Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered — John Shaqi
Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically ConsideredLockyer, Norman, Sir
History
Stonehenge and Other British Stone Monuments Astronomically Considered
Lockyer, Norman, Sir
Druids and Druidism; Great Britain -- Antiquities; Stonehenge (England); Sun worship; Temples
Since all the stars which pass between the North Pole and the horizon
cannot set, all their apparent movements will take place above the
horizon. All the stars between the horizon and the South Pole will never
rise. Hence, stars within the distance of 25° from the North Pole will
never set at Thebes, and those stars within 25° of the South Pole will
never be visible there. At any place the latitude and the elevation of
the pole are the same. It so happens that many of those places with
which archæologists have to do in studying the history of early
peoples--Chaldæa, Egypt, Babylonia, &c.--are in low middle latitudes,
therefore we have to deal with bodies in the skies which do set and
bodies which do not, and the elevation of the pole is neither very great
nor very small. But although in each different latitude the inclination
of the equator to the horizon as well as the elevation of the pole will
vary, there will be a strict relationship between the inclination of the
equator at each place and the elevation of the pole. Except at the poles
themselves the equator will cut the horizon due east and due west;
therefore every celestial body to the north of the celestial equator
which rises and sets will cut the horizon between the east and west
point and the north point; those bodies which do not rise will of course
not cut the horizon at all.
The stars near the equator, and the sun, in such a latitude as that of
Thebes, will appear to rise or set at no very considerable angle from
the vertical; but when we deal with stars very near to the north or
south points of the horizon they will seem to skim along the horizon
instead of rising directly.
* * * * *
We now pass on to Stonehenge. To represent the new condition the axis of
the globe will now require to be inclined 51° to the horizon. The number
of northern stars which do not set and of southern stars which do not
rise will be much greater than at Thebes. The most northern and southern
stars visible will in their movement hug the horizon more closely than
was observed under the Thebes condition.
The sun, both at Thebes and Stonehenge, since it moves among the stars
from 23¹⁄₂° N. to 23¹⁄₂° S. each year, will change its place of rising
and setting at different times of the year.
Now it will at once be obvious that there must be a strict law
connecting the position of a star with its place of rising or setting.
Stars at the same distance from the celestial pole or equator will rise
or set at the same point of the horizon, and if a star does not change
its place in the heavens it will always rise or set in the same place.
The sun as it changes its position each day, in its swing N. and S. of
the equator, will rise and set on any day in the same place as a star
which permanently has the same distance from the equator as that
temporarily occupied by the sun.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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