mysteries of egyptian zodiacs - HiddenMysteries Information Central

6.7.3 Step 3: Validation of Dates Based on
the Precise Planetary Positions, Visibility
Attributes, and Partial Horoscopes.
Rejection of Incomplete Solutions.
With the help of the astronomical software Turbo-Sky, written
by A. Volynkin, we checked for each of the admissible dates
the following:
[A] Exact Correspondence to the Main Horoscope: At
this point, we verified if there is exact correspondence
between the real (computed) configuration of the planets
on the zodiacal belt, and the initial data, i.e. the main
horoscope according to the considered decoding. The necessity
of such a verification is dictated by the fact that
in our computations we have significantly weaken the requirements
related to the acceptable locations of planets
on the zodiacal belt. Let us recall that we did it in order
to avoid the impact of undefined boundaries between the
zodiacal constellations and other inevitable imprecisions.
[B] Conformity to the Visibility Attributes of Venus,
Mercury and Other Planets in Proximity of the
Sun. For more information about the visibility attributes,
we refer to section 5.7.
– We were verifying the visibility of planets for the computed
solutions at the two locations of an observer:
Alexandria and Luxor (which is located 500 km South
from Alexandria). In section 5.11, we explained why
these two places were chosen for this verification. In
the case of any doubt, other locations further to the
North were also considered.
– Planets and stars can be observed only when the sky
is sufficiently dark, i.e. only when the Sun is located
sufficiently far behind the local horizon. However, depending
on the brightness of these planets and
stars, the required for their visibility submersion of
the Sun behind the horizon is also different. Let us
recall shortly how the brightness of stars and planets
is measured. We will use this information later for the
investigation of the Egyptian zodiacs.
– In astronomy, the measurement of the brightness of
stars and other celestial objects (nebulae, galaxies,
planets, etc.) is done according to the so-called photometric
scale. The brightness of stars is denoted by
the letter M, which is called the magnitude. Brighter
the star, smaller is its photometric magnitude. For
the brightest celestial objects their magnitude is negative,
but there are very few such stars or planets.
These are the brightest stars and the planets, which
were at the moment of observations not too far from
the Sun. We should explain that the brightness of
the planets, contrary to the brightness of stars, depends
on their location with respect to the Sun and
the Earth — the sunlight is reflected from the planets.
– Sirius, also called Alpha Canis Majoris, or Dog Star,
is brightest star in the night sky, with apparent vi-
6.7 Dating of Egyptian Zodiacs Based on Contents of the Main and Partial Horoscopes 141
sual magnitude M = −1.46 19 . There are only two or
three stars on the sky with sufficiently strong brightness,
which can be compared to Sirius. The brightest
planet is Venus. Its magnitude can sometimes reach
as much as M = −5, and most of the time is not
smaller than M = −3. When approaching the Sun,
Venus gradually becomes brighter and brighter to finally
disappear from the sky in the sunlight. Then
it reappears on the other side of the Sun, i.e. Venus
changes its morning visibility to evening visibility or
vice versa. The other planets, when approaching the
Sun can reach the visibility magnitude up to M = −2.
Let us point out that the magnitude M = 0 is in fact
related to a very high visibility. The brightness of dim
stars are from M = +5 to M = +6. The star with
magnitude in the range M = +6 or M = +7 can not
be seen with a naked eye 20 .
– The stars, with similar to Sirius photometric magnitude,
and the planets close to the Sun (but still sufficiently
far from it, so the sunlight didn’t render them
invisible), are the brightest stars on the sky, with
Venus being the brightest among them. These planets
and stars become visible on the sky with the submersion
of the Sun behind the local horizon not less
than 7 o . If the submersion of the Sun is smaller
than 7 o , no planet nor star (as stars are even less
bright than planets) is visible 21 . The only exception
is Moon, that can be even seen in the middle of the
day. The bright stars are those planets and stars for
which the photometric magnitude is around M = +1.
There are not many such stars on the sky — possible
around two dozens. They become visible on the sky
with the Sun’s submersion of 9 o –10 o . The class of the
fifth and sixth magnitude of visibility is composed of
those stars and planets with photometric magnitude
around M = +5 and M = +6. They are the faintest
stars visible to the unaided eye, which can only be
observed in a complete darkness. The required submersion
of the Sun behind the local horizon
should in this case be not less than 18 o , what is
also considered in astronomy to be the beginning or
the end of the night 22 . At that time even the dimmest
stars become visible.
– In this way, for checking the visibility of the planets
we needed their photometric magnitude, which was
computed using the program Turbo-Sky, written by
A. Volynkin. A planet with the photometric magnitude
M = −1 was considered to be visible, if at the
time of observation the submersion of the Sun was
not less than 7 o . If the magnitude was M = +2, the
planet was considered as visible with the submersion
of the Sun of 10 o at least. All the doubtful or border
cases were always decided in favor of a solution.
In other words, we didn’t require a precise correspon-
19 See [93] and [94].
20 See [93].
21 See [27], p. 16.
22 See [27], p. 16.