2012: The Actual Astronomy and the
Sacred Triple Rebirth of the Sun!
An Essay by Thomas Razzeto
© Copyright 2008 by Thomas Razzeto
Part 1: How to Understand the Astronomy with Just a Pencil and a Sheet of Paper
Part 2: A Deeper Understanding: The Sacred Triple Rebirth of the Sun!
Video: Click here to see my 10-minute video of our 3-dimensional model in action!
Introduction
Since the Maya calendar and mythology are both based on the underlying astronomy, it can be very helpful to understand the actual astronomy of 2012. This is fun and easier than you might think as long as we take it one step at a time. During this introduction, I will give an overview of this essay and clarify some common misunderstandings.
We will be focusing on an astronomical event known as a "galactic alignment." Many people are surprised to learn that galactic alignments happen once a year. Yes, they happen simply because the earth orbits the sun as we can see in the diagram below. We will study this diagram in more detail very soon but for right now, let's just take a quick glance at it.
The annual galactic alignment between the earth, the sun and the plane of the galaxy.
Here we see that once a year, the earth orbits up into a position where we can draw a line from the earth through the sun and into the plane of the galaxy, almost directly towards the center of the galaxy. This is a galactic alignment and, as I just mentioned, it happens once a year.
But once every 26,000 years, the alignment happens at precisely the same time as the winter solstice. Some people think that the simultaneous occurrence of the winter solstice and the galactic alignment is the special event of 2012 but this special alignment has already happened! Yes, it occurred in 1998 and it is not the special event of 2012!
By the way, the galactic alignment is sometimes loosely described as the sun lining up with the center of the galaxy. But that statement requires some clarification. First of all, any two points make a line so you can always draw a line from the sun to the center of the galaxy. When this phrase is used, the earth is implied as the additional third point required for the alignment, or "conjunction."
But more importantly, the alignment happens with the plane of the galaxy, not the center of the galaxy, although the center of the galaxy is close, as we see in our diagram. We will soon learn more about the parts of our galaxy and see more clearly why we need to make a distinction between the center of the galaxy and the plane of the galaxy.
We will also clearly see the simultaneous occurrence of the winter solstice and the galactic alignment when we build our 3-dimensional model. Since our model only has three parts and since the axis of the earth is the only thing in our model that moves, you will easily understand the basic astronomy in just a few minutes.
Our 3-dimensional model of the astronomy of 2012. Click to see the video.
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(Click any footnote number to read it. Return with your Back button.)
Our 3-dimensional model is the key to understanding the alignment of 1998 and in part two, we will develop this understanding a bit further so that you can understand the astronomy that unfolds throughout the day of December 21, 2012, which is similar.
We will see why the astronomical event of this particular day lends itself to the metaphorical expressions brought forth by the Maya. I call this event "the sacred triple rebirth of the sun" and it only happens like this on the winter solstice once every 26,000 years! The poetic beauty is breathtaking; the actual astronomy is profoundly precise!
With all this in mind, let's move on to the basics.
Part 1: The Actual Astronomy and Our 3-Dimensional Model
The Plane of the Earth-Sun Orbit and the Earth's Axis of Rotation
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The first thing we want to look at is the orbit of the earth around the sun. Imagine the sun in the middle of a big tabletop with the earth always staying on this tabletop as it travels around the sun in its yearly orbit. This tabletop is called "the plane of the earth-sun orbit" or "the plane of the ecliptic" or more simply, "the ecliptic."
As you may know, the earth's axis is always tilted about 23 degrees shy of vertical from this plane and it's this tilt that creates the seasons. When the axis is leaning away from the sun as much as possible, we have the winter solstice and our shortest day. As the earth continues in its orbit, the axis will no longer point away from the sun as much as possible and the seasons change. When it is leaning towards the sun as much as possible, we have the summer solstice and our longest day. (2)
In addition to its motion around the sun, the earth is slowly wobbling much like a spinning top that is not standing straight up. As the tip of the earth's axis makes this circular motion, the tilt remains at a fixed angle. This is the action of precession and it's what makes the event of 2012 unfold as it does. It takes about 26,000 years for the axis to make one circle. This long cycle has several names and one of them is "the great year." (3)
Natural Cycles: The Day, the Year and the Great Year
Before we go on, let's review some very familiar natural cycles. As you know, the day is the fastest astronomical cycle and there are four distinct points that naturally divide the day: sunrise, high-noon, sunset and midnight. There are significant physical changes at each of these points. Sunrise and sunset are the most visibly dramatic and sunrise plays an important role in 2012.
Similar things can be said about the year with its two solstices and two equinoxes. They naturally divide the year into the four seasons. Something significant happens at each point as we travel in our orbit around the sun. Also notice that the summer solstice is analogous to high-noon while the winter solstice is like midnight. The spring equinox is like sunrise and the fall equinox is like sunset. So our yearly cycle reflects aspects of our daily cycle. How beautiful.
It turns out that the great year also has four naturally occurring points and we'll clearly see them all in just a few minutes. One of them is the special galactic alignment of 1998!
