Skip to main content
Like
Create new Glog
previous
next
Email share
170 views | 0 likes | 0 reposts
Mayan Astronomy
The Mayans had observatories so they could study the sky and stars
The Mayans observatories look like modern observatories
Mayan mathematics is the best mathematical system ever developed by the acient latin americas wich realy helped their astronomy.
They thougth the lunar cycle was 30 days long,
El Caracol
Most of the Maya cities were all facing south meaning that they could observe the sun directly overhead during the time that the sun was passing over their latitude. This happened twice a year, evenly spaced around the day of solstice.
The result was an extremely accurate calendar that predicted the coming of eclipses and the revolutions of Venus to an error of one day in 6,000 years.
The pyramid has special astronomical significance and layout. Each face has a stairway with ninety-one steps, which together with the shared step of the platform at the top add up to 365, the number of days in a year. The stairways divide the nine terraces of each side of the pyramid into eighteen parts, representing the eighteen months of the Mayan calendar. The design of this magnificent pyramid reflects the equinoxes and solstices of our solar year in a excellent combination of light and shadow.
At the spring and fall equinoxes the Sun is observed to cast its rays through small openings in the Mayan observatory,
The Maya believed the Earth was flat with four corners. Each corner represented a cardinal direction. Each direction had a color: east-red; north-white; west-black; south-yellow. Green was the center.
