scholarly journals Art. XI—Mr. Wathen's Translation of Ancient Inscriptions

1838 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 173-188
Author(s):  
W. H. Wathen
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Village

1. Stanza in adoration and praise of Mahádéva (Sambu.)(In 1008 year of the æra of the fortunate most victorious King Sáliváhan, in the year of the cycle called Kshya, on the 10th of the bright half of the month Pausha, being Sunday, during the Bharani Nakshatra (mansion of the moon), and the northern solstice; the fortunate, the gem of the ocean of all virtues, the protector of devatas and priests, constantly possessing the blessing of the sacred tribe, ornamented with never-failing prosperity, the sun of sovereigns, adored by Rajas, a lion amongst kings, the gratifier of princes, (the valiant in battle, whose throne is on the mountain Parashara), lord of the dominions of the Karnataka, south of the Narmada: Jaya-Sankara Raya has granted a Dánapatra to Sridhara Sarma and Sahasra Sarma, sacrificers and causing sacrifices to be made, lecturers and causing lectures to be read, receivers of alms, and givers of alms (being the six rites), gems among the learned, obedient to the prince, and ornaments to the prince, of the Sutra Aswaláyana, and of the Bharadwaja race, (and to one thousand other Brahmans to this effect):I bestow the village Powali, as an Agraháram, upon me thonsand and two Brahmans, to procure the favour of the Almighty towards my father and mother, who both died at the Nága Tírtha of that village, in presence of the god Iswara, who has a temple there: I appoint Sridhara, Aswaláyana sútra, Bharadwaja gotra, of Toragalla, Jyotishi: Sahasra Sarmá of the same sútra and gotra, Adhyápakas and spiritual chiefs of the village; Ananta Bhat, Viswámitra gotra, Dharmádhikárí: Somanaya Vallabhaga Tirúmalaya, Bharadwaja gotra: Gauri Sankarasaya Bási (?) gotra, Shanbhai: Chamma Saga Mani, Bhárgava gotra: directors general of temporal affairs of the village.

scholarly journals I. Observations of temperature during two eclipses of the sun (in 1858 and 1867)

1867 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 421-423
Keyword(s):  
Solar Disk ◽  
Open Space ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Village

On the 15th of March 1858, occurred an annular eclipse of the sun, whose entral line of shadow passed near the village of Steeple Aston, a few miles orth of Oxford. Ample preparations were made for observing it by resi­dents in Oxford, and they were met on the ground by many persons from distance; Mr. Lasseli being one of the party, there was no lack of telescopic power. The day was unfavourable—cold and cloudy, with some ccasional feeble and delusive gleams, scarcely permitting a sight of the rogress of the eclipse, which, however, was obvious enough by the grow-g and diminishing darkness. Under these circumstances I devoted my trincipal attention to three thermometers, carefully selected and compared forehand—one mercurial with blackened bulb, another mercurial with lear bulb (these were placed in an open space exposed to the sun); the third, minimum- spirit thermometer, tint red, was placed in a shaded situation. The observations began at 11 h 30 m and lasted till 2 h 30 m , thus including he whole period of the eclipse, which began at 11 h 35 m , reached the maxium of obscuration at 0 h 54 m , and ended at 2 h 11 m . The apparent semi-ameters of the sun and moon were so nearly equal that the eclipse was lmost total (997/1000). The observations were recorded as follows:— During the late partial eclipse of the sun on the 6th of March 1867 observations of'the ingress of the moon were favoured at Oxford by brilliant weather; within fire minutes after the moment of maximum obscuration (742/1000) Clouds appeared; and from this time till the end of the eclips they never wholly disappeared, but did not prevent the progress of the moon and the degrees of obscuration from being correctly marked. At the very end it was only just possible to observe the egress by a momentary attenuation of the clouds; the remainder of the day was cold, cloudy, and finally snowy. The observations began at 8 h and ended at 10 h 50 s , thus including the whole period of the eclipse, which began at 8 h 12 m 15 s , reached the greatest obscuration at 9 h 26 m , and ceased at 10 h 45 m 8 s . At the mo­ment of greatest obscuration the light-giving area was reduced to one-third of the solar disk.

