Schlagwort-Archive: star clock

All golden elements of the Nebra Sky Disk from the first manufacturing phase assigned to different stars

The first manufacturing phase

The Nebra Sky Disk is considered the world’s oldest concrete image of the starry sky. “As the oldest possible date for its manufacture, the beginning of the 2nd millennium seems plausible to us” (Meller, 2005: 301 Harald Meller, 2005. Der geschmiedete Himmel. Theiss-Verlag.).

The star pairs marked in orange and connected by lines could indicate the ends of the extreme positions of the zodiac. (The horizon curves were appropriated only later, but they serve in the drawing for a better understanding.)
The stars marked in green seem to show the five planets visible to the naked eye. From the geocentric view the internal planets, Mercury and Venus, always sit close to the sun and remain near the horizon. The external planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn follow complete orbits in the entire ecliptic in front of the zodiac, like the sun and moon.

The stars of the Nebra Sky Disc can be assigned to certain groups, as to the zodiac, the planets, ...

In the southern sphere dome of the sky a large hexagonal and triangular constellation, each with additional stars, could be seen at intervals of exactly 6 hours. The higher the twelve stars marked in red are above the green horizontal horizon line, the more northerly they are at the same time.

In the northern celestial vault, the eight stars marked in light blue seem to symbolize the circumpolar stars. At that time, they orbited a starless celestial north pole whose position on the disk is thus defined for the first time.

Three of the circumpolar stars formed a star pointer when the hexagonal constellation was visible at the same time. After 6 hours another pointer formed in the north, together with the triangular constellation. After each additional quarter turn, the star pointers were upside down.

The creator of the Nebra Sky Disk had discovered the mechanism of a complete star clock.

In all probability all of the small gold elements of the Nebra Sky Disk were assigned to certain stars.

Today’s commonly used names of these stars can be taken from the illustration.

In dieser Abbildung wurden allen Sternensymbolen der Himmelsscheibe die Namen bestimmter Sterne zugewiesen. Sie wurden vermutlich alle eindeutig interpretiert.

In order to represent all the figures of light of the sun and moon with only two symbols, probably intentionally contradictory details were used in the design of the crescent. The golden circular disk obviously represents the full moon, the sun and even the earth, as well.
The crescent symbol shows characteristics of a 4.5-day-old moon as well as of a lunar and a solar eclipse (foto), when the Earth’s shadow created a crescent moon, and the unlit side of the moon created a crescent sun.

Read more: The 4 extreme positions of the zodiac

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    Harald Meller, 2005. Der geschmiedete Himmel. Theiss-Verlag.

2x Procyon in exactly six hours!

The Nebra Sky Disc shows two large star constellations and exactly 6 hours in between:
The Winter Hexagon and at the same moment the stars Deneb and Vega in the north. Just six hours later appears a large triangular constellation when Procyon, the last star of the hexagonal constellation, stood close to the horizon, directly in the west.

Großes Dreieck mit Procyon

In the computer map on the right hand, we see the whole hexagon of stars as it has just exceeded the north-south axis, the so-called meridian, in about 1950 B.C., in Central Germany. The star Procyon / Canis Minor has just left his highest point, so now he continues the way down to his setting place. In addition the bright star Vega / Lyra was standing exactly in the north point and also at the northern horizon, but further to the west, Deneb / Cygnus could be seen. These two last stars were only visible, if you turned about 180 degrees and looked straight to the north. With Vega in the north point, they formed together with the hexagon of stars a timely exact fixed north-south constellation.

Wintersechseck, Deneb, Vega

Left computer map shows a larger triangle consisting of remarkable bright stars, which is even larger as the before mentioned winter hexagon. It is composed of the star Altiar /Aquila, close to the east point and Arcturus / Bootes approximately in the zenith, as well as the luminous Antares / Scorpius lower in the south-east. On the opposite side of the rising Altair we will see again the bright star Procyon / Canis Minor, shortly before his setting, so that only for a short moment a maximum east-west constellation could be observed.
And the star inside the hexagon, between the two constellations of the zodiac, is probably a planet.

If we look now at both computer maps, to the southern area of the Sky Disc, we see Procyon only close to the meridian and then just still above the western sky edge. For this arc run Procyon on the minute needs exactly six hours.

These before mentioned big star constellations are illustrated on the Nebra Sky Disc.

The eight circumpolar stars

Looking in a northerly direction we can see that the circumpolar stars circle a formerly starless North Pole.1. Phase Blickrichtung Norden

On the Nebra Sky Disc its hight above the horizon on the meridian (= imaginary great circle through the North Pole and the South Pole) is defined by the centre of the circuit of the outer circumpolar star, number 8.alle Zirkumpolarsterne

On the computer map the centre of the blue lines corresponds to the northern celestial pole.
The distances between the parallel circles of all the stars of the Sky Disc, marked in light-blue, do not agree with the “distorted” circuits of the stars in the north view of the computer map, but they proportionately fit the altitude angles of the following upper stars: 1 Kocab / Little Bear, 2 η-Draco, 3 Alkaid / Big Bear, 4 Polaris / Little Bear, 5 Etamin / Draco, 6 Alderamin / Kepheus, 7 Alphekka / Northern Crown, 8 Vega / Lyra.

 

Sternenzeiger mit Sechseck im SüdenWenn Zirkumpolarsterne gelichzeitig im Meridian stehen, zeigen Sie als Stenenzeiger den Wahren Norden an oder sie bilden den Stundenzeiger einer Sternenuhr. Present doubts about the validity of the classification are allayed when we have a look at the entire firmament, as in the Early Bronze Age in Central Germany Two seasonal constellations.three of the recognized circumpolar stars were positioned almost vertically on top of one another in the meridian (2 η-Draco, 5 Etamin, 8 Vega), while the constellation from the Winter Hexagon with Deneb and Vega was visible. They form an astral hand.

Two further circumpolar stars (3 Alkaid, 4 Polaris) were located in the meridian exactly six hours later when a triangular constellation occupied the eastern quarter of the sky and Procyon, close to the west point, was just about to set.

This part of a perfect star clock, whose hands circle the North Pole in quarter turns at a distance of exactly six hours, has only been seen for very few centuries in approximately 26.000 years!

 

Nordzeiger Another astral hand, 1 Kocab and 6 Alderamin, might have pointed to True North. “The north was, where the extension of their conection line met the horizon vertically (Kate Spence 2000).” [1]

 

 

 

Presumably the circumpolar star 7 Alphekka was especially important for helping travelers to find their way as it was the brightest star which, after Vega, reached in Central Germany a low position above the True North, as already ascertained.

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[1] www.zeit.de/2000/47/cheops%27_Kompass/seite-3