![]() ![]() The central sanctuary was the most sacred place, directly inline with the vertical axis of the central spire that provided the connection between the realms of heaven and Earth. Hindu temples were built to be earthly abodes for the gods. It is to Vishnu that Angkor Wat is consecrated, and with more than mere symbolic intent. The builders of Angkor Wat creating a temple not only to honor their deities but in its very structure and orientation of the greater cosmic Therefore, on the equinox and for several days before and after the equinox, the length of day will range from about 12 hours and six and one-half minutes at the equator, to 12 hours and 8 minutes at 30 degrees latitude, to 12 hours and 16 minutes at 60 degrees latitude. Additionally, the days become a little longer at the higher latitudes (those at a distance from the equator) because it takes the sun longer to rise and set. The “nearly” equal hours of day and night is due to refraction of sunlight or a bending of the light’s rays that causes the sun to appear above the horizon when the actual position of the sun is below the horizon. At the equator, the sun is directly overhead at noon on these two equinoxes. The word equinox is derived from two Latin words – aequus (equal) and nox (night). These events are referred to as Equinoxes. There are only two times of the year when the Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the sun, resulting in a “nearly” equal amount of daylight and darkness at all latitudes. In the Northern Hemisphere, it occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn, which is located at 23.5° south of the equator and runs through Australia, Chile, southern Brazil, and northern South Africa. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. For every place north of the Tropic of Cancer, the sun is at its highest point in the sky and this is the longest day of the year. The summer solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer, which is located at 23.5° latitude North, and runs through Mexico, the Bahamas, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India, and southern China. Therefore, on the day of the summer solstice, the sun appears at its highest elevation with a noontime position that changes very little for several days before and after the summer solstice. The summer solstice occurs at the moment the earth’s tilt toward from the sun is at a maximum. Although they are not exactly equal, it is due to the angular size of the sun and atmospheric refraction. On an equinox, day and night are of approximately equal duration all over the planet. ![]() There are two solstices and two equinoxes in a tropical year. When the Sun’s path crosses the equator, the length of the nights at latitudes +L° and -L° are of equal length. The days are longer around the summer solstice and shorter around the winter solstice. The time or date that happened just twice a year at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are equal in length (around 22 September and 20 March). Six months later, the alignment has shifted to its northern point of sunrise at winter solstice. Standing near the southwestern corner in Angkor Thom the rising sun at summer equinox will be visible through, or over, the eastern gate. ![]() For example, standing at Pre Rup 6 kilometers away at winter solstice, one would see the setting sun over Angkor Wat. ![]() Published in the journal Science, the study demonstrated how Angkor Wat’s architect had established solar alignments between the temple and a nearby mountaintop shrine that took place during the summer solstice. In 1976, University of Michigan researchers suggested that the architect of ancient Cambodia’s Angkor Wat had encoded calendrical, historical and cosmological themes into his architectural plan for the temple. Cambodia, Latitude 13☂5’48” N longitude100★4’00” E Alignments: ![]()
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