GB2137779A - Improvements in Astrological Calendars - Google Patents

Abstract

A calendar provides information relating the positions of sun, moon and other planets to the Gregorian calendar. The calendar has a marker 4 on which is a flat projection of the celestial sphere. A heavenly bodies position chart is movable relative the marker and is marked with the relative positions 30a-36a of the heavenly bodies and the calendar date 41. The relative positions of the heavenly bodies on any particular day are given by an indicator means 24 which exposes the relative positions on a given date. An indicator 54 is provided having time scales corresponding to the local time of the observer to allow the corresponding local hour angle of a celestial body to be read from the indicator. Since the projection of the celestial sphere becomes more and more inaccurate as the observer becomes more remote from the equator, an adjustment for this is preferably provided. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Improvements in Astrological Calendars This invention relates to an astrological calendar that is to say a calendar which can provide information relating to the positions of the sun, moon and planets which may be of use to astrologers and which relates astrological phenomena to the Gregorian calendar that is to say a conventional day, month and year calendar.

When astrologers are consulted for an opinion they are involved in a long and complicated procedure in plotting the predicted positions of the sun, moon and planets, hereinafter called "heavenly bodies" for convenience, relative the earth and they need to be expert in this to know and understand the relative positions of the heavenly bodies in space. For the average man, however, this is something beyond his normal capabilities and so if he wishes to know where the heavenly bodies are in relation to the earth at any particular moment, he would find difficulty in knowing where to look except of course that it will be obvious to him where the sun is during the day time and where the moon is during the night time if it is above the horizon. The same however is simply not true for most of the planets.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an astrological calendar which can give this information on a daily basis in a simple form which can readily be understood by the layman.

According to the invention there is provided an astrological calendar comprising a marker preferably carrying a flat projection of the celestial sphere, a heavenly bodies position chart being movable relative the substrate past that projection and having marked thereon the positions of the heavenly bodies relative one another and the calendar date, indicator means on the marker corresponding to the ecliptic relating the daily positions of the heavenly bodies with the date and with the projection of the celestial sphere so that the relative positions of the heavenly bodies on any particular day to one another and to the projection of the celestial sphere are given by the indicator means, and an indicator to give the local hour angle movable relative the substrate, the indicator having time scales corresponding to the local time of the observer and user of the calendar and the local hour angle so that when the indicator is brought so that the local time on the time scale corresponds to the position of the sun shown by the indicator means on the chart, the corresponding local hour angle of a celestial body can be read from the indicator.

Such a calendar affords a relatively simple way of allowing a layman to determine the relative positions of the heavenly bodies as seen from the earth at any particular time. This can be educational and can be used to provide simple astrological information relating to the aspects, that is to say the angular relationships, between the celestial bodies.

The indicator may have delination means defining above and below horizon regions of the celestial sphere so that when the indicator is brought so that local time on the time scale corresponds to the position of the sun shown by the indicator means on the chart, the delination means show those regions of the projection of the celestial sphere which are visible above and below the horizon at that time.

According to one embodiment of the invention the movable indicator is additionally marked with a scale which provide the user with information as to the phase of the moon and/or the theoretical time of the tide since these items bear a strict relationship with the relative orientations of the sun and the moon and that relative orientation can be determined from the relative positions of the sun and moon given for that day by the indicator means in relation to the projection of this celestial sphere. Further the phase of the moon is really only an example of aspect between two heavenly bodies. Therefore instead of or in addition to the scale of the phase of the moon, the indicator can have a scale corresponding to the aspects of the heavenly bodies, this scale having divisions corresponding to a total of 3600 covering the whole width of the projection.In this way, the aspects between two heavenly bodies can be determined on any day by aligning the centre of that scale with one body as shown by the indicator means against the projection and noting the angle of the other body again as shown by the indicator means against the projection.

The markings on the chart could be in the form of contrasting coloured lines, small lengths of which are delineated by the indicator means or alternatively could be a line of small circles, e.g.

each colour coded to correspond to one of the heavenly bodies. Also these circles could be of a size corresponding to the brightness of the body on that day and, in the particular case of the moon, the circles could be marked to correspond to the phases of the moon, e.g. new, full and old.

