[meteorite-list] 8000BC Big Dipper Petroglyph: Evolution of star positions
From: lebofsky at lpl.arizona.edu <lebofsky_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2011 07:53:34 -0700 Message-ID: <45e83cdaba09030ff03974b702f2e745.squirrel_at_webmail.lpl.arizona.edu> Hi Chris: I rarely disagree with you, but I do this time (sort of). There IS an option in "Starry Night" to look at the constellations over time (using proper motion). The Big Dipper (an asterism, not a constellation), looks very similar in 8,000 BCE to what it looks like today. Chris: it is called constellations over time. And "using a different method" (or whatever the statement was) to say what the Big Dipper looked like then makes no sense. I doubt that the petroglyph could have been used to depict what the Big Dipper looked like 100,000 years ago. Larry > That's because precise calculation of the positions of the planets- > including Earth- is only possible for a few thousand years. Beyond that, > the chaotic nature of orbital dynamics in a multiple body system becomes > dominant. No software, professional or amateur, can provide an accurate > topocentric sky map for more than a few thousand years either way from > the present. > > That is quite different from estimating the shapes of asterisms over > time. In most cases, the proper motion of the brighter stars is well > known, and makes it possible to know what constellations will look like > over periods of millions of years. But since the purpose of sky charting > software is primarily to produce accurate topocentric star maps, they > generally limit themselves to a much shorter period. They won't let you > look at the Big Dipper 100,000 years ago, not because they can't > accurately render it, but because they can't accurately position the > entire asterism in the sky. > > Chris > > ******************************* > Chris L Peterson > Cloudbait Observatory > http://www.cloudbait.com > > On 9/12/2011 5:20 AM, karmaka wrote: >> Hello Robert, >> >> thank you for the interesting images. >> >> The depiction of the 'Big Dipper' 100.000 years ago matches other >> simulations and depictions I've seen so far. >> >> Precise calculations with astronomical software for amateurs are usually >> only possible >> until a few thousand years back in time. There must be a reason why. >> >> 'Redshift 7 Premium' for example allows only calculations which do not >> go back further than 4713 BC. >> >> Best regards >> >> Martin > ______________________________________________ > Visit the Archives at > http://www.meteoritecentral.com/mailing-list-archives.html > Meteorite-list mailing list > Meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com > http://six.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/meteorite-list > Received on Mon 12 Sep 2011 10:53:34 AM PDT |
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