Expert: Steven LJ Russo - 4/8/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello, Mr. Russo!

I am writing a paper on the religious and social significance of the Egyptian pyramids, and I have dig a bit into astronomy and solar geometry.  I didn't know where to find solar geometry, so I thought astronomy would help.  Anyways, here is my question:

Could you give me a brief description of solar geometry in layman's terms? I've been reading this particular article for hours and I still do not seem to understand.

Thank you very much!

ANSWER: Not sure what you mean by "Solar Geometry".

Steve



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Okay, um.  From what I have read so far it has something to do with the equinox days, cardinal points, and gnomons.  I'm getting the gyst that during the equinox days, the sunrise indicates the east cardinal point, the sun zenith is south, and sunset is the west cardinal point. And so the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza was aligned in the North-South direction with a precision less than 3 arc minutes, and some believe that astronomical orientation was applied. Does that have anything to do with astronomy?

Answer
Being that the folks back then used the sky as a clock and a calendar, many objects, such as the Pyramids and the temples along the Nile River, vere constructed to match up with a variety of objects relating to Astronomy:  The Sun, and the stars Sirius, Polaris, and Thuban.

Steve