more used to real "sciencies" like biology and so on, so in fact astronomy should be rather named astrology; yet, in these past times astronomy indeed concerned herself more with naming, catalogizing, observing stellar objects while astrology made "scientifical" conclusions based on the movements of the skies). Yet, and that remains till today, astrology specializes itself on horoscopes and such things, while astronomy is all that has something to do with exploring the space, catalogizing the stars and other object, explaining their movements, "mapping" them - how distant they are, how luminous they are, what is the prognosis of the lifespan of the stars etc. Astrology, as far as I know, does not concern itself with how distant this and this star is or what the surface of this and this planet is like, but only where this planet was when you were born and similar things.