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| "The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere" | Login/Create an Account | 14 comments | ||
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| Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content. |
| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 0) by Anonymous on Saturday, 24 June 2006 |
| Gerald Ponting writes: This all started from Professor Thom's original 1967 book, Megalithic Sites in Britain, in which he showed the extreme southern moon, as seen from the Callanish Stones, setting behind Clisham and the other hills of Harris. He'd made his horizon profile from maps and not returned to the site. Gerald Hawkins, in a very obscure 1971 paper, proved by photogrammetry that the small rocky hillock just to the south of the site (Cnoc an Tursa) blocks the view of Clisham when standing among the stones - something that is perfectly obvious just standing at the site and using one's eyes! (Hawkins, as far as I know, never visited Callanish.) Margaret (now Curtis) and I did an enormous amount of work in the late 70s and early 80s surveying horizons and calculating sun and moon positions. Obviously, with the work that had been done before, one of the directions that most interested us was looking towards the extreme southern moonset. In our paper presented to a 1980 conference, we first linked the moonset with the alignment of the Callanish avenue towards the circle and the same moonrise with the hilly profile of a 'female figure' on the southern horizon, known as the 'Sleeping Beauty'; and that this may have been an intention of the original builders. See brief quotations from this paper at http://home.clara.net/gponting/page47.html This was put forward as a THEORY. I'm not sure what Margaret and Ron have claimed since I ceased to be involved in the project in 1984, but I have never claimed that the prehistoric builders of Callanish *definitely* built the Callanish avenue in order to have a ceremony watching the moon set through the stones, on the few rare occasions that it happens, with an 18-year gap betwen such ceremonies. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But it is still a wonderful experience to be there and see the moon slide along the body of the hill figure. To see the setting moon among the stones must be even more amazing, but I've not been lucky enough to see this yet. Good luck with the weather, those of you who are planning to go in July. (See timing on my web-site; please let me know if you find it helpful.) Others have taken the theory much further since 1980, including identifying the Sleeping Beauty with an/the earth goddess, etc. The idea has taken on a life of it's own, and it was amazing to me (and, incidentally, to Margaret) to realise that the crowds there on the night of June 11th-12th had all travelled to Callanish as a direct consequence of what we had published 26 years ago! = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Gerald Ponting Writer, Publisher, Photographer, Lecturer Hampshire, England gponting@clara.net http://home.clara.net/gponting/ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = |
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| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 0) by Anonymous on Saturday, 24 June 2006 |
| I have now updated my website, both with a revised table of times and dates for those visiting Callanish for the moon in July or later, and with a detailed illustrated 'blog' of the events of 11th-12th June. See http://home.clara.net/gponting/page44.html for my blog and http://home.clara.net/gponting/page45.html for the table of dates and times. Best wishes Gerald |
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| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 1) by cceridwen on Sunday, 18 June 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| We are travelling up to Callanish starting at Avebury on the Solstice and reaching in time to view the Standstill on the 10th of July. We will be uploading photo's and accounts of the many sacred sites we will visit on the way up. The link is http://www.astrocal.co.uk/callanishjourney.html. The site details the dates and places we will be along the way - if anyones around at any of the sites when we are, then come and say hello. Ceri |
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| Coverage in the Scotsman (Score: 1) by Andy B on Tuesday, 20 June 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| IT HAD been unseasonably hot all day and the great standing stones at Callanish shimmered in the setting sun. These Neolithic giants stood out among the throng of people. The Isle of Lewis might be the end of the road, yet a crowd of nearly 200 had trekked to this ancient site in the Outer Hebrides to bear witness to a most unusual spectacle and sate their spiritual need. They stood out against the bleached greens and greys of the Lewis countryside. Flame-haired druids beating drums, dowsers with brass rods reflecting the sunlight, pagans, moon worshippers, hippies, shamans and witches were all there, facing west into their sacred landscape awaiting the goddess. More, with photos: http://heritage.scotsman.com/myths.cfm?id=875562006 |
