Cultures of Astronomy

1
Cultures of Astronomy

• Marc K Stengel

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Paradise Lost (really?)

• Some say, he bid his angels turn askance
• The poles of earth, twice ten degrees and more
• From the suns axle, they with labour pushed
• Oblique the centric globe some say, the sun
• Was bid turn reins from the equinoctial road
  Milton, Book 10

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Daring to know all

• But for every myth told, there is another,
• Unnameable, that is not told, another
• Which beckons from the shadows,
• Surfacing only through allusions,
• Fragments, coincidences, with nobody ever
• Daring to tell all in a single story.
• The Marriage of Cadmus Harmony, Roberto Calasso

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Whats in sight?

• Sun  solar sights
• Moon  lunar sights
• Stars  sidereal sights
• Planets flaunting, wandering sights
• Poles  revolving, precessing sights

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SunshinesEcliptic versus Equator
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Ecliptic and Seasons
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The Longer Day
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The Shorter Day
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MoonshinesFeel It In Thy Bones
Engraved bone from Ishango, Congo, circa 6,500
BCE (three faces)
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Sidereal versus Synodic Months
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The Days are Numbered

• Tropical Year  365.2422 days
• Sidereal Year  365.2564 days
• Synodic Lunar Month 29.53 days
• Sidereal Lunar Month  27.32 days
• Lunations  12.368 full moons per year
• Metonic Cycle  235 lunations in 19.0002 years

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Pattern-Shopping

• Solar counts  4, 6, 12, 30, 360, 365
• Lunar counts   4, 7, 13, 28, 52, 364
• All at sixes and sevens
• A year and a day
• 52-card pick-em-up 4 suits 13 cards per
  suit 91 pips per suit for 364 pips per deck
  and the Joker

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Oh, by the way

• Out of the first 12 integers, 10 are factors of
  360
• Only 7 and 11 are excluded but
• 11/7 1/2 of P (or circumference of a
  semi-circle with diameter-unit of 1)
• In isoceles triangle of base 11, altitude 7 two
  bottom angles 51 50 34
• Angle of elevation for sides of the Great
  Pyramid of Khufu (Cheops) 51 50 40
• Latitude of Stonehenge 51 10 44

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Thorny Issue The Briar Rose

• The Queen has a little girl the King holds a
  feast
• There are 13 fairies in the Kingdom, but the King
  has only 12 golden plates for them
• Curse of 13 Princess pricks finger in 15th year
  and swoons It shall not be death but a deep
  sleep
• Briar hedge surrounds and obscures castle
• Prince forces the hedge, kisses the Princess
  splendor returns to the Kingdom

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Stars in their eyes

• Pisces, Aries, Taurus
• Gemini, Cancer, Leo
• Virgo, Libra, Scorpius
• Sagittarius, Capricornus,   Aquarius

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Where does the time go?

• 1 day 360 24 hours
• 1/2-day 180 12 hours
• 1 month 30
• 1 hour 15
• 1 4 minutes

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The Shape of Time Here
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The Shape of Time There
Station Stone Rectangle at StonehengeN 51
10'44? W 1 49'34?
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Ways of the Week
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Morning Starlets
Astarte, Ishtar, Tanit
Her emblems were the moon and the morning and
evening stars
Autumnal Equinox 1737before sunrise
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Evening Starlets
Aphrodite, Venus, Freya
Vernal Equinox 1825before sunset
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BeforeYou Know It
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Unsteady as She Goes
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When Was When?

• Vernal Equinoxs Timetable Through the Zodiac
• Virgo 12,000 CE - 15,300 CE
• Libra 10,300 CE - 12,000 CE
• Scorpius/Ophiuchus 8,600 CE - 10,300 CE
• Sagittarius 6,300 CE - 8,600 CE
• Capricornus 4,400 CE - 6,300 CE
• Aquarius 2,700 CE - 4,400 CE
• Pisces 100 BCE - 2,700 BCE
• Aries 2,000 BCE - 100 BCE
• Taurus 4,500 BCE - 2,000 BCE
• Gemini 6,600 BCE - 4,500 BCE
• Cancer 8,100 BCE - 6,600 BCE

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????? PhanesReveal, dis-cover
So, Whatll it Be?
??????? Make visible, manifest
???????? phantom, apparition
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Will Wonders Never Cease?