Related papers: The Solar Numbers in Angkor Wat
We present a study of the relationship between astronomy and landscape centered on the orientation of Christian churches of the island of La Gomera, located in the Canary Archipelago. The fieldwork consisted of measuring the precise…
Did the Indian and Babylonian astronomy evolve in isolation, was there mutual influence, or was one dependent on the other? Scholars have debated these questions for more than two centuries, and opinion has swung one way or the other with…
We express the position of the Sun in the sky as a function of time and the observer's geographic coordinates. Our method is based on applying rotation matrices to vectors describing points on the celestial sphere. We also derive direct…
The orientation of Christian churches is a well-known distinctive feature of their architecture. There is a general tendency to align their apses in the solar range, favoring orientations close to the east (astronomical equinox), although…
We argue that there was a link between Indus Valley India and the Mayans of Central America which is brought out by astronomical references. The former used a Jovian calendar while the latter had perfected a calendar based on Venus. This…
A fragment of the folklore text "Apai" that was once put down on Easter Island contains a report about astronomical observations of Kirch's Comet or the Great Comet of 1680-1681 A.D. (C/1680 V1) and the partial solar eclipse of March 19,…
We present the result of the survey of sunspots and auroras in ${\it Q\bar{\imath}ngsh\check{\imath}ga\check{o}}$, the draft chronicle of ${\it Q\bar{\imath}ng}$ dynasty, for the period of 1559-1912 CE, as a sequel of the series of works…
Prehistoric sanctuaries of Daunia date back several thousand years. During the Neolithic and Bronze Age the farmers in that region dug hypogea and holes whose characteristics suggest a ritual use. In the present note we summarize the…
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,…
Vishaps, or dragon stones, are prehistoric stelae discovered in the high-altitude mountainous regions of modern-day Armenia and adjacent regions. The first statistical analysis of their elevation distribution and size reveals that their…
The sacred landscape of the Inka capital Cusco was conceived in accordance with a complex cosmographic view in which religion and astronomy were intimately connected. Some previously unnoticed possibilities in interpreting these connections…
The Domus Aurea, Nero's last "palace" constructed in the very heart of ancient Rome, is a true masterpiece of Roman architecture. We explore here symbolic aspects of the emperor's project, analysing the archaeoastronomy of the best…
The astronomical orientation of the acropolis of Alatri, Italy, is analyzed. The results support the idea that this town, with its magnificent polygonal walls, was constructed well before the Roman expansion.
The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu is usually interpreted as a "royal estate" of the Inca ruler Pachacuti. This idea is challenged here by a critical reappraisal of existing sources and a re-analysis of existing evidences. It is shown that…
The bird-man cult remains the main secret of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), a remote plot of land in the Pacific. This paper includes not only necessary ethnological data, but also some results on the archaeoastronomy. The research of some lines…
The chain of late Roman fortified settlements built in the Kharga Oasis, in Egypt Western Desert, represents an interesting case study to analyse how the ancient Roman town planners interacted with the landscape. A peculiar feature of the…
A sunset over the sea surface offers the possibility to chronometrate a solar transit across the horizon. The vertical solar diameter is proportional to the duration of the sunset, the cosine of the azimuth and the cosine of the latitude of…
The stone alignment 'Nilurallu' at Murardoddi is a megalithic monument containing standing stones of 12 to 16 feet high that are arranged somewhat in a squarish pattern. This is one of the stone alignments listed by Allchin (1956) as a…
Two additional positions of the famous Mataveri calendar of Easter Island have been interpreted. The information about the stars of the Virgo constellation has been obtained, too. As a result, the archaic Rapanui name of the star Spica and…
Rapid development of renewable energy sources, particularly solar photovoltaics (PV), is critical to mitigate climate change. As a result, India has set ambitious goals to install 500 gigawatts of solar energy capacity by 2030. Given the…