Why do modern researchers adjust ancient alignments for precession?
Answer
To confirm accuracy at the time of construction.
Precession refers to the slow, long-term wobble of the Earth's axis, meaning that the apparent positions of stars in the sky shift over thousands of years. When modern researchers examine alignments at ancient sites like Stonehenge, they must adjust their calculations to account for this shift. The goal is to determine whether the orientation of the structure was accurate according to the sky as it appeared thousands of years ago, precisely when the monument was built. This adjustment is essential for evaluating the observational skill of ancient astronomers and confirming whether an alignment was intentional astronomical evidence or merely accidental.
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