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Secrets of 2000-year-old Analog Computer Revealed With Help From Gravitational Wave Technology [Antikythera mechanism]
The Debrief ^ | June 28, 2024 | Micah Hanks

Posted on 06/28/2024 11:50:42 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

New insights into the function of the world's oldest analog computer, the famous Antikythera mechanism, have been made with help from an unlikely source: technology developed for the study of gravitational waves...

Roughly the size of a shoebox, the device features an array of intricately tooled gears that are surprisingly complex for any innovation from the second century BCE. Over the decades, studies of the device have revealed that it likely functioned as a hand-operated computer that would have allowed its operator to predict the arrival of eclipses, as well as calculate the positions of planets over time.

Fast forward to 2020, when X-ray images of one of the device's components, which researchers identify as its calendar ring, unveiled new features that included a series of regularly spaced holes beneath the ring. Given its highly eroded state, the presence of rings could be discerned, although the number remained unclear, with estimates suggesting anywhere between 347 and 467 of the holes having once existed along this damaged portion of the device.

Now, in new research published in the Horological Journal, Glasgow researchers outline their use of a pair of statistical techniques in a new effort to refine the previously estimated number of holes that once existed in this region of the Antikythera mechanism. Applying Bayesian analysis and, notably, new techniques from gravitational wave research, the team determined that the ring likely contained 354 holes.

This is significant since the 354 holes on the device would have perfectly aligned with the Greek lunar calendar, as opposed to the Egyptian calendar's 365 holes. Based on the new analysis, the presence of 354 holes is hundreds of times more probable than the previously considered 360-hole count.

(Excerpt) Read more at thedebrief.org ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: ancientnavigation; antikytheramechanism; astronomy; godsgravesglyphs; gravitationalwaves; greece; huggedtheshoreline; josephbayley; lunarcalendar; physics; romanempire; sanknearland; science
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To: minnesota_bound

In order to “Build Back Better”, one needs to tear everything out first, including the Foundation. With fire if necessary.


41 posted on 06/30/2024 3:07:44 PM PDT by 21twelve (Ever Vigilant. Never Fearful.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]


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