Make your own Heavens' Hinge (Part 1)

A 'Geocentric' worldview is the idea that our World is fixed: the heavens revolve around us.

This exercise shows how the rotation of the heavens might be discovered and proved by earlier peoples, particularly in Southern England. It also teaches the concept of movement of the skies about the polar axis so may be useful as a supplementary exercise with explanations of orbital planes.

The exercise:

In this exercise, we are going to use observation to understand the rotation of the Heavens as it might be seen by neolithic peoples. You will end up with a new and unusual explanation for the Long Man of Wilmington.

Equipment needed:

a) Two or three straight sticks approximately 5 feet long (approx 1.5 metres)
b) String 
c) A small woodworking clamp

d) Preferably a north facing slope (not essential)

Timing:

Best done between late autumn and early spring

Two twenty minute segments with one hour between, best done in an after school club

The method:

a: One way to prove that the heavens rotate is to get two sticks and point one of them so that it points to Polaris (which can be found from the details at the bottom of this page). If you are at a latitude of 51º, the angle of the slanted stick will be at 39º to vertical. The other stick is tied so that it can both rotate and point to one particular star or cluster:

b: Then, looking up the Pole Star at night: If the rod is turned anticlockwise by 1/24th of a circle after one hour, like a backwards 24 hour clock, it will stay aligned to the same star:

c: After one hour:

Even better, if you can find a north facing slope, you can stick the pole in the ground, use a cushion and look straight up the pole without straining:

After experiment discussion:
Here is an easily found north facing slope at just the right angle to the North Star:

The above picture is of the Long Man of Wilmington, perhaps some 400 years old. Debate exists about its true age and whether or not the slope was artificially cut. Google Earth screen shot:

 

Coordinates: 50°48'36", 0°11'17". Slope angle: Approx 28°-30° (from site survey).

Images courtesy of NASA. Other images by author.

Link to: Part 2 of Make your own Heavens' Hinge (To draw the Universe)

Background:

'He had told the youngers that these [two] sticks could show them the nature of the universe.'  from The Broken Stone and the secret of the Heavens' Henge.

Over very long periods, the Earth 'wobbles' a bit in space making the position of the celestial poles vary. However, over our lifetime, the position will stay the same.

The stars currently rotate around Polaris:

5000 years ago, the pole was located elsewhere (the polar position moves in a circle about the ecliptic pole returning to the same spot every 26,000 years). However, the position of the pole is currently at the pole star; Polaris:

Polaris can be found by locating the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and following the pointer at the end of the pan:

There lies in the Ocean an island....

A 'Geocentric' worldview is the idea that our World is fixed: The heavens revolve about us. 

It is said that Aristotle and Ptolemy proposed different ideas of how the heavens revolved around our World. However, Diodorus Siculus, (Library of History Vol II Book2; Part 47) described a sacred precinct of Apollo lost to the pre-greek dark ages:

 

‘There lies in the Ocean an island no smaller than Sicily. This island, the account continues, is situated in the north and is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who are called by that name because their home is beyond the point whence the north wind (Boreas) blows … And there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple which is adorned with many votive offerings and is spherical in shape … The account is also given that the god visits the island every nineteen years, the period in which the return of the stars to the same place in the heavens is accomplished.’ Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 2.47.

 

It will help to read this post first (Of Hyperion we are told....)

 

Imagine standing on a fixed geocentric world at a latitude of 51 degrees (Salisbury, England): This worldview can be represented by the solar planes (now 23.5 degrees either side of the Equatorial line, though 24 degrees in 2400BC), together with the blackness of the sphere which appears to revolves around the polar axis:

Take this vision of this World and look at the Winter Solstice; a solar position that happens to coincide with the raised mound around Station Stone 92 at Stonehenge - for detailed explanation see blog post Of Hyperion we are told:

From the centre of the World (Point C), the Sun (S) is located along the solstice solar plane (dashed line). In the UK at winter solstice, it rises from the horizon by an angle of about 16 degrees:

By standing on our world (at P) and drawing a horizon line to a south point H, we can show how high up the sun travels at the Winter Solstice:

We can also define the moon at it's furthest lunar standstill. Every nineteen years, the Moon reaches it's major standstill in the Southern Hemisphere (at about 30 degrees from the equatorial plane in 2400BC). However, both the Moon and the Sun appear to eclipse; so those who believe themselves on a geocentric world, because they do not know if the Moon is in front or behind, might only define the Moon's line and not its exact position:

To represent the solar circle, we can draw a circle around the Sun showing its peak above the horizon:

 

Now we'll draw this with dots:

The Avebury Circle (near Stonehenge, England):

A circle with a centre representing the World and its hinge drawn in stone: Avebury North Inner Circle
The Earth's centre: Avebury's 'Cove'

The sun's Winter Solstice point (from the Earth's Centre): Avebury's Obelisk

The Sun's winter solstice movement line placed @ 16 degrees: South Inner Circle

The moon's variable location placed @ 9 degrees: Avebury's Stone Row

The stars beyond of the firmament: Avebury's outer circle
The outer blackness: Avebury's ditch & bank

Diodorus Siculus tells us that a Geocentric model (world fixed with heavens revolving above) was discovered long before Roman records began. Avebury and Stonehenge fit Diodorus's description.
 

