Chapter 6 the Constellations of Ancient Egypt
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THUBAN the Star Thuban in the Constellation Draco (The Dragon) Was the North Pole Star Some 5,000 Years Ago, When the Egyptians Were Building the Pyramids
STAR OF THE WEEK: THUBAN The star Thuban in the constellation Draco (the Dragon) was the North Pole Star some 5,000 years ago, when the Egyptians were building the pyramids. Thuban is not a particularly bright star. At magnitude 3.7 and known as alpha draconis it is not even the brightest star in its constellation. What is Thuban’s connection with the pyramids of Egypt? Among the many mysteries surrounding Egypt’s pyramids are the so-called “air shafts” in the Great Pyramid of Giza. These narrow passageways were once thought to serve for ventilation as the The Great Pyramid of Giza, an enduring monument of ancient pyramids were being built. In the 1960s, though, Egypt. Egyptologists believe that it was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu around 2560 BC the air shafts were recognized as being aligned with stars or areas of sky as the sky appeared for the pyramids’ builders 5,000 years ago. To this day, the purpose of all these passageways inside the Great Pyramid isn’t clear, although some might have been connected to rituals associated with the king’s ascension to the heavens. Whatever their purpose, the Great Pyramid of Giza reveals that its builders knew the starry skies intimately. They surely knew Thuban was their Pole Star, the point around which the heavens appeared to turn. Various sources claim that Thuban almost exactly pinpointed the position of the north celestial pole in the This diagram shows the so-called air shafts in the Great year 2787 B.C. -
The Planisphere of the Heavens
The Planisphere of the Heavens by Steven E. Behrmann Book V Copyright© by Steven E. Behrmann All rights reserved 2010 First Draft (Sunnyside Edition) Dedication: This book is dedicated to my blessed little son, Jonathan William Edward, to whom I hope to teach the names of the stars. Table of Contents A Planisphere of the Heavens .......................................................... 12 The Signs of the Seasons ................................................................. 15 The Virgin (Virgo) ........................................................................... 24 Virgo ............................................................................................ 25 Coma ............................................................................................ 27 The Centaur .................................................................................. 29 Boötes ........................................................................................... 31 The Scales (Libra) ............................................................................ 34 Libra ............................................................................................. 35 The Cross (Crux) .......................................................................... 37 The Victim ................................................................................... 39 The Crown .................................................................................... 41 The Scorpion ................................................................................... -
Aquarius Aries Pisces Taurus
Zodiac Constellation Cards Aquarius Pisces January 21 – February 20 – February 19 March 20 Aries Taurus March 21 – April 21 – April 20 May 21 Zodiac Constellation Cards Gemini Cancer May 22 – June 22 – June 21 July 22 Leo Virgo July 23 – August 23 – August 22 September 23 Zodiac Constellation Cards Libra Scorpio September 24 – October 23 – October 22 November 22 Sagittarius Capricorn November 23 – December 23 – December 22 January 20 Zodiac Constellations There are 12 zodiac constellations that form a belt around the earth. This belt is considered special because it is where the sun, the moon, and the planets all move. The word zodiac means “circle of figures” or “circle of life”. As the earth revolves around the sun, different parts of the sky become visible. Each month, one of the 12 constellations show up above the horizon in the east and disappears below the horizon in the west. If you are born under a particular sign, the constellation it is named for can’t be seen at night. Instead, the sun is passing through it around that time of year making it a daytime constellation that you can’t see! Aquarius Aries Cancer Capricorn Gemini Leo January 21 – March 21 – June 22 – December 23 – May 22 – July 23 – February 19 April 20 July 22 January 20 June 21 August 22 Libra Pisces Sagittarius Scorpio Taurus Virgo September 24 – February 20 – November 23 – October 23 – April 21 – August 23 – October 22 March 20 December 22 November 22 May 21 September 23 1. Why is the belt that the constellations form around the earth special? 2. -
Evidence for Very Extended Gaseous Layers Around O-Rich Mira Variables and M Giants B