Now, let's move on to the last part of our model, the plane of the galaxy.
Our Milky Way Galaxy
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Our Milky Way galaxy is a huge flat disk with spiral arms that spins around a bulge in the center. Our solar system is a very tiny dot more than half way out from the center.
From the point of view of earth, our galaxy always looks like the image on the right although the sun can obscure it during certain times of the year. If you can imagine the galaxy being flattened all the way, you'd be left with something called "the galactic plane." It runs right through the middle of the galaxy and astronomers track its position precisely. In just a minute, we'll see the role it plays in the galactic alignments that occur every year.
Before we move on, I want to mention that entire our solar system circles the center of the galaxy once every 225 million years but I don't think that 2012 has anything to do with this.
The Fixed Background Stars of the Zodiac
The zodiac is a band of stars surrounding the solar system. It's in the plane of the earth-sun orbit, the ecliptic.
The earth is the only thing in this diagram that moves.
In order to understand 2012, it is helpful to understand the zodiac, so here's a little information.
Throughout the year, as the earth orbits the sun, you can draw a line from the earth through the sun and out into the background stars that surround the solar system. All these stars are on our big tabletop, the plane of the ecliptic, and can be considered fixed in their position.
As the year unfolds, we change our point of view and, looking away from the sun at night, we eventually get to see all the stars that lie in this big circle. This circular band of stars is known as the zodiac and it's divided into twelve regions. The most distinct constellation in each region has a name, such as Leo, Virgo, Libra and so forth. Of course you recognize them as the signs of the zodiac.
As you look down on our tabletop, the plane of the ecliptic, you can imagine this huge circle of the zodiac surrounding our solar system with the twelve signs in their fixed position. The circle of the zodiac is much larger than the circle of the earth's orbit since the stars are so far away.
By the way, the solar system is pretty flat. In other words, the orbits of almost all the planets are close to the orbital plane of the earth. (4) Additionally, the moon's orbit around the earth is also near the plane of the earth's orbit. This means that you can draw a line from the earth through Jupiter, for example, and then out to one of the constellations of the zodiac. This is why you hear people say that Jupiter is in Gemini, for example. You can do this for the sun, the moon or any of the other planets. In the picture above, the sun is in Leo. One month later, the earth will move around in its orbit and the sun will be seen in Virgo.
It's important to note that the plane of the galaxy, which includes the center of the galaxy, is part of the background stars and therefore fixed in its position. As it turns out, the direction towards the center of the galaxy is always towards Sagittarius. This does not change as the earth changes it's position in its orbit around the sun since the center of the galaxy is extremely far away. In other words, the diameter of the earth's orbit is microscopic compared to the distance to the center of the galaxy. (5)
All this leads us to the subject of the annual galactic alignment, which, as you might expect, always happens when the sun is in Sagittarius. In our picture of the zodiac above, this will happen in four months.
Let's take a closer look at this alignment.
The Annual Galactic Alignment
The annual galactic alignment between the earth, the sun and the galactic plane.
First, let's consider our two planes: the plane of the galaxy and the plane of the earth-sun orbit. It turns out that they are not parallel planes; they intersect each other at an angle of 60 degrees. This angle never changes. (6) In our model, as we shall soon see, this intersection is the crease in our paper and in our diagram above, we see it as the blue dotted line.
In our diagram above, the plane of the galaxy is shown flat and level. We also see that once a year the earth orbits up into a position where we can draw a line from the earth, along the crease through the sun and into the plane of the galaxy, towards the center of the galaxy. But the crease doesn't point exactly to the center of the galaxy; it misses by about 6 degrees. This is shown in the image below.
Our model in the sky at the time of the annual galactic alignment. The crease is always
pointing just a few degrees away from the center of the galaxy.
Looking along the crease, we see the plane of the galaxy, not the center of the galaxy.
This is why the galactic alignment is correctly stated as being between the earth, the sun and the plane of the galaxy rather than the center of the galaxy. Nevertheless, when we look in the general direction of the crease, we will always see the Milky Way and the center of the galaxy if the sun is not obscuring them with its brightness.
So now we clearly see that a galactic alignment happens every year, just like the winter solstice happens every year. Yet when the two events occur together, as we'll see in a minute, we have the special galactic alignment of 1998! (7)
The Key: Our 3-Dimensional Model in Action
Our 3-dimensional model. Click to see the video.
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Now that we have covered the basics, it is time for us to build our 3-dimensional model.
Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half. Then place it on the table and open it up a little more than half way. The half that's lying on the table represents the plane of the earth-sun orbit. The other half represents the plane of the galaxy. Again, the crease in the paper points almost directly towards the center of the galaxy.
Note that we have rotated the previous two diagrams clockwise 60 degrees to make the plane of the earth-sun orbit flat and level, which makes the plane of the galaxy come in at a 60 degree angle, 30 degrees shy of straight up. We will be focusing on the precession of the earth's axis of rotation and this is a better view for that. It doesn't matter which plane we consider flat and level as long as we keep the angle between them at 60 degrees.