We also know that Northern Europeans often travelled to Britain in Neolithic Times.

Is it possible that the North of Europe knew the nature of the heavens thousands of years before Aristotle and Ptolemy?

Renewable Energy & Sustainability

The Heavens' Henge and Solarsphere project started with research into obscure methods of solar energy concentration. On finding that these ideas appeared to be duplicated in neolithic monuments (particularly Stonehenge), I wrote a fictional novel containing some non-fiction appendices.  However, all of the engineering ideas are real, have been tested, prototyped and witnessed as working by independent bodies (eg journalists).  

All the coincidences have been verified and double-checked against a very large set of published archaeological evidence.

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Latest news (2013):

The ideas were published as a paper (late 2012) in an archaeological forum. Following this, an expanded non-fiction booklet "Stonehenge: Solving the Neolithic Universe" was produced. Reviews of this were very positive. For example: ‘‘Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Stonehenge.’’ (Reviewer for The Megalithic Portal.)

The booklet is now being reviewed by several professors of archaeology: To date, only positive comments have been received. For example: ‘‘I do agree with you that the basic structure of Stonehenge is essentially a working model of their cosmos/perceived Universe.’’ (Professor of Archaeology: UK, February 2013. Details to follow when comments collated.)

The booklet is now the #1 best selling book about Stonehenge in the USA. More details here. 

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The first few sets of coincidences were described in 2011:

• Stonehenge: Origins of the Heavens' Hinge
• Stonehenge landscape part 1: Of Hyperion we are told

If a connection exists between renewable energy and our distant past, is it possible that the connection could have a beneficial impact on the way renewable energy is seen?

 

  

CAD 3D models (.dwg files) are available here. If there would be interest in seeing more of this type of data, particularly anyone involved in sustainability or renewable energy, please post a comment below (and forward this page link to anyone you think would be interested).

Of Hyperion we are told....

 

A 2014 paper by a London college student, pushing semi-political views, may have referred you here (rather than to the primary literature). If citing the research summarised here, it is preferable to use the detailed works: ISBN 1492736880 (published 2013) or 0956861733 (published 2020).

Added 2021

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A 'Geocentric' worldview is the idea that our World is fixed: the heavens revolve around us.

It is said that Aristotle and Ptolemy proposed different ideas of how the heavens revolved around our World. However, Diodorus Siculus, (Library of History, Vol III, Book 5; Part 67) said that the spherical nature of the heavens was an earlier discovery (pre-greek dark ages):

‘Of Hyperion we are told that he was the first to understand, by diligent attention and observation, the movement of both the sun and the moon and the other stars, and the seasons as well, in that they are caused by these bodies, and to make these facts known to others; and that for this reason he was called the father of these bodies, since he had begotten, so to speak, the speculation about them and their nature.’

Imagine standing on a fixed world at a latitude of 51 degrees (Salisbury, England):

In summer, the Sun's circle appears to rise towards the northern pole giving the long days of summer:

This worldview can be represented by the solar planes (23.5 degrees either side of the Equatorial line), together with the blackness of the sphere which appears to revolve around the polar axis:

Add stars, and our World can be described by this diagram:

Now compare this to Stonehenge:

A circle representing the World and its hinge drawn in stone: Stonehenge 

The poles or hinge of the World: Stonehenge's "Heelstone", its Avenue and its "Slaughter Stone" 
The sun's apparent orbital path: Stonehenge's "Station Stones" 
The stars marking the latitudes of our World: Stonehenge's "Aubrey Holes" 
The outer blackness: Stonehenge's inner facing circular bank

Diodorus Siculus tells us that a Geocentric model (world fixed with heavens revolving above) was discovered long before Roman records began. Stonehenge fits Diodorus's description. Its name fits Diodorus's description.

We also know that Northern Europeans often travelled to Britain in Neolithic Times.

Is it possible that the North of Europe knew the nature of the heavens thousands of years before Aristotle and Ptolemy?

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