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Know_files/FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS.pdf - D Ank Unlimited

Know_files/FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS.pdf - D Ank Unlimited

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Graham Hancock – <strong>FINGERPRINTS</strong> <strong>OF</strong> <strong>THE</strong> <strong>GODS</strong><br />

everything is literally upside down: there winter begins on 21 June and<br />

summer on 21 December.<br />

The equinoxes, by contrast, are the two points in the year on which<br />

night and day are of equal length all over the planet. Once again,<br />

however, as with the solstices, the date that marks the onset of spring in<br />

the northern hemisphere (20 March) marks that of autumn in the<br />

southern hemisphere, and the date for the onset of autumn in the<br />

northern hemisphere (22 September) marks the onset of spring in the<br />

southern hemisphere.<br />

Like the subtler variations of the seasons, all this is brought about by<br />

the benevolent obliquity of the planet. The northern hemisphere’s<br />

summer solstice falls at that point in the orbit when the North Pole is<br />

aimed most directly towards the sun; six months later the winter solstice<br />

marks that point when the North Pole is aimed most directly away from<br />

the sun. And, logically enough, the reason that day and night are of<br />

exactly equal length all over the planet on the spring and autumn<br />

equinoxes is that these mark the two points when the earth’s axis of<br />

rotation lies broadside-on to the sun.<br />

Let us now take a look at a strange and beautiful phenomenon of<br />

celestial mechanics.<br />

This phenomenon is known as ‘the precession of the equinoxes’. It has<br />

rigid and repetitive mathematical qualities that can be analysed and<br />

predicted precisely. It is, however, extremely difficult to observe, and<br />

even harder to measure accurately, without sophisticated<br />

instrumentation.<br />

In this, there may lie a clue to one of the great mysteries of the past.<br />

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