As you have seen, we are going to use a pencil to represent the earth's axis of rotation. Take the pencil and put one end in the middle of the crease and keep it there. Stand the pencil up about 23 degrees shy of vertical and make the top of the pencil go around in a circle while maintaining the 23 degree tilt. Imagine that one time around takes 26,000 years.
I encourage you to actually build this simple model and examine it closely as you move the top of the pencil around in a circle. Let's consider what this looks like from the front.
Looking directly at the front of our model, we see the cone of precession.
This diagram looks at the front of our 3-dimensional model and allows you to see the cone of precession. The tip of the cone is the center of the earth and it is always on the crease. You are looking directly along the crease in such a way that it only appears as a dot: the intersection of the plane of the galaxy and the plane of the earth-sun orbit. (The crease is not the vertical dashed line. That line just helps you see the tilt of the earth's axis.)
You can see that since the earth's axis is tilted 23 degrees shy of straight up and since the galactic plane is 30 degrees shy of straight up, there is a time during the precessionary cycle when the axis of the earth is almost directly aligned with the plane of the galaxy. It only misses by 7 degrees. This is when the pencil is closest to the folded half of the paper and will happen in 6,500 years.
You can also see that there is a time when the pencil is pointing away from the plane of the galaxy as much as possible. At this time it misses by 53 degrees, which is 7+23+23. (Note that here we are talking about the plane of the galaxy and not the center of the galaxy.) This occurred 6,500 years ago and this is where the pencil is in the above photograph of our 3-dimensional model.
Next, let's consider the most important view: what it looks like from above.
Looking down on our 3-dimensional model, we see the circle of precession and the four parts of the great year.
This diagram looks down on our 3-dimensional model from above and allows you to see the circle of precession. Basically we see that twice during the cycle of precession, the axis is directly over the crease and twice the axis is exactly perpendicular to the crease. These positions are marked by the four points of distinction as shown by the small orange circles. They naturally and equally divide the great year into four periods of 6,500 years. These points are not artificially created by the mind of man. They are as natural as sunrise, high-noon, sunset and midnight or the points that divide the year into the four seasons.
To get a feel for how slowly precession unfolds, imagine that the circle is made out of 26,000 equally spaced dots and imagine that each year the top of the pencil moves to the next dot.
Let's take a closer look at the position of the axis in 1998. During the entire year, the axis was directly over the crease and pointing down from the center of the circle of precession. As the axis slowly moved through this position, the winter solstice occurred and this meant that the axis was also pointing away from the sun as much as possible since this is what makes the winter solstice. This meant that on this day the sun was also on the crease and that you could draw a line from the earth, which is at the center of the circle, up along the crease to the sun and then further out to the plane of the galaxy!
So we see that the special event of 1998 was when the axis was over the crease and we also see why this was signified by the simultaneous occurrence of the winter solstice and the alignment of the earth, the sun and the plane of the galaxy.
It is important to note that without the galactic plane, which makes the crease, each and every point on the entire circle of precession would look basically the same. There would be no naturally occurring points of distinction. But when we add the galactic plane to our model, we see that this gives rise to the four naturally occurring points that we are talking about.
This 3-dimensional model is the key to understanding the alignment of 1998 and in part two, we will develop this understanding a bit further so that you can understand the special event of December 21, 2012, which is similar.
Several Ways to Think About the Special Alignment of 1998
Our paper and pencil model gives us a great way to clearly see the axis in its position over the crease. I think that it's the best way to view the alignment of 1998 but there are others.
The most common way, as we will see in more detail in a minute, is to look behind the sun every winter solstice and plot the line of the edge of the galactic plane. As we approached 1998, the winter solstice sun aligned more closely with the galactic plane. Now that we have pasted 1998, the winter solstice sun will be further and further away from the plane of the galaxy at the exact moment of the winter solstice.
Yet another way to look at this event is to stay focused on the yearly conjunction of the earth, the sun and the plane of the galaxy and examine the direction of the tilt of the earth's axis. You only examine the angle once a year during the conjunction. Once every 26,000 years, the angle of the axis will create the winter solstice and we again have this special event.
If you understand why all three ways are equivalent, you really do understand the basic astronomy very well. For many of you, this solid astronomical foundation will be sufficient and you may choose not to dig any deeper. Dwelling on the simple beauty of just this can be quite fulfilling. Yet some of the more detailed aspects of the special event of 2012 are, in my opinion, quite amazing. If you are inspired, I invite you to continue. You won't be disappointed!
Part 2: A Deeper Understanding of 2012 - The Sacred Triple Rebirth of the Sun!
The Maya Long Count Calendar
The great year: five cycles of the Maya calendar.
The Maya calendar has received extensive coverage by many books and websites so there is no need for me to go into great detail here but I will still present some of the most important facts.
