This utility that lets you explore astronomical alignments for fun. Navigate to a location and use the menu on the left to display various astronomically significant lines. [Read more...]
This utility that lets you explore astronomical alignments for fun. Just navigate to a location and use the menu on the left to display various astronomically significant lines.
Archeoastronomy is the study of how people in the past understood the sky, how they used it, and how it influenced their cultures. If archaeoastronomical research is conducted carelessly, it is possible to claim that all sorts of alignments of ancient structures exist. While the evidence for some archeoastronomical alignments is solid, a lot of the purported alignments are likely due to pure chance.
Take the airport of Palermo, Italy. Runway 07/25 is tracking the motions of the moon, and Runway 02/20 the rise of the star Capella. To top this off, taxiways Bravo and Charlie point to the setting Procyon, and taxiway Delta - to the setting Arcturus. (You can see those alignments by pressing the Browse Alignments button at the top.)
This tool lets you look for such alignments anywhere, and do really, really bad archeoastronomy by uncovering the arcane wisdom built in your local highschool or Costco warehouse.
NOTE: Ths website does not account for the precession of Earth's axis. In addition, the rise and set positions are calculated based on a flat horizon.
Here is a list of random alignments:
If you find something interestping that you would like to see included on this list, please drop me a message at avtanski@gmail.com.
The North-South and the East-West lines, obviously, point in the cardinal directions. The East-West line also aligns with the sunrise and sunset positions during the spring and fall equinoxes.
The Solstice lines point toward the sunrise and sunset during the summer and winter solstices.
A zenith passage is the path the sun takes from sunrise through the zenith point - directly overhead - to sunset. It occurs twice a year and happens only in tropical latitudes. The zenith passage lines point toward the sunrise and sunset on the zenith passage days.
A lunar standstill is when the moon seems to reverse course from north to south and vice versa.
The major and minor lundar standstill lines point to the maximum/minimum monthly range of the moon rising and setting.
The lines show the northernmost and the southernmost rise and set point for each planet.
The lines point toward the rise and set locations for a number of stars.
Note that depending on the location, some stars will always be above the horizon, or will not be visible at all.
The lines point toward the rise and set locations for a few of the brightest objects visible in the night sky.
Note that depending on the location, some objects will always be above the horizon, or will not be visible at all.