Posted on 01/11/2018 10:43:15 AM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
Archaeologists say a mysterious stone carving found in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir could be the earliest picture of a supernova ever found.
For decades, the elaborate carving was thought to depict a hunting scene.
However, two objects in the carvings that look like stars triggered a new study into the strange rocks.
Indian astronomers now say the Kashmir rock drawings may be the oldest depiction of a supernova ever discovered.
'We suggest that this is not a terrestrial hunting scene but is actually a sky-map giving location of prominent constellations and the Moon on the day the supernova was first observed,' the team from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai and Astrophysikalisches Institut in Potsdam, Germany wrote in the Indian Journal of History of Science.
The stone painting was found in a rock wall with the stone facing inside in in the Burzahama region in Kashmir, India, in the 1960s.
The site has been dated to 2100 BC.
It shows two hunters, a bull, and two beaming disks in the sky initially speculated to be two suns.
Researchers first ruled out there being two suns, then also ruled out a sun and a moon, writing the objects 'cannot be sun and moon since, with such proximity to the sun, the moon would be in a partial phase around the new and hence not very bright.'
The team led by astrophysicist Mayank Vahia then scoured astronomical records of ancient supernovae for one which matched the drawing.
They found one, Supernova HB9, which would have been visible on Earth in 3600 BC with a brightness comparable to that of the moon.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
More pictures and a map to make their case at the link.
At least it’s not aliens so we don’t need a pic of that Aliens guy.
Maybe it was the Empire’s Death Star?
The site has been dated to 2100 BC, but Supernova HB9 would have been visible on Earth in 3600 BC ... seems to be a time discrepancy of 1500 years. Perhaps the carvers were just slow?
there is a great disturbance in the force...
It was carved by sloths.............
It was carved by sloths.............
They were so focused on their carving they didn’t see the Saber-toothed tiger sneaking up on them..................
How do you know it’s not aliens?
Can you prove it’s not aliens?
If it wasn’t aliens can you prove it was something else?
Was The Formation Of A 20-Km-Diameter Impact Crater On The Moon Observed On June 18, 1178?
More great threads. Thanks.
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