The Power of Stars Bryan E. Penprase

The Power of Stars

How Celestial Observations Have Shaped Civilization

123 Bryan E. Penprase Department of & N. College Ave. 610 91711 Claremont CA, USA [email protected]

Additional material to this book can be downloaded from http:// extras.springer.com.

ISBN 978-1-4419-6802-9 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-6803-6 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-6803-6 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010932671

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

Cover illustration: a collage of images including the Welsh megalithic site of Llech y Drybedd, known as a dolmen,and perhaps used as a burial site more than 3000 years ago (foreground; photo by author), with star trails from an image of Mauna Kea (Gemini Observatory/AURA), and background image from the Hubble Ultra-Deep field (NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team).

Printed on acid-free paper

Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword

This book is based on a course which I have taught at Pomona College for nearly 15 years, entitled “ and World .” I would like to encourage others to make use of this book as a textbook for a similar course and am happy to provide additional curricular materials on request. The book also can be used as guide to the night sky for anyone interested in learning about how the many cultures on the Earth, ancient and modern, have responded to the star and modeled the universe. Pomona College has been an ideal environment for developing this book and I am grateful to the college and the physics and astronomy department for their support of my course. Pomona College encourages innovation and experimentation in the classroom and offers excellent students who have helped me develop the course and some of the topics covered in the book. I have to thank these students for their questions, their enthusiasm, their projects, and their encouragement. Two students in particular were critical to the book’s completion, David Morrison, who provided some interactive star maps, and Kimberly Aldinger, whose artistry made the sky map constellation figures possible. My archaeoastronomy education began with a set of references provided by Dr. Ed Krupp of Griffith Observatory, who has been a great inspiration for me, and introduced many generations of Pomona College students to the world of archaeoastronomy over the years. My colleagues at Pomona College include many great teachers that have helped me learn more about the subject of archaeoastronomy. Special thanks go to the artist Sheila Pinkel for her amazing breadth and humanism in developing art that mirrors the sky seen from many cultures and for her generosity in providing many of the images in the text. My anthropologist colleague Jennifer Perry has been a collaborator in all things related to the Chumash culture and I have greatly appreciated her help with photographs and other information on the Chumash. Richard McKirihan provided some helpful references for my initial study of Greek cosmology and astronomy, and the historian Miguel Tinker Salas helped me some aspects of the many Mesoamerican cultures. Others have helped enormously in acquiring figures and learning about early books, such as Dan Lewis of the Huntington Library, and especially Carrie Marsh of the Claremont University Center for her help finding the many astounding fifteenth- and sixteenth-century works that provided figures for the book. The effort in developing interactive star maps was supported by a Hahn technology grant from Pomona College. My Pomona College colleagues Mark Wood and Kathleen Howe were critical in getting permissions for the Turrell images in the book. Tom Jarrett from IPAC/Caltech has been a long-time collaborator and I appreciate his magnificent photograph of the Palomar 200" telescope. I would also like to thank William Smith for his photographs from China, and Amarillys Rodriguez for her drawing of Egyptian cosmology. Three visits to were extremely helpful for learning more about the history of astronomy. These visits were made possible by Downing College and my host at Cambridge, Max Pettini. While

v vi Foreword in England, trips to Avebury and Wales were made possible by Diahann Hughes and Robin Heath, who were generous hosts and tour guides in our encounters with megaliths. Visits to India helped secure information on Indian astronomical and calendrical practices, and I am grateful to my hosts Ravi Subrahmanyan at the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, his colleague Biman Nath for providing helpful information on Indian calendars, and Mayank Vahia for hosting a visit to the TIFR in Mumbai. During my sabbatical, Eric Jensen of Swarthmore College was a generous host and made me aware of some interesting research articles in archaeoastronomy. My lifelong friend Kurt Raymond has been a traveling companion in the Southwest and introduced me to Chimney Rock. I would like to thank my graduate thesis advisor, Chris Blades, for his education in science and in writing clearly. I would also like to thank my collaborator Wallace Sargent at Caltech, who arranged for a visiting associate status at Caltech that was very helpful both for completing this book and for advancing in my astronomy knowledge. I would also like to thank Timothy Ferris for reading a draft of the book and providing useful suggestions for improvement. The book would simply not be possible without the support of my wonderful family. This includes my wife Bidushi, who has been my main collaborator in life and who has provided inspiration, support, humor, and encouragement throughout the process. My lovely daughters, Asha and Shanti, provided their own unique energy and stellar power during the entire writing process. My mother, Catherine Penprase, was a very kind first reader and gave many helpful suggestions. My father, Donald Penprase, was enormously proud that I was writing a book but unfortunately passed away before the book was finished. I would like to dedicate this book to my family and hope that the stars always shine kindly on them all. Contents

