'Unique' astronomical object reveals Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper

Heritage Key ^ | Tuesday, November 9, 2010 | Owen Jarus

[SunkenCiv]

New research on a 2,400 year old star table shows that the Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper, monitoring changes in the constellation's orientation throughout the course of an entire year... Ancient Egyptians represented it as an ox's foreleg...

Professor Sarah Symons, of McMaster University in Hamilton Canada, carried out the new research. She presented her results on Sunday at an Egyptology symposium in Toronto. The star table she analyzed is located inside the lid of a 2,400 year old granite sarcophagus, constructed in the shape of a bull, which is now in the Egyptian Museum. The table is, "unique, though interesting, a very provocative astronomical object," she said... the sarcophagus dates to the 30th dynasty... the last point of time in antiquity where Egypt would be ruled by native born rulers...

Inside the sarcophagus there is an astronomical table, a section of which has rows that show the foreleg of an ox in a wide range of different positions... This section, although confusing to read, includes notation for the three Egyptian seasons, Akhet, Peret and Shemu. Each season is broken down into four months. It also has symbols representing the beginning, middle and end of the night -- although it isn't known at what exact time these points would have been set... Symons decided to focus on the orientation of the forelegs, re-drawing them as arrows. When she did this a pattern started to appear...

But there were problems. Over the course of a year the forelegs sometimes went the wrong way -- as if the stars had stopped obeying the rules of astronomy... This table, she said in an interview, it not made up of casual observations of the Big Dipper but "looks more like a record of it."

[wildbill]

You mean to tell me you channel Wilt Chamberlain?

Ask him if he stopped at 20,000 or if not, what was his final total? I’ve always wanted to know if this was his most cherished athletic record.

[ApplegateRanch]

Over the course of a year the forelegs sometimes went the wrong way -- as if the stars had stopped obeying the rules of astronomy...

Joshua did it! The Egyptions recorded the dipper going backwards when God made the sun stand still for Joshua to finish the battle; and again when God "made the shadow go back" on Hezikiah's sun dial.

Okay; I doubt the Egyptians were recording thrice nightly observations of Karl's Wain that many centuries, but maybe I should just silently forward this to that Creationist museum or theme park or whatever it is, then sit back nice & comfy while the corn pops.

[bunkerhill7]

'Unique' astronomical object reveals Ancient Egyptians kept close tabs on the Big Dipper

The ancient Sumerians kept tabs on the Little Dipper.

The Babylonians kept tabs on the Till-Dipper at the Hanging Gardens Ticket Booth.

[ApplegateRanch]

If only we could see the constellations, the same way the ancients 2400 years ago could see them.

You can! Except for differnces due to proper motion, of course.

All it takes is a trip to North Korea. No light pollution.

Food & sanitation leave a bit to be desired, though...but that would just add to the authenticity of the "ancient" experience.

[gleeaikin]

A few years ago I was at Chincoteague, VA when there was a major power failure that ran at lease 10 miles in either direction up and down the Atlantic Coast. The stars were incredibly brilliant. When I saw them that night I suddenly understood how the ancients were so very fascinated with them. There were far more than I had ever seen, and hundreds of them looked like big “splats”, not little pinpoints. Sometimes at moon rise, the atmospherics there are such that the moon seems to be as tall as 1/4th of the eastern sky. In other words if it normally looks like it is a foot in diameter. Under these conditions it looks like it is 6 feet in diameter.

[Netizen]

I remember reading, some time ago, that the embalmers had a tool to insert into the mouth that would conveniently allow the brain to be removed. Naturally, the tool took the shape of the seven-stared asterism, but not scooped. Like a bent metal rod in the shape of the plough.

I thought they took the brain out through the nose.

[The Cajun]

In my younger days, we would go out deep in the marsh (30 to 40 miles) away from any civilization. Absolutely no light pollution. You could see stars from horizon to horizon and the band of the Milky Way above. The colors and brilliance of the stars are amazing under those conditions and also with a lot younger eyes.
I really miss seeing that because of light pollution and I live in the semi-sticks.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

You mean to tell me you channel Wilt Chamberlain? Ask him if he stopped at 20,000 or if not, what was his final total? I’ve always wanted to know if this was his most cherished athletic record.

Actually, it was his 100 in one night.

[Textide]

I could see a scribe not doing his best work, especially since it was painted on the inside of a sarcophagus lid, viewed only by a dead man whose eyes were likely gouged out during the mummification process. He probably wasn’t too concerned about his critics ;)

[bert]

All work and no play makes Mike a dull boy

[Nowhere Man]

In my younger days, we would go out deep in the marsh (30 to 40 miles) away from any civilization. Absolutely no light pollution. You could see stars from horizon to horizon and the band of the Milky Way above. The colors and brilliance of the stars are amazing under those conditions and also with a lot younger eyes.
I really miss seeing that because of light pollution and I live in the semi-sticks.

I once talked to a World War II Navy vet over the ham radio and I remember him telling the stories of his experiences on the USS Melvin in the Pacific. They had to keep "lights out" at night for fear of a Japanese sub seeing them and sinking them with torpedoes. He remembers the stars were so bright, including the Milky Way. My father noticed the same thing when he was on a ship bound for Japan and Korea while he was in the Army back in the mid 1950's. Back to the Melvin, the vet also told a story that was hard for him to tell, when the Japanese did hit his ship and he lost 256 of his shipmates but the ship did pull through.

[SunkenCiv]

The Moon does that here too. :’) The usual retort is that it appears larger because of its proximity to familiar objects, whereas in the sky, above the trees, it’s by itself. I’ve never bothered to try the “paperclip” test suggested by The Straight Dope, it wouldn’t be accurate anyway; a grid over a telescope lens would settle it. But regardless, I just enjoy that giant moon on the horizon. The difference between apogee and perigee for the Moon is about 5 per cent.

[SunkenCiv]

LOLOL!

[ApplegateRanch]

Actually, it was his 100 in one night.

That only counts as a record if they all...uhh, "were satisfied".

[SunkenCiv]

“Let’s not go to Camelot. It is a silly place.” ;’)

[Bullish]

“Is it a grail.... You seek?”

[SunkenCiv]

“If you wish to cross this sea of fate, you must first answer these questions 28.”

[ApplegateRanch]

VERY silly place.

[Bullish]

His name is..... Tim?

[gleeaikin]

Have you been enjoying the “giant” moon along an earth horizon, or along an ocean horizon? I have only seen what I described as truly giant over the ocean, never over land and only rarely. My boyfriend and I got in an argument over this, but I know I have spent a great deal more time at the shore than he has and have only seen this phenomenon a few times in my life.