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Patrick Goold's deductions are correct. The sarsens 1,2,29,30, with their 
lintels, are what can be seen in the foreground. The photo has indeed been 
taken looking roughly Southwest. I have tried to establish the exact 
position of the camera, on a plan of Stonehenge, by using perspective, in 
order to find the azimuth from the camera of the rotation centre, which 
should be due South. All I can say at present is that it seems at least 
roughly South. Perhaps not exactly so; but I can't state that with any high 
confidence. If anyone can offer a more exact analysis of the photo, that 
would be welcome.

And I'm still looking for an identification of the constellations.

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george{at}hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Patrick Goold" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 5:10 PM
Subject: [NavList] Re: Emailing: A-meteor-storm-over-Stone-008.jpg


Dear George,
Your question piqued my interest.  I assume we are looking at the real
Stonehenge here and I am guessing that the structure at stage center is the
Sarsen circle stones 1,2, 29, and 30 with the lintels 101, 102 and 130.  If
that is correct, then we are, I think, looking SW.  I put Stonehenge's
lat/long in Stellarium, set the date for last June and speeded up the
passage of stars to watch the arc.  If the stars in your photo are moving
left to right (I can't really tell that), then their course appears to my
untrained eye to be very similar to the course described by the Stellarium
stars.  I can't identify any constellations in your photo.

When I went looking on the internet for images of Stonehenge at night, I 
did
find several that were obviously cooked, including one that boasted an
astonishing background of stars that reminded me of some of the photos 
taken
by the Hubble.

I hope you will let the list know what you discover.

Best regards,
Patrick

On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 10:53 AM, George Huxtable  wrote:

> On 1 Feb, the following item appeared in the printed version of 
> theGuardian
> newspaper-
>  (The best places to see stars in Britain, 1 February, page 3, G2).
> Itappeared on the online version the previous day, at-
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jan/31/best-stargazing-britain
>
> In the printed version of the paper, the picture was captioned "A meteor
> storm over Stonehenge", which was obviously incorrect. The printed 
> version
> was a bit different from that shown in this online version, in that the
> comet had been cropped off it.
>
> Yesterday, the following correction appeared, in-
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/feb/03/corrections-clarifications
> as follows-
> • A photograph used to illustrate an article about stargazing was wrongly
> captioned as showing "a meteor storm over Stonehenge". In fact it was a
> photograph of stars taken with a long exposure which, due to the Earth's
> rotation, produces the effect of trails (The best places to see stars in
> Britain, 1 February, page 3, G2).
>
> =======================
>
> Indeed, that wasn't all that was wrong. The area around Stonehenge does 
> not
> have particularly dark skies, and indeed a main road runs right past the
> Heel Stone, so it is hardly a good place for "watching stars". But, more
> particularly, the star background looks to me to be quite wrong, for
> somewhere as far North as Stonehenge, at 51º N. The star pattern should
> then be rotating about the South Celestial pole, a point that lies 51º
> below the horizon. It looks to me as though the star background shown in
> that picture is centred much closer than that to the horizon, perhaps 
> only
> 25º or so below it, indicating that it was taken from much nearer to the
> tropics. Am I right?
>
> To be sure, I need to identify that pattern of stars, and whether it is
> indeed that of the Southern stars, or the Northern. I'm not familiar 
> enough
> with the stars to identify what part of the sphere is being shown here
> (with the comet behind it), but I'm sure it will be instantly 
> recognisable
> to some Navlist members. All that's needed is to give a name to one or 
> two
> of the stars in the picture, and the rest will follow.
>
> It seems pretty clear, to me, that this is a completely-bogus composite
> agency picture, with the stars, and independently the comet (which seems 
> to
> show little streaking) superimposed on to the picture of Stonehenge. As 
> it
> is against stated Guardian policy to publish such pictures, I am 
> collecting
> evidence to show the error of their ways.
>
> George.
>
> contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
> or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
> or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
>



-- 
Dr. Patrick Goold
Department of Philosophy
Virginia Wesleyan College
Norfolk, VA 23502
757 455 3357
*
* Charles 

Olson:
"Love the World -- and stay inside it."

   

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