Northern Horizon Sector

The Northern Horizon Sector is a horizon zone beyond the risings and settings of both Sun and Moon. Everything in the sky rotates around the celestial North & South Poles. Each is vertically overhead at its earthly pole. Both are on the horizon at the Equator. For places between, the angle of the heavenly rotation point above the horizon gives an indirect indication of earthly latitude.

These days we have Polaris the North Star as a marker for the celestial North Pole but there was no such convenience for prehistoric people. A horizon marker for North would be a useful orientational device. It would help an observer to look in the right direction while waiting for a particular rising or setting event and assist interpretation of partial night skies.

Notice common themes and variations. Remember that, for any site, this horizon sector may not be the most important one.

• Orange Solar trajectories split the tropical year into 48 "Tweeks" (7.6 day mean) that are better regarded as quarter-months.
• Solid Blue Lunar lines split cyclical lunistice position variation into 16 periods of about 14 months each.
• Lunistices are the most northerly and southerly moons of the month [More].
• Also see Technical Notes on the Pictures

All Surveys: 181. Sorted by: Location Name