VMs: Replies on the Pleiades Occultation Thread

["Robert Teague" <rteague@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

By some curious coincidence, the moon grazed the Pleiades to the south,
having just ended an occultation period, on 20 January 2005 (my 50th
birthday).  Maybe it's a message to those who doubt my interpretation.  : D

Dennis' comment on migraines--

I can see that; the face on the Moon doesn't look very happy...

Rene wrote:

> Here is where I would be careful. I agree that it
> is the 'best guess' that the star is Aldebaran,
> but it is not at all so clear, particularly since
> there is not at all a clear match of the other
> groups of (2, 3 and 4) stars with the skies.

Comparing the diagram with the virtual sky of Starry Night, it can be seen
that Algol and Mirfak form a line pointing to the Moon for the 2-star group.
Hamal, Sheritan, and Rasalmathollah form a triangle pointing to the Moon
for the 3-star group. I'm still uncertain of the identities of the 4-star group.

> Obviously, any arbitrarily draw set of stars can
> be matched with a patch of the sky somewhere.

That's true. But in this case, I think, it's irrelevant. In three out of four slices,
the stars are drawn where they actually are in relation to each other.

> Also, I am not so sure that there are any drawings
> in the VMs where one can say that planets have
> been drawn.

I am as certain about the identification of planets as I am of the stars on f68r3.
(Which may not be too impressive.) Folios f67v2, f68r1, and f68r2 are where
they appear.

On f67v2, I have found that all three configurations, triangle, square, and checkmark,
actually occur to the planets. This folio has my attention currently, so I won't announce
any dates just yet.

The upper object on f68r1, and lower on f68r2 is not the sun for two reasons-- there
are stars around it, and the lit surface of the moon doesn't face it.

Of course, I'm working on the assumption that actual celestial events are depicted.
If you don't agree, fine. But the fact I can find matches argues against random
fantasy.

Rob Hicks wrote:

> Whilst these dates are interesting, I don't feel they are particularly useful.  The
'identification' of the Pleiades
> has not resulted in a reading of the label next to them,

Which was not my goal. I'm not a linguist/cryptographer.

> and the dates only go to show that an occultation is so
> common as to place the event within any 50 years you happen to like.

I reduce the times of occurrence to 15 days out of two centuries, and still
I get complaints. Sigh. What's a researcher to do...?  : )

KenW wrote:

> Now that I'm looking more closely at a f68r3 I want a color version.  Never seeing a
color image of f68r3,
> I would guess that there is some distinction between stars and planets based on the
color.  (unless, of course,
> the theory that the colors were added later is true)

I have a color copy of it that I found on the web somewhere. Drop me a line at
rteague@xxxxxxxxxxxxx , and
I'll send it to you.

Robert

"Drop the hot sauce, and step away from the nose!"  --Shego


PS  I read a news article on USEnet's sci.astro that I'm going to forward. I think it
illustrates
what I'm trying to do.


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