1 Our Experience of the Sky and Star Knowledge ...... 1 The Human Experience of the Sky ...... 3 Beginnings...... 4 ...... 5 Mercury...... 10 Venus ...... 11 Sun...... 14 SunLore...... 18 Mars...... 19 Jupiter...... 21 Saturn...... 24 TheStars...... 26 2 A World of Constellations in the Night Sky ...... 29 A Tour of Constellations North and South ...... 29 ArcticSkiesandtheNorthernCircumpolarStars...... 31 or “The ” ...... 31 Northern Circumpolar Sky from Around the World ...... 35 European Circumpolar Constellations ...... 35 TheCircumpolarSkyfromAncientChina...... 39 Northern Circumpolar Sky from Around the World ...... 42 TheArcticInuitSky...... 42 The Equatorial Sky ...... 44 Equatorial Sky from Around the World ...... 47 Equatorial Constellations from the European Tradition ...... 47 The Equatorial Sky from Around the World ...... 60 The Hawaiian and Polynesian Sky ...... 60 Equatorial Sky from Around the World ...... 63 TheNavajoSky...... 63 TheChumashSky...... 65 The Southern Sky ...... 68 The Southern Sky from Around the World ...... 69 TheAboriginalAustralianSky...... 69 The Southern Sky from Around the World ...... 74 The Incan Andean Sky ...... 74

vii viii Contents

3 Creation Stories from Around the World ...... 77 European Creation Stories ...... 80 MythicGreekCreationandCosmology...... 80 NorseCreationandCosmology...... 81 Celtic Stories ...... 83 EgyptianCreationStories...... 85 Mesopotamian Creation Stories ...... 87 AustralianCreationStories...... 90 CreationStoriesfromtheAmericas...... 91 Mayan Creation ...... 92 AztecCreation...... 93 Hopi and Pueblo Creation ...... 95 ChumashCreation...... 96 InuitCreation...... 96 FurtherNativeAmericanCreationTales...... 97 4 World Systems: Models of the Universe Throughout Time ...... 99 CosmologyoftheEgyptians...... 101 Babylonian Cosmology ...... 103 GreekCosmology...... 105 Thales and the Milesian School ...... 105 Heraclitus ...... 109 Xenophanes ...... 109 Empedocles ...... 109 Pythagoras ...... 110 TheCosmologiesofPlato,Aristotle,andPtolemy...... 112 Aristotle...... 115 Ptolemy...... 116 NorseCosmology...... 117 ChineseCosmology...... 118 Kai Thien (“Heavenly Canopy”) Cosmology ...... 120 Hun Thien (“Hen’s Egg”) Cosmology ...... 121 Hsuan Yeh (“Empty Space”) Cosmology ...... 122 Mayan Cosmology ...... 123 TheQuicheClassicalMayaCosmology...... 123 Incan Cosmology ...... 124 NativeAmericanCosmology...... 126 Hopi and Pueblo Cosmology ...... 126 NavajoCosmology...... 126 ChumashNativeAmericanCosmology...... 128 InuitCosmology...... 130 AfricanCosmologies...... 131 Dogon Cosmology ...... 132 5 Stars That Bind: Civilization, Calendars, and the Sky ...... 133 Lunar Calendars and Timekeeping ...... 134 Neolithic Calendars ...... 134 Solar/Lunar Calendars ...... 135 The Babylonian Calendar ...... 136 Contents ix