According to one simple embodiment of the invention the chart is divided into groups of days, e.g. corresponding to one month, and each group is provided on one page of a book or the like. The marker can then be placed on each page in turn as required and moved over that page. In such a case the marker should have a flange or other projection at its side edge to engage the edge of the page and act as a guide as the marker is moved over a page. According to this embodiment the indicator could be a transparent member which is laid over the marker and page when required and reading of the local hour angle obtained corresponding to scales marked on the transparent member.

The calendar described above will provide an indication of that part of the celestial sphere which is visible to an observer provided he is located at the equator. In such a case the local time scale is divided across the movable indicator into divisions corresponding to 24 hours and the delineation means are marked at the 600 hours and 1 800 hours position. The areas of the celestial sphere delineated as above and below horizon become less accurate as the observer becomes more remote from the equator and so if the calendar according to invention is to be used over the whole world and not just in the equatorial regions, a further adjustment needs to be provided.

It is preferred that the marker carries the flat projection of the celestial sphere since the position of a heavenly body as given by the indicator means relative that projection gives a rough guide as to the position of that body in the celestial sphere as viewed from earth at that time.

This indication, however, will become more and more inaccurate as the observer is more and more remote from the equator and so the adjustment noted above is desirable.

According to a preferred embodiment this adjustment comprises a pair of superimposed relatively rotatable discs, the upper of which is transparent, the lower disc being marked with the local hour angle and declination graduations, and the upper disc being marked with actual bearing and altitude, and the movable indicator is marked with local hour angles and means are provided for adjusting the angle of the discs relative one another to correspond to the latitude of the observer, whereby the declination is noted from the indicator means relative the projection of a celestial body and the local hour angle is noted from the movable indicator and at the desired relative orientation of the discs for the latitude of the observer the bearing and altitude of that celestial body are those superimposed over the point corresponding in the other disc to the local hour angle and declination.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of one example of astrological calendar; Figure 2 is a diagram taken from the side showing the way in which the chart can be supported and adjusted; Figures 3 and 4 are diagrams showing the discs whose relative adjustment can be used to determine the position of a celestial body in the sky at any chose latitude; Figure 5 is a plan of part of the movable chart; Figure 6 is a view of the parts of another astrological calendar; Figure 7 is a plan view of one part of this calendar; Figure 8 is a plan view of another part of this calendar; and Figure 9 is a plan of one typical page from the calendar.

The astrological calendar 10 according to the invention is shown complete in Figure 1. It comprises a stationary substrate 12 on which is marked a projection 14 of the celestial sphere.

Movable behind and past this projection is a heavenly body chart 1 6 whilst movable transversely relative the chart 1 6 and along the top edge of the projection 14 is a movable endless band 20.

The projection 14 of the celestial sphere is a flat projection made for example according to the Mercator method or, in other words, the scale along the bottom of the projection is a linear scale corresponding to the hour angle of a star or other celestial body and the upright scale along the side for the declination is proportional to the hour angle times the secant (sec) of the declination. As will be seen along the lower side of the projection is marked the hour angle in equal divisions up to 360C and the signs of the zodiac corresponding to those hour angles are noted as well. Up the side of the projection is given the declination scale in degrees up to 80 north and 80 south. Because the exaggeration of scale at the poles is infinite, the maximum declination is about 75 .

The projection 14 shows the major stars and constallations which can be regarded as substantially stationary in space relative the earth because of the immense distance between them and the earth. It is obviously impractical to show more than a limited number of such stars and to show the major constallations.

A thin curved strip-like opening 24 is provided through the projection 14. This is in the form of a smoothly undulating curve which makes one complete undulation across the width of the projection, that curve corresponding to the ecliptic, that is to say the great circle of the celestial sphere which is the apparent path of the sun amongst the stars during a year. The maximum declination of this corresponds to the angle at which the planets in our own solar system orbit relative the celestial sphere. Since the orbit of the planets in our solar system lay approximately in a plane this slit-like opening can be used to give the relative aspects of the various planets.The moon however does orbit at an angle of about 5 8' to this plane but this difference is small and any resulting slight accuracies in the moon positions as a result of this are acceptable for general observations by an amateur.