The Maya used several calendars for business, social, scientific and religious purposes. It is their Long Count calendar that is ending on December 21, 2012. This is a continuous cycle so it will start again the next day. John Major Jenkins traced the origin of the Long Count calendar back over 2,100 years to the little-known pre-Maya site of Izapa in southern Mexico. Here we find more than sixty carved stone monuments that reveal ancient esoteric cosmology. Even though it appears most likely that the Olmec, rather than the Maya, created the Long Count calendar, I will be like everyone else and continue to call it the Maya calendar. (8)
The Long Count calendar is 5,125 years long. Five cycles of the Long Count calendar add up to the great year to within one-half of one percent and the Maya talk about all five cycles. This provides strong evidence that the Maya had an accurate value for the precessionary cycle. But that is just the beginning of the evidence!
Notice that the Maya have gone through less than one Long Count. What is most interesting is that they did not design the calendar and start using it as if they were on the first day. They started about three thousand years into it. Why? I think it's obvious they started at a specific point on purpose in order to have it end exactly when they wanted. In other words, even the minor inaccuracy of one-half of one percent is properly accounted for and the calendar ends on the exact day that they wanted it to end. Yes, the exact day!
So this brings us back to December 21, 2012, which is the winter solstice. To correctly pinpoint a winter solstice from several thousand years away is quite remarkable. It shows a precise understanding of the length of the year. And again, the length of the Long Count calendar clearly demonstrates knowledge of the length of the great year. So it seems to me that the Maya are saying, "Yes, we understand the year and yes, we understand the great year. We have extremely precise values for both." But it even goes beyond that. By picking the year 2012, they also show that they knew where they were in the precessionary cycle. In other words, they knew about the four points of distinction of the great year and they knew about the one coming in about 2012.
And yet there is something even more refined about the astronomy of 2012. Did the Maya know about this, too? Let's take a closer look.
2012 or 1998? The Winter Solstice Sun Crossing the Galactic Plane
The sun appears to cross the galactic plane if you plot its position at the
moment of the winter solstice for the years 1975 through 2021.
As I mentioned in the introduction, our modern astronomers place the combination of the winter solstice and the galaxy alignment in 1998, not 2012. At the precise moment of the winter solstice of 1998, the center of the sun was exactly on the galactic plane. (9)
Yet this brings up an interesting point. The conjunction is spoken of as if the sun were a tiny dot but the disk of the sun actually takes up a bit more than one-half of one degree in our sky. It takes about 45 years for the precessionary cycle to move the disk of the sun completely across the plane of the galaxy as we see in our diagram above.
As you see, we have placed 1998 in the middle of this 45 year period. This means that the right edge of the sun started to touch the galactic plane on the winter solstice in 1976 and that the left edge will finish touching it in about 2021. During this 45 year period, the center of the sun is within one-quarter of one degree of the exact alignment at the moment of the winter solstice.
So we see that if we only consider the position of the sun at the time of the solstice, it appears as if it is crossing the plane of the galaxy by moving to the right. While this is interesting, it is not the whole story, as we shall see. (Note: I use a crossing time of 45 years yet many others choose 36 years. This is because they do not account for the precise angular size of the sun and they ignore the fact that the plane of the galaxy is tilted 30 degrees shy of straight up.) (10)
It is important to note that the diagram above shows the position of the sun only at the exact moment of the winter solstice. The position of the sun with respect to the plane of the galaxy, which is part of the fixed background of the stars, changes due to the earth moving in its orbit around the sun. This can easily be noticed as the year unfolds but the change is even large enough to be noticed as one day unfolds.
Let's consider what happens as the year unfolds.
Realize that during the 3 months following the winter solstice, the earth travels one quarter of the way around its orbit. This makes the line-up miss by 90 degrees. And after another 3 month, on the summer solstice, the center of the galaxy is behind us as we look into the sun. So it misses by 180 degrees at that time. But when the winter solstice comes around again 6 months later, we yet again have the approximate alignment of the earth, the sun and the plane of the galaxy, in that order. (The diagram of the zodiac above will help you visualize this.)
Now let's examine the change in the position of the sun with respect to the plane of the galaxy as one day unfolds.
First, let's calculate the amount the sun moves against the background stars in one day. During the 365 day year, the earth travels through all 360 degrees of its orbit. This means that from the point of view of earth, the sun travels across the fixed background stars of the zodiac approximately 1 degree per day. (360 degrees / 365 days = 0.986 degress per day.) This is approximately twice the diameter of the sun every 24 hours.
During the 24 hours of the day, the earth spins around once on its axis and the background stars appear to make one complete circle around the earth. They travel through all 360 degrees of this circle and yet the sun goes through only about 359 degrees. This is due to the one degree shift calculated above and this counteracts the apparent motion of the sun across the sky and creates the motion of the sun moving across the background stars. (This does not have anything to do with precession.)
Let's see how this daily one degree change in the position of the sun makes the special event of 2012 unfold.
The Sacred Triple Rebirth of the Sun
The sun crossing the galactic plane as it will be seen from southern Mexico
and the Yucatan Peninsula during the day of the winter solstice in 2012.