Egyptian Timekeeping ...... 137 The Ancient Hebrew Calendar ...... 140 The Islamic Calendar ...... 141 The Hawaiian Calendar ...... 142 The Zuni Calendar ...... 143 Native American and Tribal Seasonal Calendars ...... 144 Development of the Greek Calendar ...... 149 Roman Timekeeping ...... 152 Sidereal Lunar and Planetary Calendars ...... 154 The Incan Sidereal Year ...... 154 Hindu Naksatras and Lunar calendars ...... 155 The Chinese Calendar and Zodiac ...... 157 The Long Run: Cosmic Celestial Timekeeping of the Eons ...... 161 Mayan Calendars and the Cycles of the Universe ...... 161 TheKin...... 162 TheTzolkin...... 162 TheHaab...... 163 TheKatunandBaktun...... 166 Hindu Calendars and the Mahayugas ...... 168 6 Modern Timekeeping and the Development of the Science of Time ...... 169 Shadow Clocks and Sundials ...... 170 The Earliest 24-h Clocks Ð The Clepsydra ...... 172 The Antikythera Mechanism ...... 175 Mechanical Clocks from Europe ...... 176 Pendulum Clocks ...... 177 Clocks for Navigation ...... 179 The Modern Science of Time ...... 180 Electronic and Atomic Clocks ...... 181 SolarTimeorAtomicTime?...... 183 Leap Seconds ...... 183 Calendar Reform Ð Metric Time and the World Calendar ...... 185 The French Revolutionary Calendar ...... 185 The World Calendar ...... 187 7 Celestial Architecture: Monuments of the Sky ...... 189 Megalithic Alignments ...... 189 ...... 189 Callanish...... 192 Newgrange ...... 193 Native American Alignments and Monuments ...... 195 The Anasazi, Hopi, and Pueblo Kiva ...... 195 The Navajo Hogan and Pawnee Lodge ...... 196 Solstice Viewing: Shadow and Light in California ...... 197 Mounds and Stone Circles in Native American Architecture ...... 199 Cahokia Mounds ...... 201 Chaco Canyon Lunar and Solar Alignments ...... 202 Celestial Cities from Ancient Civilizations and Their Alignments ...... 205 Ziggurats in Mesopotamia ...... 205 x Contents

EgyptianPyramids...... 207 The Kaaba in Mecca ...... 209 Teotihuacan ...... 210 Mayan Celestial Cities ...... 212 Aztec City of Tenochtitlan and Its Temple Alignment ...... 215 The Forbidden City of China ...... 216 AngkorWat...... 218 Temples and the Embodiment of Cosmic Order ...... 219 The Pantheon of Rome ...... 219 The Parthenon of Athens ...... 221 Cologne Cathedral ...... 222 TheLimitsofAlignment...... 224 Linear Geometry in Britain ...... 224 StarMapsfromthePyramidsÐTheOrionMystery...... 225 The Nazca Lines ...... 226 8 The Archaeoastronomy of Modern Civilization ...... 229 The Archaeoastronomy of Modern Cities ...... 229 The Astronomy of Skyscrapers ...... 229 Alignments of Modern Cities...... 231 Celestial Structures of Today’s Civilization ...... 234 Ð Skyspace and the Rodin Crater Project ...... 234 Carhenge ...... 237 Modern Stonehenges ...... 238 Modern Sundials ...... 239 The Survival of Ancient Beliefs in Modern Times ...... 241 ABriefHistoryofWesternAstrology...... 241 IndianAstrology...... 248 ChineseAstrology...... 250 Why Do People Believe Astrology in the Twenty-First Century? ...... 255 9 The Development of Modern Cosmology ...... 257 ScientificCosmology...... 258 TheHistoryofScientificCosmology...... 261 Nicholas Copernicus ...... 261 Tycho Brahe ...... 263 Johannes Kepler ...... 265 ...... 267 IsaacNewton...... 269 TheDawnofAstrophysics...... 271 William Herschel ...... 272 Astronomical Spectroscopy ...... 275 George Ellery Hale and the Modern Observatory ...... 278 Edwin Hubble and the Expanding Universe ...... 284 A Census of the Modern Universe ...... 289 Stars...... 289 StarClusters...... 290 “Normal”Galaxies...... 292 Contents xi

Irregular and Active galaxies ...... 294 ClustersofGalaxies...... 296 AVeryBriefHistoryofTimeÐBigBangtothePresent...... 298 10 Concluding Thoughts ...... 303 Supplementary Contents ...... 309 Bibliography ...... 311 Index of Figures ...... 317 Index of Tables ...... 341 Index ...... 343