The Astrophysical Journal, 579:446–454, 2002 November 1 # 2002. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A. EVIDENCE FOR VERY EXTENDED GASEOUS LAYERS AROUND O-RICH MIRA VARIABLES AND M GIANTS B. Mennesson,1 G. Perrin,2 G. Chagnon,2 V. Coude du Foresto,2 S. Ridgway,3 A. Merand,2 P. Salome,2 P. Borde,2 W. Cotton,4 S. Morel,5 P. Kervella,5 W. Traub,6 and M. Lacasse6 Received 2002 March 15; accepted 2002 July 3 ABSTRACT Nine bright O-rich Mira stars and five semiregular variable cool M giants have been observed with the Infrared and Optical Telescope Array (IOTA) interferometer in both K0 (2.15 lm) and L0 (3.8 lm) broad- band filters, in most cases at very close variability phases. All of the sample Mira stars and four of the semire- gular M giants show strong increases, from ’20% to ’100%, in measured uniform-disk (UD) diameters between the K0 and L0 bands. (A selection of hotter M stars does not show such a large increase.) There is no evidence that K0 and L0 broadband visibility measurements should be dominated by strong molecular bands, and cool expanding dust shells already detected around some of these objects are also found to be poor candi- dates for producing these large apparent diameter increases. Therefore, we propose that this must be a con- tinuum or pseudocontinuum opacity effect. Such an apparent enlargement can be reproduced using a simple two-component model consisting of a warm (1500–2000 K), extended (up to ’3 stellar radii), optically thin ( ’ 0:5) layer located above the classical photosphere. -
Where Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps
W here Are the Distant Worlds? Star Maps Abo ut the Activity Whe re are the distant worlds in the night sky? Use a star map to find constellations and to identify stars with extrasolar planets. (Northern Hemisphere only, naked eye) Topics Covered • How to find Constellations • Where we have found planets around other stars Participants Adults, teens, families with children 8 years and up If a school/youth group, 10 years and older 1 to 4 participants per map Materials Needed Location and Timing • Current month's Star Map for the Use this activity at a star party on a public (included) dark, clear night. Timing depends only • At least one set Planetary on how long you want to observe. Postcards with Key (included) • A small (red) flashlight • (Optional) Print list of Visible Stars with Planets (included) Included in This Packet Page Detailed Activity Description 2 Helpful Hints 4 Background Information 5 Planetary Postcards 7 Key Planetary Postcards 9 Star Maps 20 Visible Stars With Planets 33 © 2008 Astronomical Society of the Pacific www.astrosociety.org Copies for educational purposes are permitted. Additional astronomy activities can be found here: http://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov Detailed Activity Description Leader’s Role Participants’ Roles (Anticipated) Introduction: To Ask: Who has heard that scientists have found planets around stars other than our own Sun? How many of these stars might you think have been found? Anyone ever see a star that has planets around it? (our own Sun, some may know of other stars) We can’t see the planets around other stars, but we can see the star. -
Security & Defence European
a 7.90 D 14974 E D European & Security ES & Defence 6/2019 International Security and Defence Journal COUNTRY FOCUS: AUSTRIA ISSN 1617-7983 • Heavy Lift Helicopters • Russian Nuclear Strategy • UAS for Reconnaissance and • NATO Military Engineering CoE Surveillance www.euro-sd.com • Airborne Early Warning • • Royal Norwegian Navy • Brazilian Army • UAS Detection • Cockpit Technology • Swiss “Air2030” Programme Developments • CBRN Decontamination June 2019 • CASEVAC/MEDEVAC Aircraft • Serbian Defence Exports Politics · Armed Forces · Procurement · Technology ANYTHING. In operations, the Eurofighter Typhoon is the proven choice of Air Forces. Unparalleled reliability and a continuous capability evolution across all domains mean that the Eurofighter Typhoon will play a vital role for decades to come. Air dominance. We make it fly. airbus.com Editorial Europe Needs More Pragmatism The elections to the European Parliament in May were beset with more paradoxes than they have ever been. The strongest party which will take its seats in the plenary chambers in Brus- sels (and, as an expensive anachronism, also in Strasbourg), albeit only for a brief period, is the Brexit Party, with 29 seats, whose programme is implicit in their name. Although EU institutions across the entire continent are challenged in terms of their public acceptance, in many countries the election has been fought with a very great deal of emotion, as if the day of reckoning is dawning, on which decisions will be All or Nothing. Some have raised concerns about the prosperous “European Project”, which they see as in dire need of rescue from malevolent sceptics. Others have painted an image of the decline of the West, which would inevitably come about if Brussels were to be allowed to continue on its present course. -
The Forgotten Female Figurines of Elephantine