The chart 1 6 is movable up and down relative the projection and as best shown in Figure 5 the chart carries lines corresponding to the heavenly bodies. Thus, for example, the line 30 corresponds to the moon, the line 32 to the sun, the line 34 to Venus, the line 36 to Mercury, and so on. To distinguish between these it is convenient that each line have different colour and then below the region 14 on the stationary substrate the colours, names and symbols for the appropriate heavenly bodies are given in the region 38 in the form of a key.

The shape and position of the lines 30 to 36 and so on for any day can be caiculated from astronomic Almanac tables and are related to the day and date provided in column 40 alongside these lines so that when a particular day and date is seen through an opening 41 in the substrate alongside the equator of the projection 14 the portion 30ato 36a, respectively, of each of the lines 30 to 36 and so on visible through the opening 24 corresponds to the actual positions of those heavenly bodies in the sky on that day.

According to one preferred feature the actual relative brightness of each of these heavenly bodies is shown in an approximate way by the thickness of the various lines. Thus the line 32 for the sun will be the thickest line, the moon will be the next thickest and Venus the next whilst the other planets, e.g. Mercury, which are much less bright can be shown as very thin lines e.g. the line 36. It will not be possible for the thickness of the lines to be directly proportional to brightness.

Also, of course, the thickness of the line can vary so illustrating the change in the brightness of, for example, the moon during its phases.

Alongside the opening 41 is provided another opening 42. Through this opening 42 can be seen anything written in a column 44 of the chart and the particular information which could be given in that column could relate to special astronomical events corresponding to the day.

Because the chart 16 will need to be relatively long to cover say a whole year it is desirable that it be provided between two rollers 50 and 52 for convenience of moving it according to the actual day. In this way a chart corresponding to at least one year can be provided quite easily and then for the next and subsequent years new rolls providing new charts for those particular years purchased.

Suitable operating handles (not shown) for moving the rollers 50 and 52 are provided.

The endless band is in the form of a loop and so only half of it is shown and the other half extending behind the part shown in Figure 1. The band is however movable so as to make any part of the band visible. It is provided with a number of scales.

First of all adjacent its lower edge is provided a time scale 54 divided into 24 hourly divisions. The scale is of such a size that a total period of 24 hours corresponds to the width of the projection 14. To take up the complete length of the band the time scale is in fact duplicated so that there are two identical periods of 24 hours marked.

As can be seen a bold upright marking 56 is provided across the width of the band corresponding to a 12 noon time and other marks 58 and 60 corresponding to the rising and setting of a heavenly body are provided at 0600 hours and 1800 hours. Above the time scale is provided another set of markings 62 relating to above horizon and below horizon. Thus the period between 600 hours and 1 800 hours and including 1200 hours corresponds to an above horizon position and the remaining periods from 1800 hours to 600 hours including 2400 hours corresponding to a below horizon position.

In order to determine what part of the celestial sphere and which heavenly bodies are visible at any time the endless band is moved transversely so as to align the local time at that moment so that the local time corresponds to the position of the sun. Taking for example what is shown in Figure 1 the point 32a corresponds to the position of the sun as of this particular day which is visible through the opening 24. Therefore the endless band 20 is shown adjusted to a time of about 081 5 as shown by the broken line 64. Therefore at that time on that day one can say that if an observer is standing on the equator or near the equator he will be able to see that part of the celestial sphere defined between the broken lines 66 and 68 corresponding to the rising and setting marks on the endless band.By way of example, therefore, the sun, venus and mercury, should be visible whilst the moon will not be visible since it will be below the horizon.

Further the relative positions of the heavenly bodies in the sky at that moment are given by the relative positions of the points 30a, 32a etc. of the lines 30, 32, etc. visible through the slit.

Therefore, for example, one can use further scales 70, 72, 74 and 76 on the endless band to give the aspects of planets.

For example the scale 70 shows various phases of the moon. By adjusting the band so that the 1200 hours position corresponds to the sun, it is possible to determine the phase of the moon by projecting the position of the point 30a corresponding to the moon upwardly to the band 20 and reading off directly from the scale 70 the phase of the moon that day.

In a similar manner a high and low water scale 72 is provided above the phase of the moon scale and by continuing the projection upwardly beyond the phase of the moon scale one can read off the theoretical times of high and low water for that day. Of course the actual times of high and low water will differ locally according to geographical conditions.

