mysteries of egyptian zodiacs - HiddenMysteries Information Central

he conducted a mathematical and statistical analysis of the
astronomical data contained in the Almagest. The results of
his research were unexpected. He arrived to the conclusion
that the astronomical observations of the Almagest were falsified.
These serious accusations put in doubt the validity of
the Almagest’s astronomical data for the history of science.
By the way, R. Newton was not aware of the results obtained
by Morozov and fully trusted Scaliger’s chronology.
Figure 1.15: Locations of Alpha Ursae Minoris and Beta Ursae
Minoris in the 2nd century A.D. (based on J.E. Bode’s
drawing).
1.7.2 North Star as the First Star of the
Catalogue Almagest
According to Scaliger’s chronology, the Almagest was compiled
in the 2nd century A.D. or even a little earlier than the
2nd century. It is possible to verify that since the last two
and half thousand years the closest star constellation to the
north galactic pole was Ursa Minor. Then, we can also compute
which of the stars in the Ursa Minor constellation was
the closest to the north pole in the beginning of the Christian
era about two thousand years ago, that means at the time
traditionally associated with the creation of the Almagest. It
turns out, that it was Beta Ursae Minoris — the star that is
listed in the Almagest as a star of second magnitude, while the
North Star (Alpha Ursae Minoris or Polaris) is indicated there
as a star of the 3-rd magnitude. Let us explain that of course
it the Almagest the modern of Alpha and Beta-convention
was not used, and the stars were indicated according to their
position in the constellation and the coordinates. In fact, the
1.7 Controversy over the Ptolemy’s Almagest 13
brightness of the both Alpha and Beta stars in the Ursa Minor
constellation are almost identical. Based on the present
day measurments, the brightness of Alpha is M = +2.1 and
of Beta is M = +2.2 (see section 6.8 for more information
about the brightness scale), which means that Alpha is just
slightly brighter than Beta. Nevertheless, Ptolemy mistakenly
thought opposite.
Figure 1.16: Locations of Alpha Ursae Minoris and Beta Ursae
Minoris with respect to the North Pole.
Moreover, the computations show that in the 2nd century
A.D. the distance between Beta Ursae Minoris and the
north pole was exactly 8 o , which is exactly the same as the
distance between Alpha Ursae Minoris (North Star) and the
north pole today. In the 2nd century Alpha was located 12 o
from the north pole. That means that it could be clearly noticed
that in the 2nd century North Star was significantly
further from the north pole than Beta Ursae Minoris. The
actual configuration of the these stars, as it was observed in
the 2nd century, is shown on Figure 1.15 which is based on a
chart made by German astronomer Johann E. Bode according
to the Almagest. As Bode was not concerned with the
actual dating of the Almagest, his drawing indicates the actual
locations the stars in the 2nd century. Notice that, Beta
is indicated in the center of Ursa Minor, while Alpha is placed
at the very end of the tail of this constellation. This is exactly
how the positions of these two stars were described in the Almagest:
Alpha as “the star at the end of the tail,” and Beta
as “the most northen star in the back of the constellation.”
In our opinion, it would be the most reasonable to start
the 2nd century star catalogue with the star Beta rather than
Alpha. N.A. Morozov wrote in this respect:
““Who possible could have an idea to present a description of
constellations in the northen hemisphere beginning with the
most distant from the north pole star of the Ursa Minor, which
was not even in the center of this constellation but at its very
end of the tail.”