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Megalithic Astronomy (Astrophysics)
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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Where's that old tin globe when I need it?
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Yes, I think you have to use a globe rather than GoogleMap or whatever. But you will be suitably impressed by the answer especially when it is linked with another quite separate Great Circle phenomenon.
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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So this circle is defined by an east-west line? Is it parallel with the equator or can it be set at an angle?
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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It cannot be parallel to the Equator because then it would be a line of latitude and these are not Great Circles. The Equator itself is the only Great Circle that is also a line of latitude.

Think of it like this: get a hoop the size of the circumference of the globe you are using and then fit the hoop onto the globe wherever you like, at whatever angle you like. It can be a line of longitude (these are all Great Circles) but obviously it is unlikely to be so.
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Somewhere near the line of the international date line?
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Mick Harper
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Nah, I thought that but there's too much Antarctica and anyway you have to remember to go all the way round the world on the other side which takes in great chunks of Africa and Europe. It isn't a line of longitude.
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Just realised that myself. With a piece of string there's a line which looks like a reverse angle of the axial tilt, roughly 23°, on the way back it seems to be what has been called the transcontinental Michael line. It would seem to pass through Stonehenge, but a piece of string is too thick to be of much use and I'm too thick to work it out.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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You're about as far off as it is possible to be.
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Ishmael


In: Toronto
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Hatty wrote:
Just realised that myself. With a piece of string there's a line which looks like a reverse angle of the axial tilt, roughly 23°, on the way back it seems to be what has been called the transcontinental Michael line. It would seem to pass through Stonehenge, but a piece of string is too thick to be of much use and I'm too thick to work it out.


That sounds like the line that Wireloop pointed out to us years ago!
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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It turns out Hatty is half-right. If you take all the Great Circles that pass through both poles (that is adding one line of longitude to its counterpart on the other side of the world), the one that has least land is the one she actually chose, ie the Greenwich Meridian plus the International Date Line (180 degrees).

We are always taught that this line was adopted following a nineteenth century spat between Britain and France as to who would have the honour but in fact it would seem the Megalithics chose this yonks ago. Or at any rate somewhere very similar -- the current Date Line has to be jagged to get it through the Bering Straits so it may be that the Megalithic Least Land Line was not exactly on our own 0 and 180.

As you may know, our book claims that Ermine Street (Hermes Straight) was the original Zero Meridian.

I am still awaiting your claims (the real one doesn't touch either pole) but before you rush out to get Who Built The Moon? to find out let me assure you that it is not worth buying, being an obvious rush follow-up to exploit the success of CivilisationOne. Solomon's Powerbrokers was the real follow-on and is absolutely worth getting.
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Chad


In: Ramsbottom
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This is really difficult without a proper globe (I'm using Google Earth) but here goes...

It runs from east of the South Pole, through the South Atlantic (skirting Brazil), through the North Atlantic, through Hudson Bay, passes west of the North Pole, over the narrow bit of Siberia, down the Pacific, skirting Australia and back to where it started.

If this is right, the centre of the circle in the Northern hemisphere, would be somewhere not a million miles away from Mesopotamia.
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Yes, that's not bad though using my own slightly deflated blow-up plastic globe I would say that your circle might be slighly less than a whole Great Circle. Any road it's not the 'right one' (though I have no guarantee that the right one is the right one, we'll have to check when the time comes).

However while you have your Google Earth in front of you you can try another experiment (which turns out to be linked with this one in an amazing way) and which I don't think we have done on this site before. Apologies if we have.

Find the longitude line with this time the most land on it. Now find the latitude line that has most land on it (that is absolute amount not relative, since lines of latitude vary in length). Report what, if anything, is situated where the two lines cross. Do not do this if you already know the answer.
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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Longitude is about 30, latitude about 50 by my admittedly shaky reckoning. Unfortunately the crossing-point is nowhere I've heard of, middle of Belarus by the look of it. Not that Belarus is an insignificant country but I suspect it's not a Megalithic hotspot.
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Hatty
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In: Berkshire
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In fact it probably doesn't matter that the crossing point is nowhere in particular. The line of latitude is marked by places of interest, London for starters, not to mention Stonehenge. If you trawl south the line of longitude reaches Giza (I think, it's hard to make out).
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Mick Harper
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In: London
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Your line of longitude is pretty well spot on (techncially 30 degrees East) but your latitude is way out. Remember, 50 degrees latitude is a relatively short line so, by definition, can cross only a relatively small amount of land. Are you using a Mercator Projection or a globe?
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