Newgrange

[lonelymountain]

Hi, I am trying to find out as much as I can about Newgrange Knowth/Dowth and Tara. I went to knowth.com and found some good information, but I want to know more. I started research on the subject for college, but the more I dive in, the more I want to know.
I suppose it caught me at more than at an analytical level and got me on a spiritual level. There is something to be told in the petroglyphs and the light box that lights up the chamber on the winter solstice.

Can anyone help me out?

[DaRC]

Have you checked out the Megalithic portal?
The search button is on the top lefthttp://www.megalithic.co.uk/

[Huathe]

Though I live in the Eastern US, my wife and I are starting to save for a visit to Ireland. To see the Boyne Valley and it's sacred sites and to stand upon the Hill of Tara.

[Kishi]

Knowth and Dowth were too badly damaged by later settlers to know what their astronomical purpose was, but Newgrange is immaculate. The lightbox of Newgrange is aligned to sunrise on the winter solstice. Once every eight years on the winter solstice the light from Venus at its brightest will enter the Newgrange chamber 24 minutes before the sunrise. The light of Venus illuminates the chamber for 16 minutes before sunlight briefly enters the slot. Newgrange is a precision instrument to time the eight-year cycle of Venus, and the alignment is precisely at the point of the eight-year cycle that Venus appears at its brightest in the sky. That Newgrange was built to this level of accuracy, upon advanced astronomical knowledge, approximately 5,400 years ago makes it worthy of homage. It is estimated that building Newgrange required 691,000 man-hours, with 52% of the work requiring skilled labour. Why the builders needed to measure the path of Venus is another fascinating topic. Source: Uriel's Machine Lomas/Knight

[Dathi]

Greetings,

Plenty out there. Not Newgrange, but close enough, and related: http://onter.net/biblio/loughcrew2_ESOP.pdf

Mythical Ireland is your best bet. The web site owner lives nearby and has published tons on Newgrange and related sites. All with plenty of early morning photos. Great: http://www.mythicalireland.com/

CFN,

Dathi

[Explorer]

Once every eight years on the winter solstice the light from Venus at its brightest will enter the Newgrange chamber 24 minutes before the sunrise. The light of Venus illuminates the chamber for 16 minutes before sunlight briefly enters the slot. Newgrange is a precision instrument to time the eight-year cycle of Venus, and the alignment is precisely at the point of the eight-year cycle that Venus appears at its brightest in the sky.

I seriously doubt that. Did you check these calculations? Do you have a link to these claims?

[Explorer]

Once every eight years on the winter solstice the light from Venus at its brightest will enter the Newgrange chamber 24 minutes before the sunrise. The light of Venus illuminates the chamber for 16 minutes before sunlight briefly enters the slot. Newgrange is a precision instrument to time the eight-year cycle of Venus, and the alignment is precisely at the point of the eight-year cycle that Venus appears at its brightest in the sky.

I seriously doubt that. Did you check these calculations? Do you have a link to these claims?

And if you don't, then could you give me one year in which this supposedly happens? Then I can calculate it myself.

[Erithe]

It comes from this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ec0FIU ... ht&f=false as notated above.

[Explorer]

It comes from this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ec0FIU ... ht&f=false as notated above.

So, can somebody give me a year then? I will figure out the rest from there then.

[Erithe]

It comes from this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ec0FIU ... ht&f=false as notated above.

So, can somebody give me a year then? I will figure out the rest from there then.

I'm sorry! I didn't read it, just located a copy so you'd have the source material.

[Explorer]

It comes from this book: http://books.google.com/books?id=Ec0FIU ... ht&f=false as notated above.

So, can somebody give me a year then? I will figure out the rest from there then.

I'm sorry! I didn't read it, just located a copy so you'd have the source material.

Nah, that is not how it works ofcourse.

Somebody makes a claim, and I'm willing to test that by doing the astronomical calculations.
I shouldn't be the one who goes digging for the source or that initial claim. Because my theory is that it is crap.

Just find me 1 year, and I will try to verify the claim that Venus passes in front of the New Grange opening that year and every other 8th year.
If anybody is seriously interested in the truth of it, then find me that year, or accept that you don't care if something is truth or crap.

