Reality according to the NYT

[Gasping4Truth]

Reality:




according to the NYT:



Article

[Skittles]

1. fascinating article

thank you

[Gasping4Truth]

2. It is fascinating

But the point of my post were the photos

[Skittles]

3. LOL

the leaf? :O

[Gasping4Truth]

4. That's right! eom

[Warren Stupidity]

5. so im guessing but...

it is unlikely that NYT photoshopped the leaf. More likely the leaf was added by the papal prudes sometime in the 19th century and was removed sometime in the late 20th. The photo is most likely an archive photo and the author of the article had no clue that the statue doesn't look like that any more.

[opihimoimoi]

6. :o)

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. I blame Louisiana State University or the Griffith Observatory

note the NYT picture credit is "Griffith Observatory"

The new exhibits may include a giant astrolabe, a series of large dioramas or "habitats" of moon observers from different cultures and ages, a steerable camera obscura, and a life-size replica of the Farnese Atlas.

http://www.griffithobs.org/renewing.html

http://www.phys.lsu.edu/farnese/

So was the lifesize replica done complete with figleaf? All the other internet pictures of the Farnese Atlas are 'natural'.

[sweetheart]

8. what marks the tropic of cancer and capricorn?

Is this the apex of the seasonal sun "wobble" of the earth on its
axis... is that why they have the lines? How would an astronomer
without a GPS or computer know where these tropics were?

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Sort of

they mark the northerly and southerly limits of the sun in the sky. But that's not really a 'wobble' - the axis of the earth points, year by year, in exactly the same direction - towards Polaris, the (north) pole star. Over very many years (the 26,000 in the article) that point varies - but is still at 23.5 degrees to the plane the earth orbits around the sun in. Think of the earth like a spinning top - spinning fast around its axis, and that axis slowly rotates, while keeping at the same angle to the ground (until friction slows everything done, of course).

The tropics are determined by relatively easy observation of the sun at midday. Once you realise the earth is roughly a sphere, it's easy to plot where the sun is, and how that varies over the year.