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| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 0) by Anonymous on Wednesday, 14 June 2006 |
| I am heading to castlerigg for the july occurence. See some of you there . . . |
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| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 0) by Anonymous on Sunday, 11 June 2006 |
| Gerald Ponting writes: I know that there has been some doubt about which nights are ‘best’ for the southern moon skim. Some of the confusion is no doubt due to the fact that if the date for due south is soon after midnight, you need to stay up to see the moon rise, late on the previous day! There has been some discussion about the advantages of June or July. To clear things up, there is very little to choose between the nights of 11th/12th June and 9th/10th July. The moon is a little lower in July, it’s marginally (probably not observably) closer to Full in June. The moon is only slightly higher on June 12th/13th and on July 8th/9th – so in either month you get two consecutive nights for a chance of clear skies. Late September is the nearest to the true southern extreme, so the moon’s at its lowest, but it’s a half moon in daylight – not exactly spectacular. I am travelling up to Lewis in June and hope to capture the moon skim effect. I will post photos here as soon as I can. As Vicky has said, there are more details on my web page: http://home.clara.net/gponting/page42.html All the best, Gerald |
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| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 1) by Aluta on Monday, 12 June 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| Statesiders--see related events at sites here, including one at the Octagon in Newark, Ohio in October. |
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| Re: The Lunar Standstill 2006 at Callanish and elsewhere (Score: 1) by bat400 on Monday, 12 June 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| For everyone: The cause of this interesting effect is described here at the "Sky and Telescope" magazine website. The effect is more pronounced the farther away from the equator one is. |
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| Re: Callanish Lunar Standstill Videos (Score: 1) by AngieLake on Saturday, 02 September 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| I see that tonight is one of the better times to see the southern moon skim, according to Gerald Ponting's table of times (though I guess it happens a bit early to have darker skies?) Looking at Victor's webcam, they've got lovely weather up there at Callanish this afternoon (now 4.30pm on Saturday 2nd Sept), unlike good old 'sunny Devon' where it's bloody miserable and wet and grey!! |
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| Callanish Lunar Standstill Videos (Score: 0) by Anonymous on Saturday, 02 September 2006 |
| Hello, I am working on putting all the videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=VReijs All the best, Victor |
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| Lesley's On The Bike - Uig Storytelling and Moon over Callanish (Score: 1) by Andy B on Tuesday, 12 September 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| Lesley Riddoch writes: I have to be honest - I did get a lift across the wild barren moors of Lewis to the remote beach bulging paradise of Uig. It's always been a land apart - cut off from the rest of Lewis by a ridge of Marilyns (hills with a 150 foot drop all around.) Ceilidhs were common, storytelling was even more common and the result has been captured in an "e-storytelling" project centred on Uig Beach. Using ipods with GPS you trigger stories about the Brahan Seer and the Lewis Chessmen by wandering into the very places on the beach where the "prophet" found his gift and a wee boy found the chess pieces. Ingenious. Then an accidental meeting with singer Dougie MacLean and his wife Jenny meant a small posse headed towards Callanish at 1am to see the last "lunar standstill" for 18 years. The moon "walks" across hills shaped like a woman lying on her back, and sets into the middle of the stone circle. Druids, hippies, pagans, Free Church psalm singers and a piper from Cumbernauld all arrived - but did the moon? Here's a hint - I've never witnessed (or recorded) such a hoolie! Listen to the Program on the web at BBC Radio Scotland and http://lesleyriddoch.com/lr/default.htm. More in The Herald: http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/69811.html |
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| Another good article on the physics of lunar cycle (Score: 1) by bat400 on Friday, 08 September 2006 (User Info | Send a Message) |
| J.E. Brown offers very clear and descriptive information on high and low lunar motions. Lunar cycles: Brown's Astronomy Site |
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