Journal of Journal of Ancient near Ancient Near Eastern Eastern Religions 18 (2018) 111–132 Religions brill.com/jane The Forgotten Female Figurines of Elephantine Collin Cornell* Sewanee: The University of the South [email protected] Abstract In spite of renewed scholarly interest in the religion of Judeans living on the island of Elephantine during the Persian period, only one recent study has addressed the religious significance of the fired clay female figurines discovered there. The present article seeks to place these objects back on the research agenda. After summarizing the history of research, it also makes a new appraisal of the role of these objects in the religious life of Elephantine Judeans. Two factors prompt this reevaluation: first, newly found examples of the same figurine types; and second, Bob Becking’s recent research on Elephantine Aramaic texts attesting the phenomenon of “lending deities.” Keywords early Judaism – goddesses – Elephantine – Persian Period – Old Testament – Bob Becking The interest of Elephantine to the study of early Judaism is patent. In the fifth century BCE, during the same era that Ezra the Scribe reportedly read “the book of the law of Moses” to the Judean community in Jerusalem (Neh 8), another Judean community was living on an island at the southernmost border * My thanks to the Tam Institute of Jewish Studies at Emory University for awarding me the Schatten Student Grant, which enabled me to examine the Elephantine shrine plaque in person at the Egyptian Museum of Berlin (Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung Staatliche Museen zu Berlin-Preußischer Kulturbesitz) in summer 2017. Thanks also to Josefine Kuckertz for her correspondence and for notifying me that the Berlin Museum might possess the shrine plaque; to Olivia Zorn and Frank Marohn for their generous museological help; and to Elizabeth Waraksa, Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Ryan Thomas, Gard Granerød, and Bob Becking for providing insightful feedback on various drafts of the present article. -
North Pacific Research Board Project Final Report
NORTH PACIFIC RESEARCH BOARD PROJECT FINAL REPORT Synthesis of Marine Biology and Oceanography of Southeast Alaska NPRB Project 406 Final Report Ginny L. Eckert1, Tom Weingartner2, Lisa Eisner3, Jan Straley4, Gordon Kruse5, and John Piatt6 1 Biology Program, University of Alaska Southeast, and School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 11120 Glacier Hwy., Juneau, AK 99801, (907) 796-6450, [email protected] 2 Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757220, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220, (907) 474-7993, [email protected] 3 Auke Bay Lab, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 17109 Pt. Lena Loop Rd., Juneau, AK 99801, (907) 789-6602, [email protected] 4 University of Alaska Southeast, 1332 Seward Ave., Sitka, AK 99835, (907) 774-7779, [email protected] 5 School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 11120 Glacier Hwy., Juneau, AK 99801, (907) 796-2052, [email protected] 6 Alaska Science Center, US Geological Survey, Anchorage, AK, 360-774-0516, [email protected] August 2007 ABSTRACT This project directly responds to NPRB specific project needs, “Bring Southeast Alaska scientific background up to the status of other Alaskan waters by completing a synthesis of biological and oceanographic information”. This project successfully convened a workshop on March 30-31, 2005 at the University of Alaska Southeast to bring together representatives from different marine science disciplines and organizations to synthesize information on the marine biology and oceanography of Southeast Alaska. Thirty-eight individuals participated, including representatives of the University of Alaska and state and national agencies. -
Solar Eclipses in the Outlook of the Slavs
ics & Ae ys ro h sp p a o r c t e s T A e Prokofyev, J Astrophys Aerospace Technol 2014, 2:2 f c h o Journal of Astrophysics & n l o a DOI: 10.4172/2329-6542.1000107 l n o r g u y o J Aerospace Technology ISSN: 2329-6542 Research Article Open Access Solar Eclipses in the Outlook of the Slavs Prokofyev A* KITION Planetarium & Observatory, Kiti, Larnaca, Cyprus *Corresponding author: Alexandr Prokofyev, KITION Planetarium & Observatory, Ammochostou 9, Kiti, 7550, Larnaca, Cyprus. Tel: +357 99037440; E-mail: [email protected] Rec date: Jul 1, 2014, Acc date: Jul 26, 2014, Pub date: Aug 15, 2014 Copyright: © 2014 Prokofyev A. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract The article provides an overview of descriptions of total solar eclipses in different literature forms, rites and toponyms of Slavs. It is shown that the solar eclipse had a prominent role in the worldview of the tribes. Explanations of some terms of Slavic outlook are given with suggestions for the correct terminology. A program for further investigation in Slavic and other people’s culture is proposed. Keywords: Total solar eclipse; Archeoastronomy; Mythology; Slavs; Character 'Akhet' (Figure 2) should be translated as 'eclipse' instead of Akhet; Myth of creation of the world; Myth of end of the world; 'horizon'. Then the next well-known text obtains a simple explanation. Dragon slayer; Tales During the advance of the eclipse (former translation: after sunset at the horizon) Ra joins the fight against the forces of darkness, Introduction crocodiles, snakes and so on. -
