The Great Avebury Challenge - Avebury Stone #10
Front Side - The Corresponding Stars on a Sky Map
as Marked and Deciphered by Andis Kaulins
THIS IS THE REGION OF STARS SHOWN ON AVEBURY STONE #10 FRONT SIDE
Modernly, we look at this star map. At Avebury, you looked at Stone #10.
Stars and astronomical parameters represented on Avebury Stone #10 are shown here on a sky map clipped from the astronomy software Starry Night Pro, http://astronomy.starrynight.com/. Labeling adjustments and text explanations are by Andis Kaulins, who is unaffiliated with Starry Night Pro.
as Marked and Deciphered by Andis Kaulins
THIS IS THE REGION OF STARS SHOWN ON AVEBURY STONE #10 FRONT SIDE
Modernly, we look at this star map. At Avebury, you looked at Stone #10.
Stars and astronomical parameters represented on Avebury Stone #10 are shown here on a sky map clipped from the astronomy software Starry Night Pro, http://astronomy.starrynight.com/. Labeling adjustments and text explanations are by Andis Kaulins, who is unaffiliated with Starry Night Pro.
The underlying sky map here is clipped from the astronomy software Starry Night Pro, http://astronomy.starrynight.com/, using the GPS of Avebury as the location setting. We set the date to ca. 3000 BC and use Starry Night Pro's "white sky" setting, which makes the stars easier to locate on the screen.
We changed the color of all the major astronomical parameters to red, as all of those are marked on Avebury Stone #10 and are thus easier here for those to see who are not that familiar with these parameters. We also moved various labels around and changed the fonts and their sizes here and there so that they do not cover stars or other essential parameters.
Note in the left-hand corner how ACrux, the brightest star in Crux, is right on the galactic equator, which also corresponds to the most southerly limit of Milky Way visibility in that era. ACrux disappears from visibility soon after that era at the latitude of Avebury.
Note that the Summer Solstice is marked in the middle of the sky map image and corresponds to the middle of the front side of Avebury Stone #10.
The Winter Solstice is similarly marked in the middle of the stone on the back side of Avebury Stone #10.
Note how the line of the celestial equator is marked on the stone by the "overhanging" sheared stone. That is also the case for the back of the stone. Here on the front side the Milky Way is marked at the bottom of the stone. On the back side, the Milky Way is marked at the top of the stone, indeed in a lighter color.
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