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  • Good morning. We're here at Stonehenge to find out all about how prehistoric

  • people might have related to the skies above them. - We'll also be finding out how

  • you can experience the live skies above the monument no matter where you are in the world.

  • I can't quite believe it because we are in the middle of Stonehenge, but why was

  • it built and how did it help our early people understand the cosmos?

  • Well Stonehenge - the entire monument - is aligned around the movements of the sun.

  • So, behind us towards the Northeast is where the sun rises on Midsummer's Day.

  • We're actually here at sunrise at the moment but it's been so cloudy that we

  • haven't yet seen the sun! But in this direction the sun would rise over the

  • Heel Stone, which is this outlying standing stone... - I see, so we've got the

  • stones here, then that's the one beyond? - That's right. And then opposite at the entirely

  • opposite direction at midwinter you get midwinter sunset and the sun would

  • originally set between the two stones at the top of the horseshoe here.

  • So, what did they use Stonehenge for? What were they were trying to understand?

  • Actually there are lots of different purposes to Stonehenge. So, it was used as

  • a burial site, it was used as a place of gathering. We think that people probably

  • processed here at certain times of year but the solstice axis gives us that clue

  • as when people were coming here and what they thought was important.

  • Stonehenge is known for the solstices, but what is a solstice?

  • Well to explain I've got a little demonstration. So, this is the sun and this is the earth

  • but I need to point out they're not to scale. Now many people are familiar that the earth

  • rotates on its axis and the earth also orbits the sun. But what people don't

  • realize is the earth is actually tilted on its axis and it's this tilt that

  • gives us the seasons. So, in this position, the northern hemisphere is pointing

  • towards the sun, so the northern hemisphere has longer days. When you get

  • the longest day of the year, that is the solstice. Now when you get the longest

  • day of the year in the northern hemisphere, you are getting the shortest day

  • of the year in the southern hemisphere. And so that's the winter solstice in the

  • southern hemisphere and the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere.

  • But let's travel on six months later. Now the northern hemisphere is in winter,

  • is getting less sunshine, and the southern hemisphere is bathed in a lot more sunshine.

  • It has longer days. So this is what

  • Stonehenge was built to look at.

  • So apart from the sun, was there anything else that they used this Stonehenge to look at?

  • Yeah, we think that possibly in the early phase, before the stones

  • got put up when the site was used as a burial ground people were placing their

  • dead particularly in one part of the monument

  • that suggests they were observing the movements of the moon.

  • Would they have been able to see the same stars and the planets as we do now?

  • On an astronomical scale the sort of time scale since this was built is tiny.

  • And so the stars haven't moved very much in that time at all. But at the same time

  • the earth spins on its axis but that

  • axis does process, so it sort of moves around by a small amount so they

  • would have seen similar star formations or similar sort constellations, or they

  • they might have had totally different names for them, but they would have only

  • shifted by a small amount due to a sort of procession of the axis of the earth.

  • We get about 1.5 million visitors a year to Stonehenge, but not everyone around the world

  • can come and stand here and experience it. So, what we've created is

  • this website called Skyscape. What's brilliant about Skyscape is that people

  • all around the world can have a look using their computers to see what the

  • sky looks like above Stonehenge and what it feels like a little bit to stand within the monument.

  • Yeah, I think it's brilliant that English Heritage are doing this

  • because I think to a certain extent we're losing contact with the skies.

  • And now no matter where we are, we can log into this and actually see the skies

  • above the henge. And to me it's like a little bit of peace on a busy day.

  • I'm looking forward to it!

  • If you want to try and experience it for yourself, just click on the link below.

  • Visit the Skyscape website to see the live sky

  • as if you were standing in the centre of the monument.

  • Enjoy the view as it slowly pans 360 degrees or grab the image at any point

  • and pull it to look at your chosen perspective.

  • To help explain the relationship between the monument and the heavens, Skyscape overlays

  • information such as markers for the sun, the moon and visible planets.

  • Simple lines chart their course, including the movement of the sun over the year

  • reaching its extremes at the winter and summer solstices.

  • Switch to tour view to add the names and the types of stones. You can also view the night sky above

  • the monument, where we show the stars as they would appear above Stonehenge on a

  • really clear night.

  • Now, the experience of the Stonehenge sunrise is available to everyone, everywhere, anytime.

Good morning. We're here at Stonehenge to find out all about how prehistoric

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天空景觀|體驗巨石陣上方的天空。 (Skyscape | Experience the Skies above Stonehenge)

  • 11 1
    Summer 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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