Skip to main content

Long-Term Changes in the Appearance of the Sky

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy

Abstract

Precession – the precession of the equinoxes – causes the rising and setting positions of the stars to change significantly over the centuries, but does not affect the rising and setting positions of the sun, moon, and planets. These change by a much smaller amount, significant over timescales of millennia, owing to a gradual change in the obliquity of the ecliptic.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 1,099.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 1,399.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bailey ME, Cooke JA, Few RW, Morgan JG, Ruggles CLN (1975) Survey of three megalithic sites in Argyllshire. Nature 253:431–433

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Belmonte JA (2012) Pirámides, templos y estrellas: astronomía y arqueología en el Egipto antiguo. Crítica, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  • Berger AL (1976) Obliquity and precession for the last 5 000 000 years. Astronomy and Astrophysics 51:127–135

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Berger AL (1996) Orbital variations. In: Schneider S (ed) Encyclopedia of climate and weather. Robert Ubell/Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 557–564

    Google Scholar 

  • Boutsikas E, Ruggles CLN (2011) Temples, stars, and ritual landscapes: the potential for archaeoastronomy in ancient Greece. Am J Archaeol 115(1):55–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buck PH/Te Rangi Hiroa (1938) Vikings of the sunrise. Frederick Stokes, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • De Santillana G, von Dechend H (1970) Hamlet’s Mill: an essay on myth and the frame of time. Macmillan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Esteban C, Aura Tortosa JE (2001) The winter sun in a Palaeolithic cave: La Cova del Parpalló. In: Ruggles CLN, Prendergast F, Ray TP (eds) Astronomy, cosmology and landscape. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis, pp 8–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawkins GS, Rosenthal SK (1967) 5,000- and 10,000-year star catalogs. Smithsonian contributions to astrophysics, vol 10(2). Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoskin MA (2001) Tombs, temples and their orientations. Ocarina Books, Bognor Regis

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson RK, Mahelona JK, Ruggles CLN (nd) Nā Inoa Hōkū: Hawaiian and Pacific star names (rev edn). Manuscript in preparation

    Google Scholar 

  • Krupp EC (2000) Sky tales and why we tell them. In: Selin H (ed) Astronomy across cultures. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp 1–30

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Laskar J (1986) Secular terms of classical planetary theories using the results of general relativity. Astron Astrophys 157:57–90

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Payne-Gaposhkin C (1972) Myth and science. J Hist Astron 3:206–211

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  • Ridpath I (2004) Norton’s star atlas and reference handbook, epoch 2000.0. Pi Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruggles CLN (1999) Astronomy in prehistoric Britain and Ireland. Yale University Press, New Haven

    Google Scholar 

  • Thom A (1954) The solar observatories of megalithic man. J Br Astron Assoc 64:396–404

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clive L. N. Ruggles .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Ruggles, C.L.N. (2015). Long-Term Changes in the Appearance of the Sky. In: Ruggles, C. (eds) Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_35

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics