STARS AND TEMPLES 81 



position, although spinning like a top, and also circling 

 round the sun, duly appear each year at the expected 

 day and minute in the special " window " or aperture 

 designed so as to allow the star then, and then only 

 to shine into the temple. But the astronomers have 

 discovered that the earth is not steady ! It " wobbles " 

 very slowly and regularly as a top wobbles. The position 

 of the axis of rotation corresponding in position to the 

 stem of a top does not remain one and the same, but 

 is pulled aside by the attraction of the sun and moon, 

 and moves round as one may often see in the spinning 

 of a top. The earth takes about 26,000 years for its 

 poles to complete the cycle of its wobble. Moreover, in 

 addition to this, there is the fact that the earth's axis 

 (stem of the top) is not nearly upright, but inclined at 

 a considerable angle (23 deg.) to the horizontal or plane 

 of its orbit round the sun, and that this inclination very 

 slowly changes, in addition to the wobbling movement. 

 The amount and rate of these changes in the 

 inclination of the axis of the earth have been definitely 

 ascertained by astronomers. 



I mention the nature of these movements because 

 they clearly enough must upset altogether the desired 

 result of the orientation of temples. The last- 

 mentioned slow increase of obliquity affects solar temples 

 chiefly, and the more rapid wobbling affects the star 

 temples both to such a degree that temples oriented 

 two or three thousand years ago are now quite out of 

 line, and no longer " catch," so to speak, their particular 

 star or the sun on the appointed day. They no longer 

 point truly, because the " pitch " of the earth has 

 altered since they were set. 



The next point is that astronomers are able to 

 calculate with surprising accuracy from other obser- 

 vations how much exactly at'this moment the "pointing," 

 or "alignment," must be "out" as compared with a 

 thousand, fifteen hundred, two, three, four, or more 



