<Li> <P> Scale model of the Earth--Moon system: Sizes and distances are to scale . </P> </Li> <P> Scale model of the Earth--Moon system: Sizes and distances are to scale . </P> <P> About 1000 BC, the Babylonians were the first human civilization known to have kept a consistent record of lunar observations . Clay tablets from that period, which have been found over the territory of present - day Iraq, are inscribed with cuneiform writing recording the times and dates of moonrises and moonsets, the stars that the Moon passed close by, and the time differences between rising and setting of both the Sun and the Moon around the time of the full moon . Babylonian astronomy discovered the three main periods of the Moon's motion and used data analysis to build lunar calendars that extended well into the future . This use of detailed, systematic observations to make predictions based on experimental data may be classified as the first scientific study in human history . However, the Babylonians seem to have lacked any geometrical or physical interpretation of their data, and they could not predict future lunar eclipses (although "warnings" were issued before likely eclipse times). </P> <P> Ancient Greek astronomers were the first to introduce and analyze mathematical models of the motion of objects in the sky . Ptolemy described lunar motion by using a well - defined geometric model of epicycles and evection . </P>

Who discovered that the moon orbits the earth