Communities Investing in the Future One Happy Camper at a Time
COMMUNITIES INVESTING IN THE FUTURE ONE HAPPY CAMPER AT A TIME To date, the Foundation for Jewish Camp partners with 41 communities* including Foundation for Jewish Camp the PJ Library, in addition 253 West 35th Street to four national camp move- 4th Floor ments and over 30 camps New York, NY 10001 to offer the One Happy tel 646-278-4546 Camper program. fax 646-278-4501 *as of September 1, 2015 www.jewishcamp.org Dear Friend of Jewish Camp, Jewish summer camps provide extraordinary laboratories for Jewish Foundation for Jewish Camp was created in 1998 as a public education, expression, and growth. Though appearing as fun and foundation dedicated to Jewish overnight camp, thanks to the games, camps create intentional and purposeful communities with leadership and vision of Robert and Elisa Spungen Bildner. robust and diverse ways for young children, teens, young adults, Over the past 18 years, the Foundation for Jewish Camp has parents, and staff to connect to Jewish life in a powerful and professionalized the field, expanded access to and intensified meaningful way. demand for camp and offered professional development programs for camp staff, elevating the level of programming at North Simply stated, Jewish camp works. To secure stronger Jewish American camps across the Jewish spectrum. communities in the future, we must invest in strengthening Jewish camps today. With your hard work and partnership, we aspire to ensure that every Jewish child benefits from immersive Jewish Today, the Foundation for Jewish Camp serves over 155 Jewish summer experiences. summer camps, close to 80,000 campers and 11,000 counselors across North America every summer. -
The Denver Observer June 2016
The Denver JUNE 2016 OBSERVER Mercury transits the Sun on May 9, 2016. The planet, seen at the lower left of the Sun's face, has a diameter of about 3,000 miles, but the Sun's 870,000 mile cross-section dwarfs the planet—even though the Sun is seen here at twice Mercury's distance from us. (Note the planet-sized sunspots above-left of solar center.) Image © Ron Pearson. JUNE SKIES by Zachary Singer The Solar System the Martian surface reveals itself. On observing runs over the last few If you haven’t been observing Mars, the “unusually bright orange weeks, with good seeing, early views did indeed yield so-so results, but object in Libra,” now is a really good time: As June begins, the plan- improved noticeably as the planet neared its highest point in the south. et is just past opposition, and even more recently past its closest ap- I was able to make out the Syrtis Major region easily, even though proach to Earth, when the planet’s disk spanned a full 18.6 arcseconds. moonlight was a factor in the initial sessions. It looms large in a telescope now, and even instruments of moderate One great tool for power bring satisfying images at 100 or 150X. By midmonth, Mars improving your view Sky Calendar will be highest around 11 PM, with the disk slightly smaller, at 17.9”; is a “Moon filter.” 4 New Moon by June 30th, though, the planet will have already crossed the Meridian By bringing the sheer 12 First-Quarter Moon at 10 PM, before the sky brightness of Mars’ mag- 20 Full Moon In the Observer is fully dark, and the disk nitude -2 disk down a 27 Last-Quarter Moon will have shrunk some- notch, the moon filter President’s Message . -
Dhruva the Ancient Indian Pole Star: Fixity, Rotation and Movement
Indian Journal of History of Science, 46.1 (2011) 23-39 DHRUVA THE ANCIENT INDIAN POLE STAR: FIXITY, ROTATION AND MOVEMENT R N IYENGAR* (Received 1 February 2010; revised 24 January 2011) Ancient historical layers of Hindu astronomy are explored in this paper with the help of the Purân.as and the Vedic texts. It is found that Dhruva as described in the Brahmân.d.a and the Vis.n.u purân.a was a star located at the tail of a celestial animal figure known as the Úiúumâra or the Dolphin. This constellation, which can be easily recognized as the modern Draco, is described vividly and accurately in the ancient texts. The body parts of the animal figure are made of fourteen stars, the last four of which including Dhruva on the tail are said to never set. The Taittirîya Âran.yaka text of the Kr.s.n.a-yajurveda school which is more ancient than the above Purân.as describes this constellation by the same name and lists fourteen stars the last among them being named Abhaya, equated with Dhruva, at the tail end of the figure. The accented Vedic text Ekâgni-kân.d.a of the same school recommends observation of Dhruva the fixed Pole Star during marriages. The above Vedic texts are more ancient than the Gr.hya-sûtra literature which was the basis for indologists to deny the existence of a fixed North Star during the Vedic period. However the various Purân.ic and Vedic textual evidence studied here for the first time, leads to the conclusion that in India for the Yajurvedic people Thuban (α-Draconis) was Dhruva the Pole Star c 2800 BC.