Puzzle...

KerrTexas

KerrTexas

Super Moderator
Look at this image of Stonehenge.

stonetopo.gif


Notice the placement of the markers for North, East and South ( cant see one for West ), and then compare it to the compass heading placed by whomever made the map.

What factors determined the placement of the ancient markers?

Why is the construct angled off from the directions as given by the map maker?

Is one indicator true north, and the other magnetic north?

Anyone have an answer to whether or not the structure of Stonehenge is accurate with compass headings...?
 
OvLrdLegion,

Star charts aren't my bag. But the answer to your question is a bit more complex than it might appear to be. We need to know within reason when Stonehenge was built. The Earth has a precession about the rotational North Pole and a precession of the magnetic pole declination with respect to "true" north. That means that that "hallway" points at a lot of places over the course of time. It marks out an eliptical figure-8 that varies (as I recall) by about + & - 14 degrees over a 28,000 year cycle

Don't hold me to the figures. I believe that they are close but, as I said, I'm really not very knowledgable in star charting and observational astronomy.

Any pilots, navigators or astronomers out there?
 
Hi OvrLrd & Darby:

But the answer to your question is a bit more complex than it might appear to be. We need to know within reason when Stonehenge was built. The Earth has a precession about the rotational North Pole and a precession of the magnetic pole declination with respect to "true" north. That means that that "hallway" points at a lot of places over the course of time. It marks out an eliptical figure-8 that varies (as I recall) by about + & - 14 degrees over a 28,000 year cycle
Click to expand...
Yes, it is a bit more complex. The biggest variable is the change over time of magnetic declination. HERE is a cool site where you can point to anywhere on the globe and get a reading on the current magnetic variance from true north. But this changes yearly, and it is not always a constant change.

Given where you are going with this OvrLrd, I would suggest there are 3 possibilities:

1) If "they" oriented Stonehenge to true north (which it does not appear to be the case), then magnetic variance AND the precession of the earth's axis would not come into play (i.e. the placement of stonehenge would follow the true north precession over the 28000 year cycle, which I do believe is the correct period, Darby).
2) If "they" oriented it towards the north star, then only the precession of the "true north" axis would come into play.
3) If "they" oriented it towards magnetic north (most unlikely, IMO) then both mag variance and axial precession would have an impact.

However, if memory serves me correctly, the orientation was selected based on the "due east" portal aligning with the rising sun on the summer solstice. Isn't that right? In that case, magnetic north would have nothing to do with the placement, and Darby's point about knowing when it was built would be the key to aligning it with the summer solstice sunrise.

RMT
 
Darby,

Construction of Stonehenge was broken into three periods:

Period I - (c. 2950-2900 BC)
Period II - (c. 2900-2400 BC)
Period III - (c. 2550-1600 BC)

I thought I was slow at finishing projects!

There is alot of information indicating that there are alignments with positions of the sun and the moon. However, there are debates surrounding those ideas.

The true ( actual ) purpose of the structure has been lost in time. With such a long time period used until its completion, wouldnt that have made somewhat of a difference with any celestial alignments?

If one takes a cruise through different sites regarding Stonehenge, it becomes quite a puzzler.

What is amazing to me are the people that did work on Stonehenge and the other constructs around the world. It also is interesting that alot of these monuments share a common theme. How many of the ancient sites have Orion involved ?

As far apart as many would seem to be, I imagine that perhaps communication between these ancient peoples was better and more common then we think.

I will certainly take a look at the link you provided, Ray.
 
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