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The declination (a celestial coordinate measured as the angle from the celestial equator, analogous to latitude) at lunar standstill varies in a cycle 18.6 years long between 18.134° (north or south) and 28.725° (north or south), due to lunar precession. These extremes are called the minor and major lunar standstills.
This north-south variation of the point along the horizon is bookended by two lunar standstills or turnarounds, the directions of which are sometimes depicted in archaeoastronomical constructions. [4] It takes 18.6 years for the Moon to traverse this variation viewed from a vantage point on Earth.
This major lunar standstill is due to happen in January 2025, but from now until mid-2025, the moon may appear, to a casual observer, to be unusually low and high in the night sky during the lunar ...
Lunar precession is a term used for three different precession motions related to the Moon. First, it can refer to change in orientation of the lunar rotational axis with respect to a reference plane , following the normal rules of precession followed by spinning objects.
In 1966, C. A. 'Peter' Newham described an alignment for the equinoxes by drawing a line between one of the Station Stones with a posthole next to the Heel Stone. He also identified a lunar alignment; the long sides of the rectangle created by the four station stones matched the Moon rise and moonset at the major standstill.
The Sun Dagger site on Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, stands out for its explicit light markings that record all the key events of both the solar and lunar cycles: summer solstice, winter solstice, equinox, and the major and minor lunar standstills of the Moon's 18.6 year cycle.
The Metonic cycle is the most accurate cycle of time (in a timespan of less than 100 years) for synchronizing the tropical year and the lunar month (synodic month), when the method of synchronizing is the intercalation of a thirteenth lunar month in a calendar year from time to time. [20]
A theory explained by Howard Crowhurst (ACEM, Association for the Knowledge and Study of Megaliths, in France) claims that the monument is connected with the summer solstice and lunar standstill. [3] "The Ales Stenar, known in English as the Ale's Stones, is an ancient megalithic monument of Sweden. The stones are outlining a ship.