Modelling Lunar Extremes

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 207-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fisher ◽  
Lionel Sims
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Celestial Mechanics ◽  
Computer Modelling ◽  
Landscape Context ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon

Claims first made over half a century ago that certain prehistoric monuments utilised high-precision alignments on the horizon risings and settings of the Sun and the Moon have recently resurfaced. While archaeoastronomy early on retreated from these claims, as a way to preserve the discipline in an academic boundary dispute, it did so without a rigorous examination of Thom’s concept of a “lunar standstill”. Gough’s uncritical resurrection of Thom’s usage of the term provides a long-overdue opportunity for the discipline to correct this slippage. Gough (2013), in keeping with Thom (1971), claims that certain standing stones and short stone rows point to distant horizon features which allow high-precision alignments on the risings and settings of the Sun and the Moon dating from about 1700 BC. To assist archaeoastronomy in breaking out of its interpretive rut and from “going round in circles” (Ruggles 2011), this paper evaluates the validity of this claim. Through computer modelling, the celestial mechanics of horizon alignments are here explored in their landscape context with a view to testing the very possibility of high-precision alignments to the lunar extremes. It is found that, due to the motion of the Moon on the horizon, only low-precision alignments are feasible, which would seem to indicate that the properties of lunar standstills could not have included high-precision markers for prehistoric megalith builders.

Sweat of the Sun and Tears of the Moon. Gold and Silver in Pre-Columbian Art

1967 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Earle R. Caley ◽  
Andre Emmerich
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon

scholarly journals How dim is dim? Precision of the celestial compass in moonlight and sunlight

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1565) ◽  
pp. 697-702 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Dacke ◽  
M. J. Byrne ◽  
E. Baird ◽  
C. H. Scholtz ◽  
E. J. Warrant
Keyword(s):  
Dung Beetle ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Polarization Pattern ◽  
Animal Group ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Celestial Orientation ◽  
Polarization Compass ◽  
Celestial Compass ◽  
Diurnal Species

Prominent in the sky, but not visible to humans, is a pattern of polarized skylight formed around both the Sun and the Moon. Dung beetles are, at present, the only animal group known to use the much dimmer polarization pattern formed around the Moon as a compass cue for maintaining travel direction. However, the Moon is not visible every night and the intensity of the celestial polarization pattern gradually declines as the Moon wanes. Therefore, for nocturnal orientation on all moonlit nights, the absolute sensitivity of the dung beetle's polarization detector may limit the precision of this behaviour. To test this, we studied the straight-line foraging behaviour of the nocturnal ball-rolling dung beetle Scarabaeus satyrus to establish when the Moon is too dim—and the polarization pattern too weak—to provide a reliable cue for orientation. Our results show that celestial orientation is as accurate during crescent Moon as it is during full Moon. Moreover, this orientation accuracy is equal to that measured for diurnal species that orient under the 100 million times brighter polarization pattern formed around the Sun. This indicates that, in nocturnal species, the sensitivity of the optical polarization compass can be greatly increased without any loss of precision.

scholarly journals Astronomy at the service of the Islamic society

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S260) ◽  
pp. 514-521
Author(s):  
Ilias M. Fernini
Keyword(s):  
Proper Time ◽  
Astronomical Observatory ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Scientific Institutions ◽  
Mathematical Astronomy ◽  
Islamic Empire ◽  
New Moon ◽  
Islamic Society

AbstractThe Islamic society has great ties to astronomy. Its main religious customs (start of the Islamic month, direction of prayer, and the five daily prayers) are all related to two main celestial objects: the Sun and the Moon. First, the start of any Islamic month is related to the actual seeing of the young crescent after the new Moon. Second, the direction of prayer, i.e., praying towards Mecca, is related to the determination of the zenith point in Mecca. Third, the proper time for the five daily prayers is related to the motion of the Sun. Everyone in the society is directly concerned by these customs. This is to say that the major impetus for the growth of Islamic astronomy came from these three main religious observances which presented an assortment of problems in mathematical astronomy. To observe these three customs, a new set of astronomical observations were needed and this helped the development of the Islamic observatory. There is a claim that it was first in Islam that the astronomical observatory came into real existence. The Islamic observatory was a product of needs and values interwoven into the Islamic society and culture. It is also considered as a true representative and an integral par of the Islamic civilisation. Since astronomy interested not only men of science, but also the rulers of the Islamic empire, several observatories have flourished. The observatories of Baghdad, Cairo, Córdoba, Toledo, Maragha, Samarqand and Istanbul acquired a worldwide reputation throughout the centuries. This paper will discuss the two most important observatories (Maragha and Samarqand) in terms of their instruments and discoveries that contributed to the establishment of these scientific institutions.

scholarly journals XLIV. Variation of the compass, as observed on board the Endeavour Bark, in a voyage round the World

1771 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 422-432 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The World

The day of the month is noted according to the nautical account, which therefore in all observations noted P. M. is one day forwarder than the civil account. The latitude in is deduced from the last preceding meridian altitude of the Sun; and the longitude in is corrected by the last observations of the distances of the moon from the Sun and stars.

The Sun, the Moon, and Convexity

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-272
Author(s):  
Noah Samuel Brannen
Keyword(s):  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon
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