Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1 (2016) 83-91
DOI: 10.16943/ijhs/2016/v51i1/48379
1. INTRODUCTION
The importance of the heliacal rising and
setting of heavenly bodies was realized in two
contexts: (i) the inferior planets Mercury and
Venus visible in the eastern and western horizon
respectively as morning star and evening star;
and (ii) the brightest star Sirius (Lubdhaka)
heralding the famous floods in the Nile river in
Egypt annually at its heliacal rising.
The visibility of star Canopus has been
given great importance in Indian astronomical
literature. A heavenly body is said to be heliacally
rising if it rises in the eastern horizon a few minutes
before the sunrise i.e. in the morning twilight.
Similarly, a star or planet is heliacally setting a
few minutes after the sunset i.e. in twilight of dusk.
2. DEFINITIONS
When a star or a planet is close to the Sun,
within the prescribed limit, the concerned
heavenly body is then said to be combustor
* Hon. Director, Gandhi Centre of Science and Human Values, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, #43/1, Race Course Road, Bangalore560 001, India, Email: balachandra1944@gmail.com
**Global Academy of Technology, Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bangalore-560098. Email: shr_rupak@yahoo.co.in
***Professor and Head, Dept. of Mathematics, SJB Institute of Technology, Kengeri, Bangalore-560 060, India
84
3. CANOPUSS
RISING IN
INDIAN
TEXTS
foKk;
85
86
87
0 = sin-1(sin sin 0)
(1)
0 = tan-1(cos tan 0)
(2)
(3)
Here the zenith distance of the Sun is taken
as 97 i.e. altitude 7o below the horizon as a
standard case. However, this value changes
slightly for different stars, depending on their
magnitude. The hour angle from (3), is taken
negative for the heliacal rising in the morning
twilight and positive for the heliacal setting in the
evening twilight. Then the sidereal time (ST) at
the time of the above event is given by
o
S.T. = 0 + H0
(4)
(5)
S + HR (6)
88
Star
Heliacal
set
Heliacal
rise
Latitude Place
Heliacal
set
Heliacal
rise
Citr (Spica)
Avin (Beta Arietis)
Alpha Arietis
Lubdhaka (Sirius)
Rohi (Aldebaran)
Abhijit (Vega)
Revati (Piscium)
Jyeh (Antares)
Alpha Centauri
Brahmahdaya (Capella)
Kratu (Kratu)
Angirasa
Sept 26
Apr 3
Apr 16
Jun 10
May 20
Jan 2
Mar 6
Nov 11
Sept 21
Jun 6
Apr 13
May 1
Oct 26
May 12
May 3
Jul 19
Jun 12
Jun13
May10
Dec 14
Dec 4
Jun 14
Sep 1
Sep 26
804'
130'
2519'
2619'
3406'
June 2
May 25
April 30
April 26
March 26
July 18
July 27
August 20
August 24
September24
Kanyakumari
Bangalore
Varanasi
Jaipur
Srinagar
5. CIRCUMPOLARITY
Stars rise and set heliacally for a given
place on different dates in a year. In between the
heliacal setting and rising dates the star will not
be visible. On the other hand, in between the
heliacal rising and setting the star will be visible
in the sky. In the case of some stars, once it is set
heliacally on some day, for a long period it will
not be visible at all. This period of invisibility can
be for several hundreds or thousands of years,
depending on the declination (), of the star and
the terrestrial latitude of the place. Then, the star
is said to be Circumpolar.
Place
Heliacal Setting
Heliacal Rising
500 AD
Jammu (3243)
Varanasi (2519)
Jaipur (2655)
Cape Comorin (84)
Jammu (3243)
Varanasi (2519)
Jaipur (2655)
Cape Comorin (84)
Jammu (3243)
Varanasi (2519)
Jaipur (2655)
Cape Comorin (84)
March 31
April 22
April 18
May 25
March 27
April 19
April 15
May 22
April 6
April 30
April 25
June 2
Sep. 3
Aug.11
Aug .15
July 10
Sep.1
Aug. 9
Aug. 13
July7
Sep.13
Aug. 20
Aug. 24
July 18
1520 AD
2013 AD
Note: (i) 500 AD was the time of ryabhaa I (born 476 AD); (ii) 1520 AD is the epochal date of Gaea Daivajas
Grahalghava; and (iii) 2013 AD is a modern date.
89
Fig. 1. Evening Sky Picture at Bangalore for 25th May -2014 with Canopus not Visible in Western Sky
Fig. 2. Evening Sky Picture at Bangalore for 22nd May -2014 with Canopus Visible in Western Sky
6. CIRCUMPOLARITY OF A STAR
IN BHASKARAS WORK
A star is said to be circumpolar when
viewed from a particular terrestrial latitude either
90
Modern example
For the year 2013 Agastyas declination is
about 52.71 south.
Therefore, 9052.71 = 37.29. Since we
take into consideration the prescribed
arcusvisionis of the star, Agastya becomes
circumpolar for even latitudes greater than 35 as
mentioned earlier.
It is to be noted that no star is circumpolar
for places on the earths equator. On the other hand
at the north pole or south pole all stars are
circumpolar since one half of the celestial sphere
can never be seen.
Fig. 3. The motion of stars as viewed by a Northern
Hemisphere observer
Duration of
visibility
(years)
2311'
30
33
34
3430'
3445'
3446'
3446.3'
3446.33'
3446.34'
66383
63635
61909
61017
6322
399
542
637
662
689
13,830
8,569
5,165
3,397
2,015
577
291
99
51
0
7447
4934
3256
2380
1693
976
833
736
713
689
Heliacal Rising
6667
6400
950
2012
2034
Heliacal Setting
19 March
16 March
31March
7. CONCLUSION
In this paper we have discussed briefly the
phenomenon of heliacal rising and setting of a star
as also its circumpolarity for a given place. In the
case of star Canopus, we have shown how the star
becomes circumpolar progressively for decreasing
terrestrial latitude, over thousands of years of
91
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