Layout and Location - The Stones and the Stars: Building Scotland's Newest Megalith - page 121

of Proper Motion was shown correctly to the right and down, as
seen by a northern hemisphere observer. We supposed that there
was a printing error in Les Étoiles and a correction duly appeared
in the July 1973 issue of Spaceflight . Unfortunately Flammarion
was right the first time: the direction is southwest because it is
towards the western horizon.
At the time the Miner's Dial was made it would also have
been correct for the situation on the Moon. Historically Moon
maps were drawn with south at the top, as it appears in a refract-
ing telescope from Earth's northern hemisphere. But to tally with
star maps, they showed west on the left and east on the right. Thus
on the Moon the Sun rose in the west, though the Moon rotates in
the same direction as Earth does. At the time of Project Apollo the
practice was discontinued because it might lead to dangerous con-
fusion. But the Miner's Dial wouldn't work on the Moon anyway,
since the Moon has no intrinsic magnetic field.
If Moon maps, Miner's Dials, etc., survive into the future, ori-
gins forgotten, a latter-day Velikovsky or von Däniken may argue
that Earth and the Moon “must” have turned the other way. If some
latter-day Thom from an engineering background tries to deduce
their true function, what will archaeological critics say about him?
Tom Bradley arranged an official car and driver (it was to be
the last time the astronomy project attained that prestige!). The
weather favored us with high winds and lashing rain, and although
Tom was keen to see how the search turned out, he took his leave
at lunchtime in search of warmth and dry clothes. This was a pity
because the first site visited in the afternoon was to prove the win-
ner and looked it from the start, although in those dreadful condi-
tions I could only guess at the distant skylines. But I could at least
assess the sites in term of near and middle distance views and
obstructions. In fact nearly all 18 spots had some astronomical
possibilities. Just in case anyone ever considers building another
megalith for Glasgow, here is the full list with notes I made at the
time (April 28, 1978):
1. Broomhill Park (now Sighthill Park). Several good sites, with all-
around skylines.
2. Alexandra Park. Summer sunrise, winter sunset only; both framed
by trees.