It is possible that life as we know it could not have developed here had the moon not been there to keep the Earth in line and continue to stabilize the orbital position of the Earth so our climate could remain stable and mild. A third significant influence of the moon comes from that origin as coming from a collision which ripped the body of the moon from the developing core of the Earth. Not only has science and religion completely gone their separate ways since Ptolemy but the science of astronomy makes tremendous strides every year that are so phenomenal, Ptolemy would be truly astounded. Probably the biggest point of diversion between a student of astrology and astronomy is the belief that the position of the stars has meaning over the events on our lives. Pictures in the Sky One of the earliest activities we engaged in when we first got into astronomy is the same one we like to show our children just as soon as their excitement about the night sky begins to surface. That is the fun of finding constellations. But finding constellations and using them to navigate the sky is a discipline that goes back virtually to the dawn of man. Other than the Olympic movement, international cooperation to achieve great strides for human kind in space seems to go forward without interruption even when the nations cooperating in those projects are virtually at war back on the surface of the earth. It is a strange thing to watch as Russian, American and other astronauts work together like brothers on space missions even as their home nations are busily pointing missiles at each other back at home. There were similar movements going on in China, India, and Ancient Egypt and all over the Arabian Peninsula. Astronomy has had an impact on so many areas of our lives that we really don t recognize. Many words in our language had their roots in astronomy such as... - Influenza which comes from the Latin root word for influence. In that way, these scientists can see everything that is going on out there and so get a precise idea of how the stars look, behave now and will behave in the future. For some of us who have heard about radio astronomy, we think of it in terms of listening for signs of life in the universe. And yes, SETI, or the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence is a part of radio astronomy, albeit a tiny part.