(Incidently: The winter solstice in 2012 will occur at 11:11 AM Universal Time. For all of southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, this will be 5:11 AM Central Time. As an additional note for Izapa, which is in southern Mexico, sunrise will be at 6:27 AM and sunset will be at 5:46 PM. Izapa's latitude is 14.8 degrees north and its longitude is 92.2 degrees west.)
As we can see in the above diagram for southern Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula, the sun will cross the plane of the galaxy as the day of the winter solstice unfolds. Although the crossing starts a few hours before dawn, the Maya will witness most of the crossing since it continues during the entire day and finishes near sunset. The brightness of the sun will obscure the Milky Way and the plane of the galaxy but nevertheless, they will be right behind the sun.
This crossing from one side of the galaxy to the other metaphorically represents for the Maya the sun moving from one world into another, or a rebirth of the sun. While this crossing happens every year, 2012 is special because the crossing happens on the winter solstice and it occurs like this only once every 26,000 years! In my opinion, this is why the Maya long count calendar was setup to end on this day. This is the special event of 2012!
Upon first examination of this diagram, you might think that the sun is moving to the left. Actually, both the sun and the plane of the galaxy are moving to the right but the plane of the galaxy is moving faster and is overtaking the sun. Let's look at this more closely.
In the northern hemisphere, from sunrise to sunset, we see the sun travel across the sky from left to right in about half a day. In other words, the spinning of the earth causes both the sun and the galactic plane to appear to move fairly rapidly to the right. Yet, as I just mentioned, while the earth is spinning, it is also orbiting the sun and this counteracts some of the sun's apparent motion. This makes the sun move slower than the plane of the galaxy and allows it to be over taken by it.
What will this look like? While the sun will appear to move across the sky just like any normal day, it is what is obscured by the sun's brightness that is so important to the Maya. Let's consider where the plane of the galaxy will be at certain times of the day.
The above diagram shows the ecliptic as horizontal. Remember, the ecliptic is the plane of the earth-sun orbit. When you think about this, you realize that the path we see the sun trace across the sky is created by us looking into the edge of the ecliptic. So that path is the ecliptic as seen on its edge, just like the ecliptic in our diagram. This means we need to rotate the diagram to match the direction of the sun's path in order to see the angle the galactic plane makes in the sky as the day unfolds.
Let's consider what it looks like at dawn when the sun is traveling almost straight up. When you rotate the diagram counter-clockwise to make the line of the ecliptic match the path of the sun at dawn, you can see that the galactic plane is now almost horizontal.
It is also important to note that the plane of the galaxy is also literally and physically superimposed on the earth's horizon at dawn because of the alignment of the sun and the galactic plane occurring at this time. The plane of the galaxy is physically underneath the center of the sun even though we cannot see it because the sun is so bright.
Obviously, after sunrise, the sun will rise higher and higher above the ground of the earth. Simultaneously, the plane of the galaxy will also be moving up yet it will be moving up faster than the sun and the crossing will continue.
At approximately 10 AM, the center of the sun will be exactly on the plane of the galaxy as seen in the diagram above. For the Maya, the intersection of the ecliptic and the plane of the galaxy creates "the sacred tree." At this point in time, the sun is on the sacred tree and this represents an important time in the rebirth of their sun-god. This is the exact moment when the center of the sun moves from one side of the galaxy to the other.
For sunset, we rotate the diagram clockwise to match the direction of the setting sun with the line of the ecliptic. At approximately this time, the sun will complete the crossing and we will have a "galactic rebirth of the sun!" Very interesting!
Now let's consider some more details of the crossing.
It will begin at 2:19 AM when the sun will have its bottom edge (left edge in the diagram) just touching the galactic plane. During the next 15 hours and 16 minutes, the sun will move across the plane of the galaxy. The peak will occur at 9:57 AM when the center of the sun will be exactly on the plane of the galaxy. The crossing will finish at 5:35 PM, just 11 minutes before sunset. So the entire crossing takes place on one calendar day and occurs, for the most part, during the day in full view of the Maya.
Out of curiosity, let's look at what will be going on in 2011 and 2013. For 2011 in Izapa, we will have the winter solstice occurring at 11:30 PM on December 21. This means that the crossing will span two dates and will occur almost entirely at night.
In 2013, in Izapa, the solstice will occur at 11:11 AM also on December 21. The crossing will start at 9:19 AM and finish 12:35 AM on December 22. So again the crossing spans two dates with half the time being during the day and half being at night.
By the way, in 1998, in Izapa, the solstice occurred at 7:43 PM. At that time the center of the sun was on the plane of the galaxy and the start of the crossing was approximately seven and a half hours before, which was about noon. The end was the next day at about 3 AM. So again the crossing spanned two dates and occurred mostly at night.
So we see that if the Maya wanted to pinpoint the complete passage of the sun across the plane of the galaxy during the day of the winter solstice, they would pick 2012, not any of these other years - not 1998, not 2011 and not 2013. 2012 is not only the best fit, it is an excellent fit! And this crossing will not occur like this again for 26,000 years! I am reasonably certain that the Maya picked this date because they wanted to metaphorically represent their sun-god being fully reborn by the sun completely crossing the galactic plane during the day of the winter solstice. Amazing!
