| FOGS News Volume XV number 2 Summer solstice 2004 |
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| Venus: until the end of Time |
| Much speculation surrounded the recent transit of Venus across the face of the sun: whether prehistoric Man was |
| able to detect such an occurrence with no technology to help him. Reversed telescopes, bits of paper, special |
| sunglasses were used as evidence of our advanced state of awareness of this 120-year happening, a six-hour |
| crossing of the sun's disc by Venus in retrograde motion. Esoterically, Venus aligns with Isis, Aphrodite and |
| lesser-known ancient love goddesses like 'Athtar/Ishtar, with her crossing before the sun-throne believed to |
| enhance or magnify through her 'lens' blessings of love flooding on to the earth. Without telescopic aid, classical |
| astronomers were consummate calculators and the orbit & cycles of Venus were as familiar to them as those |
| of the moon. But they had another advantage which we now appear to lack: an intuitive knowledge of cosmic |
| influences, much of which has deteriorated into brief mythical allusion or into the much-maligned art of astrology. |
| By dismissing all but the rational, our society may be guilty of throwing the galactic baby out with the bathwater |
| of the cosmos. It is known, for instance, that transits of Venus affect the earth's magnetic field by blocking |
| electrically-charged particles of solar wind which can cause 'anomalies': between June 4-9, terrestrial tides were |
| the lowest for 19 years (aided by a full moon). Such celestial influences would not have gone unnoticed by our |
| ancestors, as they are by us. As a prelude to a transit, Venus' disappearance from both evening & morning sky |
| would also be noted. Transits occur in pairs separated by 8 years as Venus passes, as it were, pillars of a |
| gateway first retrograde and then direct; not to be repeated for at least a century. Transits of June 1761/ 1769 |
| and December 1874/1882 are modern compared with those calibrated in the Mayan Long Count of cycles |
| which have elapsed since their zero date of 3113 B.C. The Mayas' reputation as astronomers is unsurpassed: |
| one of 3 hieroglyphic texts to survive Spanish book-burning is the so-called Dresden Codex containing precise |
| astronomical calculation of Venus' synodic period and (solar) eclipse prediction tables of great accuracy. It is to |
| the Maya we owe a debt of gratitude for a reminder - if we are paying attention - that in 8 years time (June |
| 2012), in their calendar,Venus returns through her gateway and marks the end of Time. |
| ©2004MCYoungblood |
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| Standing Still |
| Solstice marks the apparent standstill of the sun twice annually. After disappearing into the shortest night, a sight |
| that Northeast FOGS from our elevated latitude can claim a special privilege, sunsets wend their way southward |
| along the horizon. Six months later sunset reaches 223º SSW, a legendary point on the compass captured within |
| the earliest recumbent stone circles. Motion of the moon too, apparently wild, nevertheless has a cycle, calculated |
| by Meton (432B.C), returning to the same place once in 18.6 years, or after 235 lunations. Major lunar standstill |
| occurs on that occasion when the full moon closest to midsummer only barely rises above the S horizon, grazes |
| it and sets, all within an arc of just over 45º. A non-event, you might think; yet at the Arctic circle, the summer |
| full moon does not appear at all. So it is notable that early (largest) RSCs are often cupmarked, clustering on |
| a stone in the SSW arc where the lunar standstill could be witnessed: Balquhain's W flanker & the recumbents |
| of Sunhoney, Cothiemuir and Rothiemay have cupmarks oriented SSW: 232, 230, 200 & 226 degrees |
| respectively. At Cothiemuir, NJ617 198, in 2006 maximum summer full moon will seem to set right into the |
| recumbent's western edge. Also in a major standstill year, the full moon closest to midwinter performs an |
| incredible feat, swinging higher in the sky from a rising point farther N than any other in its 18.6-year cycle and |
| setting farther N than at any other time: the full moon seen at Aberdeen/Moray latitude, 57º30', behaves almost |
| like the lunar equivalent of a 'midnight sun', rising and setting in the North, (at 27ºNNE and 333ºNNW to be |
| precise) and spending the longest time in the sky of any appearance in its metonic cycle. In astronomical circles |
| (& prehistoric ones) excitement is already building towards the major lunar standstill which peaks in 2006, when |
| full summer moonrise and set reach their farthest possible southern limit and briefest appearance: at Easter |
| Aquhorthies, NJ733 208, the full summer moon will rise at 151ºSSE & set at 208ºSSW and while there are no |
| cupmarks at this RSC to show its 'maximum', it should be spectacular. Equally, in the run-up to this maximum, the |
| full winter moon can be seen from as early as November 2005 to show a huge 'wobble', rising and setting farther |
| North than at any other time swinging highest and longest in the winter night sky. |
| ©2004MCN |
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| ALMAGEST: Astronomical Clock |
| When Ptolemy wrote his mathematical compilation of the heavens in Alexandria in AD150 from a geocentric |
| perspective, it was the Great Compilation. Translated into Arabic c827, it became 'the Greatest' - Al-Majisti. It |
| remained so until Copernicus in 1543 challenged our geocentricity, although we earthlings still look heavenward |
| with earth-bound eyes. The Almagest astronomical clock, invented and lovingly reproduced by FOGS astronomer |
| George Burnett-Stuart is perhaps the ultimate time-piece for those who love to watch the solar system from earth |
| (is there another way?) For devoted planet-watchers or to find current moon and planet phases, Almagest in clock |
| mode gives a 3-D view of those orbs as seen presently on earth.In reference mode its hand-crafted brass gears |
| can show planetary positions against a background of stars (the horizon plate) at any time or place between |
| 1000BC and AD5000. For photographs and more detail on this British crafted timepiece, see his website |
| www.almagest.co.uk |
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| A Few Hints on Standstill |
| FOGS inspired by lunar antics may be daunted by the profusion of information on the Web at sites such as |
| www.iol.ie/~geniet/maeshowe/ run by Victor Reijs who is encouraging world-wide moon-watching and gives |
| azimuth, declination and degree at several sites with breathtaking accuracy. So it is with gratitude that we give FOGS |
| stalwart Trevor Allcott's advice: 'I think Victor is trying to measure astronomical variables to an eye-watering degree, |
| but simply, if you extend your arm fully in front of you, with the thumb upright, the width of your thumbnail is |
| approximately one degree. The fourth decimal place is 1/10,000. See Hawkins 1965 Stonehenge Decoded, Wood |
| 1978 Sun, Moon & Standing Stones, Knight/Lomax 1999 Uriel's Machine'. Our website features Knight/Lomax |
| who built such a machine based on instructions in the Book of Enoch. For further details, click here |
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| RCAHMS Secretary change |
| On October 1st, Mrs Diana Murray takes over at the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments |
| of Scotland on retirement of secretary Roger Mercer. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Mrs Murray has |
| worked for the Commission since 1976. RCAHMS records & interprets the ancient & historical landscape of . |
| Scotland, its monuments & buildings. It holds the National Archive of all sites, from which itpublishes & mounts |
| exhibitions of value |
