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What is the analemma and how does it work?
Figure 18. The
scribed analemma on the face of the two central Stonehenge blocks.
Just before mid-day the sun shines through this hole and the resulting image strikes the central rocks. At midday precisely, it is centered on the scribed line.
Figure 20. Sun's
image as it crosses the analemma curve at midsummer. By marking the position of the sun on the line, which is notched for every fifth day, it is possible to read what day of the year it is.
Figure 21. Analemma
marks for each five day period, with the sun crossing the curve at
midwinter.
The sunrise occurs at around 6 am although the sun is not clearly seen for several minutes until it clears the trees that are currently covering the horizon.
Figure 22. Midsummer
sunrise over the heel stone. That evening the sun set can be viewed from the center of the Stonehenge, with the sun setting through the legs of the Northwest Trilithon.
Figure 23. Sunset
behind the Northwest Trilithon, Midsummer's Eve. On mid-winters morning, the sun rising can be viewed through the SouthEast Trilithon, and it's setting through the SouthWest Trilithon.
Figure 24. Polar
window in the North Trilithon.
The box opening of the North Trilithon
frames the position of the North Star when viewed, at night, from
half-way between the center of the circle and the stone. This
position is marked with two lights inset into the asphalt floor of
the monument. The accuracy of this positioning has been calculated
for the next 4,000 years.
Figure 25. Druid John Bevan pronouncing the Stonehenge open
(Dr. Senne is also
holding the sword, and Dr. Summers is in the background).
The modern Druids are a Society in
Britain who have been formed to maintain the language and customs of
Wales. They are not the religious priests who practices in England
at the time of the Roman Invasion.
Which is the Archdruid's Prayer, followed by the call for Peace:
A cheese-henge decorated the following reception.
Figure 26. The UMR
Cheese-henge.
Figure 27. A natural
mica "arrowhead" exposed when the rock was cut. Similarly, the closing of the trilithon ring coincident with a solar eclipse at Rolla, was purely an accidental coincidence of timing.
Figure 28. Stages in
the eclipse during the setting of the Trilithon ring.
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He chose a site on the hills overlooking
the Columbia River, about 115 miles east of Portland, Oregon. Using
the English Stonehenge as his theme, he decided to use concrete
rather than the local rock, which was considered to be of poor
quality.
In order to provide a surface closer to that of the original, the frames for the concrete pillars were lined with crumpled tin. He built his memorial out of concrete in the form of a full scale version of the original Stonehenge.
Figure 29. Concrete
Stonehenge at Maryhill, in Washington State. The monument is not an exact replica, because of the problems which arose with the local hills and the presence of the river gorge. Thus, the hills block the midsummer sunrise over the heel stone, which is considerably smaller and closer to the circles than at the original.
Unfortunately, the concrete has also started to weather severely, and up to two inches of erosion could be measured on some of the stones only fifty years after the monument was completed.
Figure 30. The altar
stones at the Maryhill Henge. More recently the Elberton Granite Association was commissioned to build what are known as the Guidestones. These are an assembly of rocks, which stand a total of 19 ft 3 inches high, which carry the same universal message of peace, in eight of the most common languages of man.
These are English, Russian, Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish and Swahili. In addition, the capstone carries part of the message in Babylonian Cuneiform, Egyptian Hieroglyphics and Classical Greek.
Figure 32. The
Guidestones Monument in Elberton, Georgia. The Guidestones are located just outside of Elberton, in Georgia. They weigh a total of 237,746 lbs, and were carved using thermal lances rather than using waterjets. The lettering was then carved into the stones to carry the various messages.
The stones themselves site on slabs which are flush with the surface, and the entire site was, when visited, located in a pasture.
Figure 33. Detail of
a Guidestone showing the Spanish language, and the mounting. The Gnomen, or Center Stone, has a small window through its center which is aligned with the Pole Star. This alignment changes over the years, so that the star will not always be in the center of the view. This is unlike the UMR Polar window, which was made large enough to retain the star position for the next 4,000 years.
At an erosion rate of one inch every thousand years, it is our hope that by that time the window will have grown to accommodate any additional size changes required.
Figure 34. The
Guidestone Polar window. In addition there have been a number of "modern" versions of Stonehenge. For example in Whitby, Ontario Canada, a sculptor Bill Lishman, has built a version of the megalith using old partially crushed cars to generate the equivalent of the stones.
The cars have been compressed to match the size of the stones in the original Stonehenge.
Figure 35. Bill
Lishman and his "carhenge".
Figure 36. Modern
"Romans" parading near Hadrians Wall. In its current form the UMR Stonehenge is made up of an outer ring of four Pole Stones; a circle of stones, meant in this model for seats and known as the Sarsen Stones; the inner ring of five three-stone Trilithons and the two stones which make up the central Analemma.
It was in this form that the University received an award for one of the Ten Outstanding Engineering Achievements of the National Society of Professional Engineers. That year other awards included the Chicago Sewer System, and the Hubble Telescope.
Figure 37. Plaque awarded to UMR for this sculpture.
Over a ten year
period UMR was one of only three Universities to achieve this high
national honor.
It is hoped however that this will not
mark the end of the development of this site. For the original site
underwent several changes over the millennia of its development. One
current suggestion is to add a ring of nineteen knights, to be known
as the Knights of St. Ninian.
Figure 38. Conceptual
design for the addition of the Knights of St. Ninian ring.
And just as St. Patrick is remembered
for bringing Christianity to Ireland, St. Ninian performed the same
function for Scotland, and his memorial can be found at Whithorn
Priory in Wigtown, Scotland. On an engineering campus it is fitting
to recognize in this way the contribution that Scots have made to
engineering progress.
Since there are only 19 such knights and the monument will stand for several thousand years it will likely take a long time to find individuals who qualify for this honor. (The only probable equivalent is to qualify for additional space at Mount Rushmore).
Figure 39. Current
design for the knights.
It is hoped that some design competition
be held to create a design for the knights which can be carved from
Missouri granite using waterjet technologies. If Missouri granite is
used the two granites will provide a pleasant color contrast.
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