NATS 1745 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Celestial Equator, Right Ascension, Antarctic Circle
3 Apr 2016
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Sites with connections to the sun: newgrange. Large stone tomb in ireland, the roof box is said to be aligned to the winter solstice sunrise. There are bowl-like rocks that are said to have hold ashes of important people. On the 21 of december at sunrise, the hallway fills with a beam of light and is likely to reflect a belief in rebirth or reincarnation. The theory is that putting ashes in a tomb on a day of rebirth (winter solstice) that they believed in reincarnation. On the summit of fajada butte in new mexico, 2 spiral carvings were found behind 3 stone slabs. At noon on the solstice and equinoxes, the sundagger exhibits 2 beams of sunlight, which either bisect or frame the spirals depending on the equinox/ solstice. This tells us the people who created them were able to predict the annual sun movements. It is a circle of rocks surrounded by a ditch.
