[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the Sun being vertically above a point on the Equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. The name "equinox" is derived from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night), because around the equinox, the night and day are approximately equally long. It may be better understood to mean that latitudes +L and -L north and south of the equator experience nights of equal length.
The word is also used for the same event happening on other planets and in setting up a celestial coordinate system; see equinox (celestial coordinates).
At an equinox, the Sun is at one of two opposite points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator (i.e. declination 0) and ecliptic intersect. These points of intersection are called equinoctial points: the vernal point and the autumnal point. By extension, the term equinox may denote an equinoctial point.
An equinox happens each year at two specific moments in time (rather than two whole days), when there is a location on the Earth's Equator where the centre of the Sun can be observed to be vertically overhead, occurring around March 20/21 and September 22/23 each year.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

 

The Equinox from the Sun Dagger at Chaco Canyon, New Mexico
In what is now the state of New Mexico in the southwestern United States, in an area known as Chaco Canyon, are the remains of an elaborate development of the Anasazi people who lived in the region from about 500 to 1300 AD. Some 120 meters (400 feet) above the canyon floor near the top of an outcropping known as Fajada Butte, three slabs of sandstone are leaning against a rock wall creating a shaded space. Carved into this shaded wall are two spiral petroglyphs, one large and one small. Sunlight passes over them at various times throughout the year as it streams through chinks between the sandstone, but it was not until the 1970s that their true purpose was literally illumined.
In 1977 Anna Sofaer, an artist, was exploring rock art in the region and came across the light patterns on the two spirals. Suspecting that the rock arrangement and spiral carvings might have been intentional, she returned to the site at various dates throughout the year and, along with her colleagues, was eventually able to establish the following facts.



On the summer solstice, a single sliver of sunlight—which she dubbed a "Sun dagger"—appeared near the top of the larger spiral and over a period of 18 minutes "sliced" its way down through the very center, cutting the spiral in half before leaving it in shadow once again. On the winter solstice, two daggers of light appeared for 49 minutes, during which they exactly framed the large spiral.
Finally, an equally fascinating and more complex light show occurred on the spring (vernal) and fall (autumnal) equinoxes. The large spiral is carved in such a way that, counting from the center outward to the right, there are nine grooves. On each equinox a dagger of light appeared that cut through the large spiral—not through its center but exactly between the fourth and fifth grooves from the center. In other words, it cut exactly halfway between the center and the outer edge of the spiral, just as the equinoxes cut the time between the solstices exactly in half. Meanwhile, a second dagger sliced through the center of the small spiral.
These "light shows," which presumably had been going on for centuries, continued for several years after their rediscovery. However, in 1989 it was found that the granite slabs had shifted. The alignments that had apparently been arranged so carefully by the Anasazi were no more.
Similar light displays marking the solstices and/or equinoxes can be found at other locations in the southwestern United States and Mexico. In another Anasazi ruin in Hovenweep National Monument near the borders of Utah and Colorado, light beams also illuminate spiral petroglyphs on the summer solstice. At Burro Flats in Southern California, a winter solstice Sun points a finger of light to the center of five concentric rings in an early Chumash rock art display. In a Tipai shrine known as La Rumorosa in Baja California on the western coast of Mexico, a dramatic display can be witnessed on the winter solstice when a "dagger" of light appears to shine from the eyes of a figure painted on a shaded rock wall.
Although the true purpose of these and other astronomically oriented light displays may never be known for certain, it seems clear that the indigenous people of the region had an awareness of and appreciation for the Sun and its changing path through the sky.

 

[Rob Instigator]

welcome fall.

[StevOK]

I've never seen the season change so exactly before. There's a 20 degree drop in temperature today from yesterday.

[dale_gribble]

it sucks that that granite shifted.

[atsonicpark]

What about the quinox?

[floatingslowly]

rrrrrride the snake.

 

[phoenix]

I was going to post a thread!

[EVOLghost]

 

such an ugly car.

[noisereductions]

hahahaha

I fucking love you man. I looked at this page today. And while doing so, I thought to myself, "wow, this is something suchfriends would post."

[pbradley]

Okay, so what is the connection with fractals and the equinox?

And Jah.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by dale_gribble

it sucks that that granite shifted.

thats because to many white people disconcerned with the sites spiritual significance have literally trampled it down. Chaco Canyon was an indian pilgrimage cathedral like those in France and Spain. Consider this, the buildings are aligned to demonstrate several key atronomical events including the solstices, the equinoxes, and are also considered the only buildings to be aligned with the cycles and phases of the moon. BUT, the people never watched these events or the interplay of shadows that the buildings created on them, because they were inside participating in ceremonies in the many, large kavas. it baffles me that they would go to such immense effort for something that essentially remained in the mind's eye. The people knew the buildings were showing these things, but they stayed inside, sort of like going inside a dark building at dawn to meditate on the sun rise...

hopi today say the purpose of celebrating the equinox is that it is the convergence of day and night in equality, it is the bridge between day and night, light and dark, Divine and Earth, hence why they celebrated religious events at these days, sort of like Christmas.

 

the buildings at Chaco Canyon are like an enormous calendar, keeping accurate track of several key astronomical functions through perfect alignment. The East/West walls are perfect aligned to demonstrate the equinox, and the North/South to the solstices. The buildings lines actually bisect the NS/EW for both solstices/equinox. On the Autunmal Equinox the sun rises perfectly along Eastern walls, on the Vernal perfectly along the West. Also with the solstices along the north and south.

 

 

 

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by pbradley

Okay, so what is the connection with fractals and the equinox?

And Jah.

The Solstice Project behind the in-depth astronomical studies at sites in Chaco Canyon


the connection with fractals was obvious, they used spirals as a calendar and fractal geomtry is in part behind the astronomical functions. and jah, well aren't the Chaco Canyon buildings religious in nature? I believe the archaelogists have concluded they were places of worship and not commercial centers because there was no refuse..

 

 

[SONIC GAIL]

It's not fall in Florida.....itll still be summer for about 1 more month

[Rob Instigator]

the equinox is when the northern hemisphere and the southern hemisphere get equal amounts of day and night.

equinoxes and solstices were very crucial for ancient man, who lived a cyclical life, to understand that the weather will change again, that winter will come again, and that, afetr winter, that spring and summer will come again.

I have been reading a book on the history of astronomy and cosmology throughout human history. cool stuff.

 

at the equinoxes, the Maya would sacrifice humpbacks to their sun god. HUMPBACKS! no lie!

[SONIC GAIL]

^where do you find that many humpbacks?

[Rob Instigator]

my guess is that birth defects (once much more common due to parasites, and disease, and other such things) were seen as religious portents in most of the world. in latin america they would raise the humpback up as an estemmed person, treated with mad goodies, and then killed like a fucking swamp rat to appease the gods.

all you need is two a year! Those fuckers would raid and pillage other tribes of which there were shittons and then take their humpbacks also, I guess!

[SONIC GAIL]

You know alot of random shit.

 

[Rob Instigator]

my fave thing to read are reference books.

[SONIC GAIL]

I can tell.