Quote:
Originally Posted by Maksutov
Actually it's a snap. The precession of the Earth's axis of rotation was well-known to early civilizations, if only through how the north celestial pole precessed through the various constellations. By 1000 CE such things had been nailed down by just unaided visual astronomy.
|
It takes 72yrs for a precessional shift of 1deg.
2100 to 2200yrs to observe a precessional shift from one constellation to another.
Some 25000yrs for a full precessional cycle through the 12 constellations.
This is the mythological "great year" so oft found in ancient "astrological" texts.
It just strikes me as no small feat to calculate accurately, and so far in advance, a "sun standstill" like this.
Well that and the fact that it jives or coincides with other "end of the age" scenarios relegated to mythology and or astrology.
Quote:
|
Too bad (but not unexpected that) the astrologers once left behind never caught up with the whole precession thing, thus resulting in their "zodiac signs" being 2000 years out of whack.
|
Yeah, it's interesting how one can discern "calendar wars" throught the historical timestream; some being solar, others being lunar, and all supposedly in accordance with some god's law, and now both are surely innaccurate.
Quote:
|
Meanwhile there's nothing extraordinary about the particular date other than it's yet another Winter Solstice. There's no "special alignment" whatsoever. See my previous post on this.
|
Right, although I didn't think there'd be a "special alignment" of any sort.
Just another New Age...
