1. My identification of Aldebaran and Antares as vaha mea in Ga1-4 respectively as mago in Ga7-16 depends on each glyph between them corresponding to a right ascension day calculated according to the formula RA / 24h * 365¼ (see at Camp 9):
There are 1440 minutes in 24 hours and 1440 / 360 = 4 minutes. The current distance from Aldebaran to Antares is ca 713 minutes, a distance which does not change very rapidly:
713 / 4 = 178¼ and (1440 - 713) / 4 = 181¾. However, I have counted not with 360º but with the Julian year, which has a cycle with 365¼ days. 365¼ / 360 * 178¼ = ca 180.8 right ascension days 365¼ / 360 * 181¾ = ca 184.4 right ascension days The table below shows that also the Gregorian year gives the desired result (181 days from Aldebaran to Antares):
The distance from the midnight culmination of Aldebaran to the midnight culmination of Antares would be interesting to know. However, Allen has not in his book (Star Names. Their Lore and Meaning.) told us explicitly about the 'culmination' of Aldebaran, instead he says: "Aldebaran comes to the meridian on the 10th of January."
Presumably he means the midnight meridian, but I did not dare right away to assume this was the case and Aldebaran is therefore not in my list of culmination dates. But Antares is listed:
From 'January 10 (I assume Allen's epoch is the same as that of the rongorongo texts) to 'July 11 there are 557 - 375 = 182 days:
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