Each and every sunrise is a metaphorical rebirth of the sun that has been in the underworld throughout the night. So every sunrise is the rebirth of the sun on a daily time frame. And of course you know that the winter solstice represents the rebirth of the sun on a yearly time frame since the days will start to grow longer. Now we are adding the galactic rebirth of the sun in the time frame of the great year! On December 21, 2012, we will have the simultaneous triple rebirth of the sun! Astounding!
This triple rebirth of the sun is the real special event of 2012! The poetic beauty is breathtaking; the actual astronomy is profoundly precise!
Now we see that from the viewpoint of the Maya, December 21, 2012 is more than just any winter solstice; it is the most important winter solstice of all the winter solstices throughout the entire great year. This therefore makes this day the single most important day in the entire great year! This important date is in the Maya mythology, it is in their calendar and it is undeniably in the astronomy. How can this be a coincidence?
Others might think that the Maya made a slight error and simply missed the 1998 alignment by 14 years. It would still be quite remarkable to come so close from over two thousand years away, but I don't think that that is what they wanted. They hit the day of the winter solstice exactly. How could they hit the exact day they wanted and miss the year they wanted since the year is a bigger target?
How difficult was it for the Maya to do this?
How difficult was it for the Maya to do this? What level of precision is required to hit the exact day of the winter solstice from several thousand years away?
Let's approach this problem by focusing on the length of the regular year, which is the precise amount of time from one winter solstice to the next. This is called the solar year or the tropical year and our astronomers record its precise value as 365.24219 days. Let's see how accurately the Maya would need to know this number in order to make their calendar.
As a starting point, let's say that we want a calendar that ends on the winter solstice 10 years from now. We would multiply the above number by 10 to get 3,652.4219 days from our current winter solstice to the one 10 years later. And if we want to end our calendar in 100 years, we would just move the decimal point again to get 36,524.219 days. So you see that if we wanted it to end in 1,000 years, we would have 365,242.19 days. For 2,100 years, we would have 767,008.599 days. As the time frame gets longer, the precision required increases. I stepped you through this slowly so that you could easily see how the numbers after the decimal point are so important.
You can see that if the Maya intentionally ended their calendar on the exact day of December 21, 2012 because the actual astronomy depicts the triple rebirth of the sun, they needed to know the value of the solar year to within at least 3 decimal places. Over the full 2,100 year period, that works out to knowing the value of the year to within about 40 seconds. Pretty impressive.
But it is even more difficult than that. It turns out that the value of the solar year is not the same from one year to the next and that the precise value stated above is an average over a long period of time. As an example, the winter solstice in 2000 was on Decmeber 21 at 1:37 PM UTC. The winter solstice in 2001 was on December 21 at 7:21 PM UTC. This works out to a solar year of 365 days, 5 hours and 44 minutes or 365.23889 days. The winter solstice of 2002 was on December 22 at 1:14 AM UTC. This works out to a solar year of 365 days, 5 hours and 53 minutes or 365.24514 days. So you see that great care must taken in order to correctly calculate the exact day of the winter solstice several thousand years in the future.
Here's another way of looking at this.
In approximate terms, we quickly see that over about 2,000 years, they need to be accurate to within 1 day since they are predicting one specific day approximately 2,000 years in the future. So over 4,000 years, they need to be accurate to within 2 days, for 6,000 years, 3 days and so forth.
More precisely, if we say the calendar has been in use for 2,100 years and if we use 25,765 years for the value of precession, we would divide 25,765 by 2,100 to get 12.27 days of allowable tolerance for the value of the great year as measured in days.
How many days are there in the cycle of precession? 25,765 years times 365.24219 days per solar year equals 9,410,465 days,which is approximately 9.4 million days. So over that amount of time, they need to be within about 12 days. Wow! This strikes me as quite amazing and I encourage you to take some time to really ponder it.
Suppose a distant city is about 9.4 thousand miles away and that you need to know that distance with a precision of 0.012 miles, which is our 12 miles divided by 1,000 since we divided 9.4 million by 1,000 to get 9.4 thousand. Well, 0.012 miles works out to less than 65 feet! Good luck! This is like measuring width the United States to within 20 feet or the distance from Los Angeles to Tokyo to within 40 feet! Amazing! Just amazing!
What is this in terms of percentage? We divide 12.27 days by the total number of days in the entire precessionary cycle and multiply by 100 to get:
0.00013 percent allowable tolerance.
So the Maya had to be 99.99987 percent correct or better in their value of the great year in order to hit the solstice day exactly.
(By the way, the same percentage tolerance is required for the length of the solar year.)
All this is truly remarkable! In fact, I find this completely mind-blowing!
