Winter solstice --- Newgrange
Posted: Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:24 pm
With the Winter solstice coming up shortly --just to let you know that our Limerick Leader weekly astronomy article on week ending 9th December will be about Newgrange. This one was written by SAC member Denis O'Mahony.
I paid a visit to Newgrange earlier this week and found it most impressive -- I would recommend it. Although , at this time of the year only Newgrange itself is open (Knowth and Dowth are closed in the winter season).
To give some perspective to Newgrange it is worth considering that it is over 5,000 years old and was built some 1,000 years before Stonehenge and 1,500 years before the Pyramids of Egypt.
The inner chamber where sunlight reaches on the winter solstice holds about 20 people. A lottery decides which 20 people and last year 27,000 people applied. Imagine your luck if you were one of the 20 and then get clouded out. It puts our disappointment at observing session cloudouts into perspective.
It gets plenty of coverage on radio and TV.
I paid a visit to Newgrange earlier this week and found it most impressive -- I would recommend it. Although , at this time of the year only Newgrange itself is open (Knowth and Dowth are closed in the winter season).
To give some perspective to Newgrange it is worth considering that it is over 5,000 years old and was built some 1,000 years before Stonehenge and 1,500 years before the Pyramids of Egypt.
The inner chamber where sunlight reaches on the winter solstice holds about 20 people. A lottery decides which 20 people and last year 27,000 people applied. Imagine your luck if you were one of the 20 and then get clouded out. It puts our disappointment at observing session cloudouts into perspective.
It gets plenty of coverage on radio and TV.
Who says astronomy is a minority interest 