Sunwheel at UMass, Amherst

[helwen]

fitzw and I wanted to go to see the sun rise at the Sunwheel, a stone calendar at UMass, Amherst, MA this morning. So last night he set the alarm for 5:30 -- p.m.

Fortunately, Roselynde decided at about 5:39 a.m. to have a small hairball, and I was out of bed by 5:40 a.m. Thanks Roselynde!

After the small task of getting the paper towels and cleaning up the hairball, and fitzw kindly bringing the other catbed into the bedroom so she could still nap in her favorite spot, we got dressed in multiple layers and went to Amherst. It was a pleasant drive, watching the light of the sun brightening the horizon.

We got there in plenty of time, chatted a little with one or two of the folks, then Dr. Young showed up and did her lecture on the spring equinox, some of the history of the local henge that she has been the inspiration, spearhead and coordinator for getting built, and also learned more about how these calendars work in general. She had some great pictures with her too, of the local construction, of Stonehenge in the UK, and of Calanais (Callanish I) in Scotland. I appreciated that she talked about how the horizon of the surrounding area affects sitings, and also the history of how the point to stand in the local calendar was determined. We'll of course be going there at the Summer Solstice, although we don't necessarily have to be there on the "exact" day -- the alignment of the sun between the rocks lasts for a few weeks at the solstices, which is not true for the equinoxes. But I enjoyed the lecture so if we can make it to one of the lectures, I'd like to. And I expect we'll go visit at other times as well.

It was quite cold this morning. The car thermometer had said 19/20F on the way to the sunwheel, but when we got back in the car after the lecture it read 11F. So I'm guessing that before sunrise it was in single digits in Amherst. There are 12 of us there; not everyone stayed the whole time, but we and one other person made it for an hour, and he stayed to ask some more questions when we left at that time. It was great to be able to talk to someone about how things work; sometimes the written word just can't quite convey the whole picture.

The sky was quite clear, with some light clouds to the west, and as the wheel is in a slight dip in the land, we could watch the sun's progress against the clouds and then the new church to the west, until the sun was high enough to clear the slope and trees to the east to shine directly on where we stood.

Dr. Young pointed out a shadow under the pink on the clouds, which is the reflection of the earth onto bottom of the clouds.

The Sunwheel is larger in diameter than at least the inner circle at Stonehenge, but the stones are shorter, being 8-10 feet in height, vs. the ~25 feet of Stonehenge. Dr. Young likes a more open space, and since she often brings students there, having a larger space is probably a very good idea.

Although the weather was chill, a regular 'visitor' was there this morning -- a redwing blackbird. Dr. Young says the bird is a regular there and has been for years. There's a long ditch/gully along one side of the area the wheel is in, full of rushes, and the redwing blackbird perched on top of one of the rush stems to observe. I liked the commentary she/he added to the lecture. An audible sign of spring.