As a side note, consider that in about 130 B.C., the same time frame as the creation of the Maya calendar, the Greek astronomer Hipparchus estimated precession to be 36,000 years or less. He was off by 10,000 years! Even so, Hipparchus is very famous for his work on precession and he wrote two books on the subject. He is considered by some people to be the greatest astronomer of antiquity. I can only add that it's a good thing he was not in charge of creating the Maya calendar! (11)
It is so difficult to believe that the Maya could have had this level of precision that it is easy to understand why mainstream science deny them this knowledge and attribute the end-date to mere coincidence. But is this justified? Is the end-date landing on the winter solstice a coincidence? If the Maya were Christian and the end-date was Christmas, would we be justified in stating that it was just a coincidence?
The winter solstice plays the role of Christmas for the Maya. It is their most important day of the year. It is too much for me to think of it as just a coincidence. Yet even if it is a coincidence, in fact, no matter which of the alternatively proposed end-dates we choose to use, it is still undeniable that the Maya knew a fairly precise value for the length of the great year. Remember, five cycles of the Long Count calendar add up to the great year to within one-half of one percent or 140 years. So they knew the number to at least that degree of accuracy. We must at least give them credit for this. (Or is that just a coincidence, too?) But was their astronomical understanding vastly superior to even this? Can anyone prove that it wasn't?
The structure and accuracy of the Long Count calendar proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the Maya knew a lot about precession. It is not a lucky guess or a coincidence that the calendar works the way that it does. There is no getting around this fact, no matter how uncomfortable modern mainstream researchers are with attributing this sophisticated knowledge to them.
It required great ingenuity and scientific understanding to create this calendar. The two most important aspects of it are that it accurately reflect the underlying astronomy while being easy to manage on a daily basis. The Maya accomplished this beautifully.
Could the Maya Be Focusing on Another Event?
The heart of the Milk Way
While my research gives me a high degree of confidence that the Maya were indeed using their Long Count calendar to precisely pinpoint the sacred triple rebirth of the sun as represented in the very special astronomical event of December 21, 2012, there are numerous scholars and popular writers who maintain that the Maya had something else in mind.
This opens up a complex debate that is beyond the scope of this essay but the solid astronomical understanding that you have gained from this essay will give you an excellent foundation to explore those other possibilities.
While we presently have no absolute proof as to what the target really is, the event of 2012 is immensely fascinating for millions of people. How exciting for us all to see it unfold for ourselves right now!
That's the end of this essay but I invite you to explore the comments and links in the endnotes section. And don't miss my 10-minute video of our 3-dimensional model in action! (Click here for the video)
Also, I will soon have more material. Part 3 will cover my opinion of how the Maya knew this astronomy and part 4 will discuss the Maya predictions and my opinion of what all this actually means. Will you experience your own personal triple rebirth? I hope you join us for that!
Also, I will soon have an audio book about 2012 available both as a download and as a CD that can be shipped to you. Stay tuned for that.
Thanks for reading my essay! Have a magical and mystical day!
Thomas Razzeto
Written: May 2, 2008
Revised: June 20, 2008, the summer solstice
Use your magic - Spirituality and mysticism for personal and world peace!
If you enjoyed this essay, then you might enjoy some of my other work:
• Mystical audio books for children and grown-ups: Use Your Magic!
• A completely free ESP board game: ESP Mind Power!
Endnotes
(1) This is a simple 3-dimensional model that you can build yourself with just a pencil a sheet of paper. It demonstrates the actual astronomy we are concerned with. As you move the top of the pencil around in a circle, you can see the 26,000 year precessionary cycle unfold.
Don't miss my 10-minute video of this model in action:
The Actual Astronomy of 2012 - Absolutely Amazing!
Here's the link: http://www.vimeo.com/1415169
(2) The following excellent website gives a simple yet thorough explanation of the seasons:
http://www.astronomy.org/programs/seasons/index.html
(3) A more exact figure is 25,765 years but for this essay I use the approximate number of 26,000 because it is close enough and easier to remember. You can find more information here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession_of_the_equinoxes
This next link shows an animation of a top precessing. There is an important difference between what is shown here and what the earth does. In the animation, we see that the bottom tip of the axis of the top stays still while the rest of the top wobbles. For the earth, it is best to imagine the center of the earth staying still while both the top and bottom tips of the axis of rotation make circles. In other words, the earth still wobbles but there are two cones of precession, one above the other. One is up-side-down and the two are touching at the center of the earth. When we build our 3-dimensional model, we put the tip of the pencil in the crease. This is the center of the earth, not the bottom of the earth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession
(4) While it is true that the orbits of almost all the planets are close to the orbital plane of the earth, the two exceptions are Mercury, whose orbit is tilted at 7 degrees, and Pluto at 17 degrees.
(5) Let's look closer at why the direction to the center of the galaxy basically stays the same. Imaging that you are in Los Angeles and you are pointing to the center of New York city. If you then move 500 miles north and point to New York, you will have to point more south than before since you are now further north. But if instead of moving 500 miles north, you only move 50 feet, the direction to New York will basically be the same. Technically, it is slightly different but the difference is extremely small. So even though the earth is moving around in its orbit, the change in position is not enough to affect the direction to the center of the galaxy.