Finally the endless band 20 carries the scale 74 corresponding to the relative angular orientations or aspects given in degrees and above it the scale 76 marked with astrology aspects. Thus for example the symbol indicates a conjunction at 0 whilst the symbol corresponds to opposition or 1 80C. In order to find the aspect of the two heavenly bodies on any particular day the endless band 20 is moved so as to align the 1200 hours line 56 with one of the two heavenly bodies and a position of the other heavenly body seen through the opening 24 is projected upwardly onto the endless band and read from the scales 74 and 76.

Along the bottom of the band 20 is provided a scale 75 to give the local hour angles for use as will be described below.

A further advantage however of the invention is that a layman in astrological matters is given something of a visual feel to the aspects.

Referring to Figure 5 for example one can see that there is a conjunction between the moon, venus and another planet at the point 80 where the lines 30, 34 and another line corresponding to that planet cross and at the appropriate day this conjunction or superimposition of the three lines will be visible through the opening 24. Further in relation to the sun and moon the positions of the points 32a and 30a give an idea as to whether there will be an eclipse.

The lines 66 and 68 projected down from the marks 58 and 60 only give an accurate indication of the region of the celestial sphere visible above the horizon if the observer is at or near the equator. If he is not, then it is necessary in order to know whether a particular celestial body will be visible to use an adjustment device 82 at the bottom of the substrate 1 2. This device 82 comprises a stationary transparent region 84 on the substrate through which a rotatable disc 86 is visible, suitable means being provided for the rotation of that disc 86 such as allowing an edge of it to project beyond the lower end of the substrate 12.

Reference will now be made to Figures 3 and 4 which respectively show the disc 86 on its own and the markings on the transparent region 84 on its own. The transparent region is marked with a horizontal horizon line 88 and above and below this line are parallel altitude lines 90 corresponding to every 100 up to 900 north and 900 south. In addition, the horizon line 88 is provided with a scale corresponding to bearings of O to 1800 across the top and 180 to 3600 in reverse order along the bottom of the line.

The disc 86 is provided with two sets of markings forming grid. First of all it has horizontal parallel lines 92 corresponding to declination. The spacing of these lines decreases from the equator to the poles of the disc and the lines correspond to declination angles of a scale drawn around the edgesmf the disc so that the periphery of the disc is divided into 3600. In addition to this, the disc is provided with longitude lines 94 corresponding to the local hour angles and these all coincide at the poles. The scale of these local hour angles is marked on either side of the central line 92 in degrees from 0 to 180 above that line and 180 to 360 below it.

It will be seen that the spaces between the graduations near the centre of the disc are greater so that corrections of time for sunrise and sunset can be found more easily.

When a person wishes to know whether a particular heavenly body is above or below the horizon, he first of all rotates the disc 86 relative the substrate so as to bring the horizon line 88 level with the longitude where he is standing. In the example shown in Figure 1 the discs are adjusted for a latitude of about 230 north. Then the user of the calendar refers to the projection 14 and for example may wish to know whether Venus is visible. He can see from the point 34a that the declination of Venus is about 200 south read from the scale along the right-hand edge of the projection and that the local hour angle is about 900 read from the scale 75 on the band 20, the band being adjusted in the angle shown for about 0815.He locates the corresponding point on the disc 86 given by that declination of 200 south and local hour angle of 900 and this gives him the point 96 marked on Figure 1. He can then very quickly see that that point 86 is just below the horizon line 88 and so he could not expect to see Venus from the latitude on which he was standing. On the other hand, of course, it can be appreciated that if he had been standing say at a latitude of about 1 50 north Venus would have been more or less on the horizon and so would be visible from any point below about 1 50 north at that longitude.

As another example, the user may wish to know whether Mercury is visible. From the projection 14 he can see that the point 36a corresponding to Mercury shows that the declination is about 200 north and the local hour angle is about 3200. He can then locate the corresponding point marked 98 and can see that for his latitude Mercury ought to be visible since it is above the horizon line 88 and that it should be visible on a bearing of 900 at an altitude of about 500.

It should be noted that the markings on the transparent area 84 and on the disc 86 assume that one is looking towards the observer at the middle of the horizon from a west to east direction. Therefore, the hour angles 180 to 3600 and bearings 0 to 1800 are used when the celestial body is rising, e.g. the point 36a is in the rising part of the scale 54 on the band 20, whilst the hour angles 360 to 1800 and bearings 180 to 0 are used when the body is setting.

Many people in the world simply still do not understand how it is that the earth and other planets move around the sun and where the earth is in relation to the sun at any particular time in the year. To help give people a feeling for this and to illustrate the relationship of this movement to the astrological signs of the zodiac the device 100 is provided. This comprises a transparent disc 102 rotatably mounted in front of the substrate 12 on which is marked a scale 103.

The disc is rotatably mounted at its centre 104 at about a point which corresponds to the sun.

The earth is indicated on the disc by the dot 106 and an arrow 108 extends from the earth through the sun to the edge of the disc so pointing to the scale 1 03. The latter is marked on the substrate around the edge of the disc and is divided into the twelve astrological signs of the zodiac and additionally the Gregorian dates which mark the change from one zodiac sign to the adjacent sign.

Therefore, if the user of the calendar wishes to know for example the relationship of the sun to the earth at say the beginning of June which is in the Gemini period the arrow is aligned as shown.

The substrate is also marked with a number of concentric circles 110 each of which corresponds to an orbit of one of the planets. They are theoretical orbits since for convenience these orbits are shown in circles although in practice they are orbits which are elliptical. For example the circle 11 Oa represents the orbit of the earth around the sun. These lines do show a layman the relative position of the earth in the planets of our solar system and can be marked with other interesting information such as distance of the various planets from the sun.

The calendar 10 is very simple to understand and to use and can additionally be used as a conventional Gregorian calendar. by advancing the chart 14 day by day. In addition, it is not necessary for the user to haves good knowledge of astronomy or astrology to operate it and he.can learn more about these matters by using the calendar.

As far as amateur astrologers are concerned, the calendar gives in a very quick and simple way useful information such as the siderial hour angle.

of all the planets, their aspects and phases of the moon amongst other things without long and involved calculations.

Figures 6 to 9 show an alternative form of calendar 200 according to the invention. The calendar comprises a book 202 whose pages 204 carry sections which are equivalent to the chart 1 6 described in connection with Figures1 to 5. In addition, a movable template 206 is provided which is equivalent to the substrate 12 described above and which is movable over thevadous pages.

On the template 206 is marked a projection of the celestial sphere (see Figure 8) A thin curved Strip-like opening 210 is provided through the template which is entirely analogous to the opening 24 described above. As best shown in Figure 6, thetemplatehas bent down edges 212 which act as guides as the template is moved over a page.

By dividing the chart into a number of pages this makes the calendar far more simple to produce and to use but basically the markings on the pages are determined and positioned in an exactly analogous manner to that described above in connection with the chart. Also the movement of the template 206 over this chart provides the same information and readings which are dealt with in the same way for determining the aspects of the various planets on a particular day.

An additional advantage of providing this chart in the form of pages of a book, e.g. one page per month, is that the pages can be clearly headed with the month, e.g. at the point 214 (see Figure 8) and alongside the edges of the pages, the dates of the month can be marked in a column 21 6 to facilitate the use of the calendar. Thus, for any particular day, the 0-0 position of the template 206 (see Figure 8) is aligned with the day in the column 216.

Further the production cost for a book can be relatively low and in addition a full description as to how to use the calendar can be included in further pages of the book.

One further advantage is that since the template 206 covers the whole width of each page 204, a user can rapidly gain an impression of the relative movements in that month of the various heavenly bodies by moving the template 206 quickly across the page and watching through the slot 210 the relative movements of the various heavenly bodies.

It has been explained above how one can distinguish between various heavenly bodies by providing coloured lines 30 to 36. As an alternative however in this embodiment or in the embodiment described above, the lines could be replaced by a line of small coloured circles as shown in Figure 8 and positioned so that one from each line is visible through the slot 210 for each respective day. In respect of the line of circles 220 for the moon, those circles could be shown in a format corresponding to the daily phases of the moon, e.g. new, full.and old, and in respect of other heavenly bodies the size of the dots could correspond to the brightness for that day of the heavenly body. This provides a simple and quick way of determining this and in particular the phases of the moon and avoids the necessity for the scale 70.

In order to determine the local hour angle of any heavenly body, the template 230 is provided.

This is transparent and is marked with one scale 232 corresponding to local time and another scale 234 corresponding to local hour angie, the corresponding values of the two. scales being by definition 12 hours different from one another.

'This template 230 is placed over the template 206 and moved transversely to align the local time at that mdment with the sun's position as read through the slot 210. Then, the local hour angle ofany other body is given by the value read from the local hour angle scale 234 corresponding to the position of that body as seen 'through the slot 210.

It. is desirable that the template 230 be twice as long as shown in Figure 7 so that the scales 232 and 234 have an extra 12 hours of divisions at either end. This ensures that a direct reading of the angle can be given for every possible position of the heavenly body.

In order to determine the position in the sky of any heavenly body, including whether the body is above or below the horizon, the local hour angle is obtained from the template 230 and the declination from the template 206 and these values are used with a device 82 as described above in connection with Figures 3 and 4 and so reference is made to those figures for a full description of the procedure.

Claims (12)

1. An astrological calendar comprising a marker, a heavenly bodies position chart movable relative the marker and having marked thereon the positions of the heavenly bodies relative one another and the calendar date, indicator means on the marker corresponding to the ecliptic relating the daily positions of the heavenly bodies with the date so that the relative positions of the heavenly bodies on any particular day to one another are given by the indicator means, and an indicator to give the local hour angle movable relative the substrate, the indicator having time scales corresponding to the local time of the observer and user of the calendar and the local hour angle so that when the indicator is brought so that the local time on the time scale corresponds to the position of the sun shown by the indicator means on the chart, the corresponding local hour angle of a celestial body can be read from the indicator.

2. A calendar as claimed in Claim 1 in which the marker carries a flat projection of the celestial sphere.

3. A calendar as claimed in Claim 2 in which the indicator has delineation means defining above and below horizon regions of the celestial sphere so that when the indicator is brought so that local time on the time scale corresponds to the position of the sun shown by the indicator means on the chart, the delination means show those regions of the projection of the celestial sphere which are visible above and below the horizon at that time.

4. A calendar as claimed in any preceding in which the movable indicator is additionally marked with a scale which provides the user with information as to the phase of the moon and/or the theoretical time of the tide.

5. A calendar as claimed in any preceding claim in which the indicator has a scale corresponding to the aspects of the heavenly bodies.

6. A calendar as claimed in any preceding claim in which the markings on the chart are in the form of contrasting coloured lines, small lengths of which are delineated by the indicator means.

7. A calendar as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5 in which the markings on the chart are in the form of a line of small circles each colour coded to correspond to one of the heavenly bodies.

8. A calendar as claimed in Claim 7 in which these circles are of a size corresponding to the brightness of the body on that day and, in the particular case of the moon, the circles are marked to correspond to the phases-of the moon.

9. A calendar as claimed in any preceding claim.in which the chart is divided into groups of days such as a calendar month and each group is provided on one page of a book.

10. A calendar as claimed in Claim 9 in which the marker has a projection at its side edge to engage the edge of the page and act as a guide as the marker is moved over a page and in which the indicator is a transparent member which is laid over the marker and page when required and reading of the local hour angle obtained corresponding to scales marked on the transparent member.

11. A calendar as claimed in any preceding claim which is to be used other than at or near the equator and which additionally has an adjustment for this comprising a pair of superimposed relatively rotatable discs, the upper of which is transparent, the lower disc being marked with the local hour angle and declination graduations, and the upper disc being marked with actual bearing and altitude, and the movable indicator is marked with local hour angles and means aare provided for adjusting the angel of the discs relative one another to correspond to the latitude of the observer, whereby the declination is noted from the indicator means relative the projection of a celestial body and the local hour angle is ndted from the movable indicator and at the desired relative orieritation of the discs for the latitude of the observer the bearing and altifude of that celestial body are those superimposed over the point corresponding in the other disc to the local hour angle and declination.

12. An astrological calendar substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 5, or to Figures 6 to 9, of the accompanying drawings.