NEWS: Ancient Solar Observatory Discovered

[Guest guest]

|| Om Gurave Namah ||

 

Dear Jyotishas,

Attached is an interesting news item.

 

The 13 Towers for 12 gaps, They will indicate division of northern/southern

path into 12 parts. This is clear indication of 12 rashi's used in ancient

time.

 

-Warm Regards

Sanjay P

 

 

 

 

http://news./s/space/20070301/sc_space/ancientsolarobservatorydiscovere\

d

 

Ancient Solar Observatory Discovered

 

Sara

Goudarzi<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/byline/ancientsolarobse\

rvatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11m1rlrml/*http://www.space.com/php/contactus/fee\

dback.php?r=sg>

Staff Writer

SPACE.com<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/byline/ancientsolarobs\

ervatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=10m6rt8b7/*http://www.space.com>

*Thu Mar 1, 2:30 PM ET*

 

The oldest solar observatory in the Americas has been discovered in coastal

Peru<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobser\

vatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11utv2fpf/*http://www.livescience.com/history/ap_0\

50228_peru_lines.html>,

archeologists announced today.

 

The 2,300-year-old ceremonial complex featured the Towers of

Chankillo<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolar\

observatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=15qs06s2m/*http://www.space.com/php/multimedi\

a/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070301_chankillo_temple_02.jpg & cap=The+fortif\

ied+stone+temple+at+Chankillo.+Credit%3A+National+Aerial+Service,+Peru>,

13 towers running north to south along a low ridge and spread across 980

feet (300 meters) to form a toothed

horizon<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarob\

servatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=1b9q7g8tu/*http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/\

imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070301_chankillo_sunrise_02.jpg & cap=The+rise+of\

+the+sun+between+Tower+1+and+Cerro+Mucho+Malo+at+the+June+solstice%2C+2003%2C+vi\

ewed+from+the+western+solar+observaotry.+The+sunrise+position+at+the+solstice+ha\

s+shifted+to+the+right+approximately+0.3%B0+from+year+300+BC.+Credit%3A+Ivan+Ghe\

zzi>that

was used for solar observations.

 

Researchers excavated the solar

observatory<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsol\

arobservatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=1258k9f1f/*http://www.livescience.com/histo\

ry/060628_ap_brazil_stonehenge.html>between

2000 and 2003. They found buildings-in exact mirror position of each

other-to the east and west of the towers with observation points for

watching the

Sun<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobserv\

atorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=10q8rf0b8/*http://www.space.com/sun>rise

and set over the toothed horizon.

 

- Viewer's Guide: Total Lunar Eclipse

Saturday<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolaro\

bservatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11uu7fgts/*http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070\

223_ns_eclipse_guide.html>

 

How it works

 

In addition to the daily east to west motion, our Sun appears to move

eastward through the

stars<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobse\

rvatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=10tr2v0ap/*http://www.space.com/stars/>in

a path known as the

ecliptic<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolaro\

bservatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11mdh46op/*http://www.space.com/spacewatch/ecl\

iptic_030228.html>over

the course of a year. Also, the Earth's

axis<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobser\

vatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=122v3vosd/*http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnatu\

re/050330_earth_tilt.html>is

not perpendicular to the ecliptic but slanted by an angle of a little

over 23 degrees. The combinations of these positions determine where the Sun

is above our horizon day by day.

 

At different times of the year one can observe the Sun rise and set in

different spots with respect to our horizon and for different lengths of

time. For example, in the Northern Hemisphere, around the summer

solstice-which falls on June 21-the Sun rises highest in the sky and stays

up longer.

 

As viewed from the two observing points of Chankillo

[image<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobs\

ervatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=15qs06s2m/*http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/i\

magedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070301_chankillo_temple_02.jpg & cap=The+fortified\

+stone+temple+at+Chankillo.+Credit%3A+National+Aerial+Service,+Peru>],

the spread of towers along the horizon corresponds very closely to the range

of movement of the rising and setting positions of the Sun over the year,

the authors write in the March 2 issue of the journal Science.

 

Once the Sun started to move away from any of its extreme positions, like

the

solstices<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolar\

observatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11slarhta/*http://www.space.com/spacewatch/06\

1206_wintersolstice.html>or

equinoxes<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolar\

observatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11ls16t7g/*http://www.space.com/spacewatch/06\

0922_equinox.html>,

the towers and gaps between them provided a means to track the progress of

the Sun up and down the horizon, to within a couple of days accuracy.

 

'Chankillo is arguably the oldest solar

calendar<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolaro\

bservatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=122ivs21f/*http://www.livescience.com/history/\

061014_ap_aztec_monolith.html>that

can be identified as such with confidence within the Americas,' said

lead study author Ivan Ghezzi from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru.

 

 

Tree-ring samples dated these structures back to the fourth century B.C.

 

'Many indigenous American sites have been found to contain one or a few

putative solar orientations,' Ghezzi said. 'Chankillo, in contrast, provides

a complete set of horizon markers and two unique and indisputable

observation points.'

 

- How Weather Changed

History<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarob\

servatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11v3mrpcp/*http://www.livescience.com/history/t\

op10_weather_history.html>

 

Other discoveries

 

At the end of a 131-foot-long corridor in the building to the west of the

towers, the researchers found pottery, shells, and stone artifacts in an

area possibly for commoners who participated in rituals linked to solar

observations.

 

Previous studies showed that the

Incas<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobse\

rvatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=11t7eb3ap/*http://www.livescience.com/history/ap_\

050811_incaknots.html>-South

American Indians who established an

empire<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobs\

ervatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=120amq6q6/*http://www.livescience.com/history/to\

p10_ancient_capitals.html>that

once ranged from northern Ecuador to central Chile from 1100 to the

1530s-had built sites to mark solar observations by 1500.

 

In comparison, the earliest portion of

Stonehenge<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsola\

robservatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=12g7gi9pa/*http://www.space.com/scienceastro\

nomy/astronomy/stonehenge_eclipse_000119.html>-megalithic

ruins in southern England purported to correlate with the rising and setting

of the Sun and the

Moon<http://us.rd./dailynews/space/sc_space/storytext/ancientsolarobser\

vatorydiscovered/22112804/SIG=10r7mat8m/*http://www.space.com/moon>-is

said to have been completed around 3000 B.C.

 

The new finding, however, puts Sun cults in the Americas at an earlier date

than the Incans.

 

'Chankillo was built approximately 1,700 years before the Incas began their

expansion,' Ghezzi said. 'Now we know these practices are quite a bit older

and were highly developed by Chankillo's time.'