(6) The angle between the plane of the galaxy and the plane of the earth-sun orbit (the ecliptic) is about 60 degrees. Astronomy magazine tells us where to look in the summer sky to see it for ourselves here:
http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/forums/p/31176/368883.aspx
Here is further discussion:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071203110530AAMkEYV
And here is clarification of the confusion between 60 degrees and 63 degrees:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071220173201AAmFoA4
(7) At first this may seem like a puzzling situation. It turns out that astronomers use two different years, which differ only by about 20 minutes. We all know that basically the year is when the earth makes one complete orbit around the sun. Astronomers calls this a sidereal year and the background stars are used to determine when the orbit has been completed.
Yet we also think of the year as the amount of time from the winter solstice to the next winter solstice, for example. But while the earth is making its journey, its axis of rotation is precessing. Since it is the direction of the axis that determines the winter solstice, the solstice line-up occurs 20 minutes before the earth completes the full orbit. This type of year is called a tropical year or a solar year. It is also what we commonly call a year. Astronomers themselves usually mean this type of year unless they make the distinction of a sidereal year.
So we see the winter solstice happens once every tropical year and the alignment with the plane of the galaxy happens once every sidereal year. This is why their relative occurrence shifts and allows for them to happen at the same time once every 26,000 years.
Detailed information about the sidereal year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_year
Detailed information about the tropical year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_year
(8) I consider John Major Jenkins one of the most important voices on the subject of 2012. Here are John's brief comments on Izapa as the origin of the Long Count calendar. You can learn much more from his DVD, "Izapa - 2012."
http://www.alignment2012.com/izapa2012dvd.html
Here is John's main website:
(9) Of all the winter solstices, the one in 1998 has the center of the sun closest to the galactic plane. It is virtually exactly on the plane of the galaxy at the moment of the winter solstice. By the way, the following document confirms that the distance from the sun to the galactic center at the precise moment of the winter solstice in 1998 is 6.4 degrees. As you know, the crease in our model always points approximately toward the center of the galaxy and this document confirms that it always misses by 6.4 degrees. Here is the confirmation document:
http://edj.net/mc2012/truezone.htm
(10) Here will calculate the amount of time required for the winter-solstice sun to cross the galactic plane. Let's start by calculating the amount of time it takes the precessionary cycle to go through one degree. Here's the math: 25,765 years divided by a full circle of 360 degrees equals 71.57 years per degree and most people round this up to 72 years. I have no problem with using 72 degrees per year but when calculating the crossing time, most people use an angular size of the sun of 0.50 degrees, which is a bit too small, and they also ignore the fact that the plane of the galaxy is 30 degrees shy of straight up, which increases the crossing time even more. First, let's take a closer look at the size of the sun.
As you know, the earth's orbit around the sun is not a perfect circle and this means that there are times when the sun is closer to earth and times when it is farther away. This causes the angular size of the sun to vary between 0.525 degrees and 0.543 degrees. At present, the sun is closest during winter for the northern hemisphere. So we should use 0.543 degrees as the angular size of the sun, not 0.50.
Now let's consider the effect the 60 degree angle of the galactic plane. If the galactic plane intersected the ecliptic at 90 degrees, rather than 60 degrees, the transistion would simply involve the angular diameter of the sun, 0.543 degress. But since the planes intersect at 60 degrees, the sun needs to more time to complete the crossing. The right edge will touch sooner and the left edge will be touching later. The trigonometry is very simple and it adds about 15 percent to the time required. (One divided by the cosine of 30 degrees equals 1.155 or 15.5 percent more than the unit circle's radius.)
The combination of these two factors adds about 25 percent to the 36 year period used by most people and our 36 year period becomes about 45 years. That's why our diagram shows the starting year as about 1976 and the ending year as about 2021. By the way, the year 2021 matches with the information offered by the astronomer cited by John Major Jenkins in the link provided in footnote 9. Incidently, I chose to split the 45 year period as follows: 22 years from 1976 to 1998 and 23 years from 1998 to 2021 but going from 1975 to 2020 is also quite acceptable since the differences are so small.
(11) More on Hipparchus can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipparchus
Other Notes
(*) This site mentions that the winter solstice sun will be closest to the center of the galaxy in the year 2219:
http://edj.net/mc2012/truezone.htm
(*) Here is a 3-D animated movie of the event of 2012. They have it spinning around in an unnatural way so that might add some confusion. Yet it is still helpful for those looking for more ways to understand the actual astronomy:
http://www.lunarplanner.com/HCmovies/HCmovie300Frame.html
(*) Here are other interesting links:
http://schools-wikipedia.org/wp/m/Milky_Way.htm
http://alignment2012.com/Izapa.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Izapa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar
http://alignment2012.com/mc-intro.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_2012_08.htm
If you enjoyed this essay, then you might enjoy some of my other work:
• Mystical audio books for children and grown-ups: Use Your Magic!
• A completely free ESP board game: ESP Mind Power!