1. An observer close to the north pole can in the long night which is winter see the circumpolar stars revolve around the north pole of the sky dome. Such a star will pass the meridian straight above twice in 24 hours - it culminates twice. There is a superior (higher) culmination and an inferior (lower) one. At Caph and Cih was written: ... Cassiopeia, or Cassiope, more correctly Cassiepeia, although variously written, is one of the oldest and popularly best know of our constellations, and her throne, 'the shinie Casseioppeia's chair', of Spencer's Faerie Queen, is a familiar object to the most youthful observer. It is also known as the Celestial W when below the pole, and the Celestial M when above it ... It is easy to remember: W means the inferior culmination because superior means high as in Man, whereas the queen's W can be remembered as short for Woman. An observer close to the equator will see most of the stars rise in the east and descend in the west and in between there is a crossing of the meridian straight above only once in 24 hours. There is only one visible culmination, the other (which we could call inferior) is on the back side of Earth. Allen wrote: ... Gienah is from Ulug Beg's Al Janāh al Ghurāb al Aiman, the Right Wing of the Raven, although on modern charts it marks the left. Algorab, given in the Alfonsine Tables to this star, is now usually applied to δ. γ is the brightest member of the constellation, and some Chinese authorities said that it alone marked their 11th sieu. It culminates on the 10th of May ...
With Gienah rising heliacally 186 days beyond spring equinox north of the equator the star should somewhat later have lagged behind Sun and be visible in the late night before sunrise. Gienah should be crossing the meridian at midnight ca 90 days after September 23, but a quarter of a year will not carry us to May 10:
According to the G text glyph 415 seems to be at a night with no light (mata) - and I have no prominent stars corresponding to the first 4 glyphs in line b7:
Glyph 436 is perhaps alluding to May 31 and it has been placed together with the Pole Star:
Polaris should be rising heliacally 435.6 - 408 = 27.6 days after March 21, i.e. around April 18. Hau tea in Gb7-4 should be 3 weeks earlier (436 - 415 = 21) or around March 28. But Allen has stated the culmination of Gienah is at May 10. We need to search for an explanation of his date May 10. |
