• Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    Lined up with Orions Belt is that great little sprinkle of wild, flailing outrage that makes no sense whatsoever.

    How could ancient people, with their better visibility of the stars and greater common understanding and reliance on their position for navigation, place things on the ground to match stars?!

    But also, Orions Belt is 3 randomly bright stars in a line, not at all nearby to each other in space, that arc across the night sky every evening and change position in the night sky throughout the years. Aligned how?

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
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      4 months ago

      Would the stars in Orion’s belt even be in the same positions relative to our perception 4000-5000 years BP? I don’t know enough about the astronomy side of things, but I know stars generally don’t stay at a static position in the sky long-term.

      • LordCrom@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Stars are not static, but slight movement is only detected after hundreds of thousands of years. Add into that the movement of the earth precession, it wobbles kind of like a top, one rotation every 10k years so that stars are not always in the same spot in our sky. This is why astrology and the zodiac symbols no longer line up with the dates allowed to them.

    • crawancon@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I don’t believe in any of this BS in post but 4000 BP, people could build and align with the sky. it wouldn’t be unheard of to build things that align with what they view as significant objects. they were unaware that the middle star is way farther away but so much larger it looks the same as the other two. they didn’t have a detailed grasp but could ascertain some movements. No, Orions belt hasn’t shifted much over the millenia. Orion’s shoulder (betelguise) should explode any day now though.

      • Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca
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        4 months ago

        Sorry, yeah, that was sarcasm. Exactly, it’s 3 stars in a line that everyone would be more familiar with than the vast majority of people today.

        There are loads of examples of ancient architecture that perfectly lines up with celestial events at a particular time.

      • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Orion’s shoulder (betelguise) should explode any day now though.

        I’m sorry, What?

        Wait, is this something we won’t be able to see until like 300 years after it happens? Or do we just say it’s name three times?