11–14 of 14 posts
The sun didn't change. The way people date the sun did. A Julian calendar prior to October 1582 and from there on a Gregorian calendar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar
And there was no July in 1000 BC as the month is named after some Julius Ceasar who lived quite a bit later. The whole argument is a silly, ahistoric play on calendar definitions.
what is the significance of this?
I think it demonstrates precession, and the difference between the tropical and sidereal years. Of course, the times were actually calculated from the known rate of precession; we couldn't exactly have said that the summer solstice occurred at 22:00 hours on 2nd July, 1000 BCE. There, you know, wasn't even a July then , given that it was named after a dude who wouldn't be born for another 900 years. EDIT: As mentione…
GMT was based on noon at the Royal Observatory. But only nominally because GMT was a standard for mechanized time and hence abstracted away the messy variability in Solar noon. The fact that you probably are not going to flame me for describing solar noon as 'messily' variable indicates how deeply anachronistic the table is with respect to the meaning of time.
To carry this further, the calendar is a mechanical abstraction over the messy details of years. The year for Stonehenge users is based on observable natural phenomena just as noon is when the sun is due south. And if your first thought wasn't to flame me for leaving half the world out of the description of noon that's your conceptual blindspot not mine.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it demonstrates precession, and the difference between the tropical and sidereal years. Of course, the times were actually calculated from the known rate of precession; we couldn't exactly have said that the summer solstice occurred at 22:00 hours on 2nd July, 1000 BCE. There, you know, wasn't even a July then , given that it was named after a dude who wouldn't be born for another 900 years. EDIT: As mentione…
Another way to see the effect of the precession of the Earth's axis is in astrology. What's your sign? It's the constellation in which the sun stands on the day of your birthday. It's easy to see that: go up into the stratosphere in a balloon, and you'll see both the stars and the sun. Identify the constellation in which the sun stands, and there's your sign. So, my birthday is September 7, and my sign is Virgo. But…