Posted on 06/05/2006 4:27:51 PM PDT by blam
Native Americans recorded supernova explosion
16:45 05 June 2006
NewScientist.com news service
Zeeya Merali and Kelly Young
The Arizonan petroglyph may depict the supernova of 1006 AD - the star symbol is on the right and the constellation Scorpius on the left (Image: John Barentine, Apache Point Observatory)
This double-sun petroglyph at Chaco Canyon National Monument in New Mexico may depict the supernova of 4 July 1054 (Image: Mark Lansing)
There are numerous examples of rock art in the Chaco Canyon National Monument depicting celestial objects (Image: Mark Lansing)
Prehistoric Native Americans may have carved a record of a supernova explosion that appeared in the skies a millennium ago into a rock in Arizona, US.
John Barentine, an astronomer at the Apache Point Observatory in New Mexico, came across the carving while hiking in the White Tank Mountain Regional Park in Arizona.
It depicts a scorpion and an eight-pointed star. "I had just been reading about the supernova of AD 1006 and I knew it appeared in the constellation Scorpius, so the connection flashed into my mind."
To make his case, Barentine and his colleague Gilbert A. Esquerdo, at the Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, used planetarium software to recreate the sky as it would have appeared in Arizona during the supernova's appearance and overlaid it with photographs from the site.
The supernova would have been brighter than a planet, and both it and the constellation - which is shaped like a scorpion - would have appeared just above the edge of the rock, in the same orientation depicted in the carvings. Native Americans populated the region during that period and often recorded objects thought to have magical powers, says Barentine.
"It's by no means conclusive, but I think it's strong circumstantial evidence that the art depicts the supernova," says Barentine. He announced his theory at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, on Monday.
Star watchers
The supernova was recorded by star watchers in Asia, the Middle-East and Europe. But until now, nobody thought that prehistoric Native Americans followed events in the sky. "I don't think enough credit has been given to the ancient Native Americans in the past, but that might change now," Barentine told New Scientist.
If the art does represent the supernova, it would provide a useful date to help work out the age of neighbouring rock carvings, which are difficult to assess by other methods, says Barentine.
But the White Tank Mountain is not the first suspected supernova petroglyph in North America. A petroglyph at Chaco Canyon National Monument in New Mexico may depict the supernova of 4 July 1054.
Another petroglyph at White Tank may also be a recording of the AD 1054 supernova. White Tank Mountain park ranger Mark Lansing says that petroglyph looks like colliding suns and is nestled in a back canyon along with pictures of other celestial objects.
"The AD 1006 petroglyph is a little more abstract," Lansing says of Barentine's find. "I'd seen his petroglyph but not really related it to the sky for 1006. He does show what the sky may have looked like in AD 1006."
GGG Ping.
Has to be the bottom science story of the month. Anyone who didn't see and note a bright new star is two arrows short of a quiver.
You might just be right.
Maybe it represnts what frogs look like when you throw them at a rock.
But how would the American Indians have known the constellation was "Scorpio"?
What I find interesting is the scorpion.
Why should the two continents have the same celestial imagery?
Then again, it just may be a really memorable 4th of July fireworks display.
Perhaps they threw a couple of scorpions on the grill, knocked back some "firewater" and next morning said,"man we had one supernova party last night"! :o)
...yeah, I know. It's a groaner.
How does one come to acquire such knowledge anyway?
It doesn't say how long the supernova might have been visible. Any idea?
"The remnant of this supernova was only rediscovered by radio astronomers in the 1960s."
LOL!
LOL! Or what spiders look like when Garfield the cat is finished with them.
It wouldn't be the only time.
Ursa Major was known as the Bear to the American Indians as well as Greeks.
Or why Native Americans who lived 1000 years ago are "pre-historic"?
Does the fact the the Euopeans didn't know they existed make them prehistoric?
Why do we continue to discount that they had civilzations, histories, cultures = even observatories, long before we knew there were continents here.
When the white man came, they found cities that surpassed those in Europe - and astronomical observatories, planetary observations, calendars, predictions and a numerical system that surpassed that of the old world.
Even Chaco Canyon was a remarkable community where over 5000 people lived for a few hundred years. They observed the planets, kept track of the solstices, ...
We try to ignore the histories of the Native Americans because we haven't grown up enough yet to admit they were not just a bunch of wild savages whose lands we were meant to take thru' "manifest destiny."
My question as well.
Probably because Scorpio is one of the few constellations that actually looks like what it's suppose to be.
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