<HTML>Derek Barnett wrote:
>
> Hi Frank,
>
> Am I right in thinking then that the AE's could have charted
> precessional drift in the alignment of their pyramids without
> actually realising it? The drift concerned is minute and
> would surely not have registered to the naked eye at sites
> seperated by some distance. The only way it would have been
> spotted would have been if the alignment of earlier pyramids
> had been double checked, though its hard to see any reason
> for this being necessary.
Yes, this is reasonable if they used the same set of stars for alignment over a period of hundreds of years...
for example, here's the movement of the Plough on the Northern Horizon as seen from Giza on midnight of the Summer Solstice (21st Jun) over 400 years from 2800 BC to 2400 BC (the middle position is 2600 BC)...over the course of 400 years the plough drifts 3-odd degrees to the left (and slightly higher in the sky). Proper motion over this period of time is inconsequential BTW.
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Note that the North Celestial Pole during this time period is near Thuban (Alpha Draconis) which is the star half-way been Kocab in Ursa Minor and Mizar in Ursa Major, about half-way along and about an inch and a half down from the top edge.
Now, the moon is approximately half-a-degree in diameter, so we have the stars moving a total of six moon diameters over four hundred years...
Whither the Ancient Egyptians could have noticed this change, I'll leave to others to speculate. But the Greeks certainly did...
Best Regards,
Dave</HTML>
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