[Erithe]

I'm not the claimant, so ... I think, if you want to find the truth of the question, you'll have to do some research. I'm sorry if it doesn't typically work that way, but I saw that the source material was listed so that the claim could be looked into if necessary. I'm sure you could also email NASA.

[Explorer]

I'm not the claimant, so ... I think, if you want to find the truth of the question, you'll have to do some research. I'm sorry if it doesn't typically work that way, but I saw that the source material was listed so that the claim could be looked into if necessary. I'm sure you could also email NASA.

Okay, I tested it.

I simulated looking at the sky from the New Grange opening (azimuth 136 degrees) at the midwinter solstice, 24 minutes before sunrise as suggested.
I started this year and skipped through the years from solstice to solstice. So once every 8 years Venus should be right in front of the opening right?
Well, surprise surprise, it was not.

I do see where this comes from now though.
Venus appears roughly in the same position relative to the sun every 8 years. So 'roughly' that there must have been a year where Venus passed in front of the opening 24 minutes before sunrise, perhaps when the guy wrote his book.
In 2001 and 2009 Venus passed the opening very close to sunrise for instance (not 24 minutes before). So there is nothing 'precise' about it.

It is also not remarkable that Venus passes the aperture of NewGrange. Newgrange is oriented towards the midwinter. Not to catch the sunrise, but some time after sunrise when the sun is high enough to come over the hill and shine into to passage. The planets are in the same plane as the sun (called the ecliptic), as seen from the earth, so every planet passes in front of the New Grange opening at some point. Some more often than others. If you catch the sun, you also catch the rest.

Conclusion: crap

[Explorer]

I'm not the claimant, so ... I think, if you want to find the truth of the question, you'll have to do some research. I'm sorry if it doesn't typically work that way, but I saw that the source material was listed so that the claim could be looked into if necessary. I'm sure you could also email NASA.

Okay, I tested it.

I simulated looking at the sky from the New Grange opening (azimuth 136 degrees) at the midwinter solstice, 24 minutes before sunrise as suggested.
I started this year and skipped through the years from solstice to solstice. So once every 8 years Venus should be right in front of the opening right?
Well, surprise surprise, it was not.

I do see where this comes from now though.
Venus appears roughly in the same position relative to the sun every 8 years. So 'roughly' that there must have been a year where Venus passed in front of the opening 24 minutes before sunrise, perhaps when the guy wrote his book.
In 2001 and 2009 Venus passed the opening very close to sunrise for instance (not 24 minutes before). So there is nothing 'precise' about it.

It is also not remarkable that Venus passes the aperture of NewGrange. Newgrange is oriented towards the midwinter. Not to catch the sunrise, but some time after sunrise when the sun is high enough to come over the hill and shine into to passage. The planets are in the same plane as the sun (called the ecliptic), as seen from the earth, so every planet passes in front of the New Grange opening at some point. Some more often than others. If you catch the sun, you also catch the rest.

Conclusion:

[Kishi]

Okay, I tested it.

I simulated looking at the sky from the New Grange opening (azimuth 136 degrees) at the midwinter solstice, 24 minutes before sunrise as suggested.
I started this year and skipped through the years from solstice to solstice. So once every 8 years Venus should be right in front of the opening right?
Well, surprise surprise, it was not.

Conclusion: crap

@Explorer thank you for your guidance. The source I cited is a professor of physics at a UK university, but an amateur astronomer. He did his research at Newgrange itself. I will be more careful about what I read.

[Dathi]

Quick observations here, possibly time for a longer post later.

I strongly recommend this book http://islandofthesettingsun.blogspot.com/
It has a chapter on Venus and Newgrange which cites various bits of research on the topic. It tests the theories of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriel's_Machine

It even has a year for Explorer to check out:-) 3147 bce.

Also, observations made by Prof Michael O'Kelly witnessing similar(?) phenomena in 1967 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._O'Kelly

For some fantastic pikkies, see the Irish Times Newgrange collection: http://specialeditionprints.irishtimes.com/

Dathi