Related papers: The Chinese Pyramids and the Sun
The mausoleums of the emperors and of some members of the royal family of the Western Han Chinese dynasty, popularly known as Chinese pyramids, are a spectacular ensemble of tombs covered by a huge earth mounds, spread in the outskirts of…
The royal Chinese mausoleums of the Tang, Ming and Qing Chinese dynasties are astounding ensables of monuments, conceived and built to assure to the Emperors immortality in the afterlife and perennial fame on earth. To this aim, a series of…
In this paper we discuss the orientation of the Egyptian pyramids at Giza with respect to sunrises and sunsets, using SunCalc.net software. We can see that Khufu and Khafre pyramids had been positioned in a manner that, from each pyramid,…
In the planning of some Chinese towns we can see an evident orientation with the cardinal north-south direction. However, other features reveal a possible orientation with the sunrise/sunset azimuth on solstices too, as in the case of…
A series of peculiar, visual alignments between the pyramids of the pharaohs of the 4, 5 and 6 Egyptian dynasties exists. These alignments governed from the very beginning the planning of the funerary monuments of successive kings and, in…
The architectural complexes composed by the two main pyramids of Giza together with their temples are investigated from an inter-disciplinary point of view, taking into account their astronomical alignments as well as their relationships…
The pyramids of ancient Egypt are said to have shone brilliantly in the sun. Surfaces of polished limestone would not only have reflected diffusely in all directions, but would also likely have produced specular reflections in particular…
It is known since the 19 century that in the layout of the pyramid field of the pharaohs of the 4 th Egyptian dynasty at Giza, a main axis exists. Indeed, the south-east corners of these monuments align towards the site of the temple of…
The world famous Javanese temple of Borobudur is located at the westernmost end of a straight line which includes two satellite temples, Mendut and Pawon. Originally, the three buildings were probably connected by a processional path…
The data on the astronomical orientation of the IV dynasty Egyptian pyramids are re-analyzed and it is shown that such data suggest an inverse chronology between the `first` and the `second` Giza pyramid.
Ever since Flinders Petrie undertook a theodolite survey on the Giza plateau in 1881 and drew attention to the extraordinary degree of precision with which the three colossal pyramids are oriented upon the four cardinal directions, there…
Pyramids are the greatest architectural achievement of ancient civilization, so people all over the world are curious as to the purpose of such huge constructions. No other structure has been studied as thoroughly, nor have so many books…
It is shown how repeated observations of the sunset from various points up a tall building can be used to determine the Earth's radius. The same observations can also be used, at some latitudes, to deduce an approximate value for the amount…
A recent announcement of some pyramids, buried under the sand of Egypt and discovered by means of infrared remote sensing, renewed the interest on the archaeological surveys aided by satellites. Here we propose the use of images, obtained…
The Great Pyramids of Egypt hide mathematic information unknown up to date. The measurements of the three Great Pyramids of Egypt at Giza show that Egyptians knew how to calculate the circumference, the volume and the area of the sphere…
We propose the use of image processing to enhance the Google Maps of some archaeological areas of Egypt. In particular we analyse that place which is considered the cradle of pyramids, where it was announced the discovery of a new pyramid…
Wurdi Youang is an egg-shaped Aboriginal stone arrangement in Victoria, Australia. Here we present a new survey of the site, and show that its major axis is aligned within a few degrees of east-west. We confirm a previous hypothesis that it…
Polyhedra called Siamese dipyramids are known to be non-flexible, however their physical models behave like physical models of flexible polyhedra. We discuss a simple mathematical method for explaining the model flexibility of the Siamese…
Understanding our place in the universe is an eternal quest. Through the analysis of the 3D structures of 66 nearby open clusters using Gaia DR3 data, we discovered an intriguing pattern: most clusters show their elongation directions…
Records of sunspots and aurora observations in pre-telescopic historical documents can provide useful information about solar activity in the past. This is also true for extreme space weather events, as they may have been recorded as large…