More
astronomical symbols at Etten-Leur on May 24, 2011
A
series of grass circles at Etten-Leur on May 24, 2011 seem again
to show astronomical symbols, but these are not easy to
interpret, except in terms of five other grass pictures which
have appeared in the Netherlands previously (see for example
hoevan2011cl). Four of five previous pictures have seemed to
describe the astronomy of comet C/2011 C1 McNaught, while one
has seemed to describe the astronomy of comet C/2010 X1 Elenin.
In
the new grass picture at Etten-Leur, there seem to be three
distinct sets of symbols. We will analyze each set separately,
according to symbolic relations suggested by the first five.
Part
I seems to show a conjunction between the Moon and Venus
on May 31, 2011, where the shape of the Moon has been distorted
into an “oval” in order to define its path along the ecliptic:
Two
other less bright planets nearby will be Mercury and Mars.
Part
II seems to show an extra astronomical object, possibly a comet,
adding to a line of bright planets around June 3,
2011:
The
three planets may be Venus, Jupiter and Mars in order of
decreasing brightness (or decreasing circle size). The comet
could be C/2011 C1, which will be located near Jupiter on that
day (see
www.aerith.net). Although much simpler in style, this second
grass diagram bears some resemblance to a much larger picture in
field crops at the Sanctuary in southern England on May 28, 2011
(see
Sanctuary).
Part
III is the most informative, and seems to show a schematic
map of our inner solar system for an upcoming date of
July 5, 2011, when comet C/2011 C1 has just passed Mars orbit
(white circular line) on its path away from the Sun:
This
third part clearly defines which comet they are talking about.
One can compare orbital diagrams from NASA (see
ssd.jpl.nasa.gov) with a list of all known comets in Earth’s
sky (see
spacibm.rice.edu) to find that the culprit is probably
C/2011 C1.
A
summary of astronomical symbols within all three parts of the
new grass diagram at Etten-Leur is provided below:
They
seem to be showing us a time series of astronomical events.
First on May 31, the Moon will conjunct in Earth’s sky with
Venus, close to Mercury and Mars. Secondly around June 3, some
comet (perhaps C/2011 C1) will line up in Earth’s sky with three
bright planets in a row, presumably Venus, Mars and Jupiter.
Thirdly on July 5, comet C/2011 C1 will be located in space (not
in Earth’s sky) slightly beyond the orbit of Mars, on its path
away from the Sun.
Why
would they showing us so many images of comet C/2011 C1? It is
currently quite dim near magnitude 10 on May 30. Perhaps it will
“outburst” or get much brighter soon?
Could any or all of these small grass pictures in the
Netherlands be locally human-made? There is certainly the
possibility for fakery, given their small size and low technical
complexity. Yet Robbert van der Broeke, who has found them,
seems to have no idea of their underlying astronomical
symbolisms. Also, the second part of this new grass picture at
Etten-Leur resembles a large picture in field crops at the
Sanctuary in England on May 28. So we will just have to wait and
see, and assess what is happening in the Netherlands several
months from now, when the situation becomes more clear.
Red
Collie
(Dr. Horace R. Drew)
2.jpg)
