The first observers attempted to discover an order behind the cyclical and harmonious return of the planets. For the Babylonians, the Earth was a flat disk floating on the Ocean. In the 6th century B.C., the Greeks had a geocentric vision, with the Earth at the centre of the universe. It was not before two thousand years, and many dramatic controversies, that there was a change of view and that heliocentrism gave the Sun back its true place. A great distance has been travelled since then, both in terms of concepts as well as observation capacities., like our understanding of polar auroras, which has fascinated or terrified the inhabitants of northern and southern lands for centuries. Today, the Sun's pure and dazzling beauty can even be observed from space.
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