As North America prepares to be dazzled by a"ring of flame " eclipsethis weekend , observers in the Yucatan Peninsula and other parts of southerly Mexico will walk in the footsteps of theancient Maya , who were famed for their astronomical expertness . Among the many celestial events tracked and lionise by the pre - Latino finish were eclipses , several of which are commemorated on Maya repository .
In a recent post by the MexicanNational Institute of Anthropology and History ( INAH ) , archaeoastronomer Ismael Arturo Montero García from the University of Tepeyac explained that “ The Maya , great commentator , had a deep knowledge of ethereal car-mechanic and a high certainty in predicting occultation . ” However , unlike modern astronomers , Maya expert had no scope or other contrivance to assist them in their reckoning , and were ineffectual to record any events that were not seeable from their habitation .
For this reason , Montero García estimates that the Maya were capable of predicting around 55 percent of eclipses – which is still a pretty telling material body deliberate their lack of modern technology . “ How come they were able to prefigure them ? Because there ca n’t be a solar occultation except during a New Moon , and there ca n’t be a lunar eclipse unless it ’s a Full synodic month , ” he explicate .
“ On this basis , a certain stage of prediction can be made , take into account discrepancies which require accommodation , as is demonstrated in theDresden Codex , ” keep Montero García . Dating back to the 11th or 12th centuries , this ancient Maya ms hold a serial of astronomic table that were used totrack the movement of celestial objects .
One of the signs denoting an eclipse can be happen on Thomas Nelson Page 54 of theDresden Codex , and consists of a celestial banding , the Sun , two femurs , and black and blank field that resemble butterfly wing . In the Mayan lyric , such events were referred to as Pa’al K’in , meaning “ broken Sun ” , while the Nahua - speak Aztecs used the condition Tonatiuh qualo , or “ the Sun is eaten ” .
Today , we know that the Sun is neither devoured nor damaged during asolar eclipse , but that it is simply obscured when the New Moon thwart the sheet of the Earth ’s field . This typically occurs every 177 days – a period of time known as an eclipse season .
Within theDresden Codexare table and almanac divided into intervals of 177 and 148 days , which are consort with solar and lunar occultation . The accuracy of these readings helps to clear up the astronomical proficiency of theMaya , who came to translate the cyclical nature of sealed events with an dumbfounding story of detail .
