RASC Calgary Centre - Stonehenge at Calgary?Copyright © 2015- Larry McNish - All rights reserved.Page created March 16, 2015 Stonehenge  Stonehenge Station Stone Alignments (by the Author) Base diagram from Wikipedia Commons. What if you wanted to build a replica of Stonehenge in Canada Stonehenge in England exists at Latitude 51° 10' 43.75" North, and 1° 49' 34.61" West. One of the most amazing things about Stonehenge is a result of its geographical latitude. Only very near this latitude, do lines drawn between the four "Station Stones" (outside the main henge of stones shown above) create a rectangle relating to both Solar and Lunar position extremes with almost perfect 90 degree corners (shown in blue). (I say "almost" because these four stones are no longer perfect markers as shown above.) Therefore, to duplicate Stonehenge at any other Latitude would NOT produce the same astronomical alignments for the Station Stones. Of course, the actual alignment changes over the centuries due to two major effects: The very slowly changing tilt of the Earth's N-S Axis (the "Obliquity of the Ecliptic") and the "wobbling" of this axis over 26,000 years due to the "Precession of the Equinoxes". Other minor effects are caused by the Earth's daily rotation slowing down, and the Moon getting further away century after century. However, if you wanted to create an accurate replica, you should locate it at the same Latitude as Stonehenge. (Its Longitude can vary since this would only affect the timing - i.e. the same events would occur - just separated by the time difference between Stonehenge in England and the local time zone.) Reviewing a list of large Canadian cities by Latitude, there are only three that are near this latitude, and Calgary is by far the closest.
So, where does the location exist nearest to Calgary? - You may be surprised to find out it is just North of Stony Trail. The image below shows the location - at Stonehenge's exact Latitude but at Longitude 114° exactly.  Any location due east or west of this point (e.g. the red box) would suffice to create the same astronomical alignments (and allow room for parking). But if any entrepreneur decides to go ahead and build this tourist attraction, remember - it was my idea first. So think of this when you leave Calgary heading North - it's a perfect location to build a Stonehenge Replica Tourist Attraction. And, of course, to make sure it's exactly positioned, you'd have to get out your Stone-Age Megalithic Astro-Alignment App. |