NATS 1745 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Equinox, Archaeoastronomy, Winter Solstice
11 Apr 2014
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Lecture 2 archaeoastronomy (continued), historical astronomy and the cycle of the stars. Thursday, january 09, 2014: archaeoastronomy and the sun (continued) All they would have to do is watch the sun"s motion every day for the duration of at least a year. Therefore, the fact that prehistoric people could track the sun had no bearing on their ability, or lack of ability, to comprehend the universe. The occurrence of the seasons can be explained by the tilt of the earth (1) the sun"s daily cycle. The direction where the sun rises (east) and sets (west) is determined by the nature of earth"s rotation. 1) due to the earth"s 24-hour eastward spin around its polar axis, the sun moves westward across the sky; it rises in the east, reaches its highest point at noon, then sets in the west. 2) northern hemisphere: sun is mostly seen on the south side of the sky, reaching due south at noon.
