(urth) Crotali

[Jane Delawney]

On 20/06/10 02:02, Mr Thalassocrat wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 20, 2010 at 9:40 AM, Jane Delawney<jane_delawney at sky.com>wrote:
>
>    
>> The only explanation that I can see
>> here is that the poles, the hemispheres themselves, are not arranged as Sev
>> knew them in his original place and time.
>>
>>      
> I just assumed that he has travelled so far back in time that the proper
> motions of the stars had carried them far away from their positions in his
> own day.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_motion
>
>    
Since I haven't been re-reading Wolfe's appendices until after I have 
finished the books themselves, I hadn't until after I posted my query 
about the Crotali read the comment right at the end of TUOTNS:

"... it should be noted that the stars seen in the skies of the 
Commonwealth in winter rise in spring over the Stone Town (presumably 
due to the precession of the equinoxes) ... "

This comment occurs in the discussion of the  apparent 'miracle' of the 
prolongation of night by Apu-Punchau; GW goes on to state that 
Severian's seeing of his accustomed spring stars in the delayed dawn 
supports the theory that the prolongation of the night is no 'miracle' 
but  rather is caused by an eclipse of the sun - eclipsed by Tzadkiel's 
vast ship, we are led to assume. Sev's childhood spring stars are still 
there, but they rise a great deal later than they should for the time 
of  year.

This would appear to make sense astronomically and there's no need to 
invoke a polar flip. However it does beg the question of exactly how far 
the equinoxes would need to precess to produce this effect. I believe a 
full Great Year of equinoctial precession lasts some 26000 solar years 
(is this right?) and this would imply that Apu-Punchau's time  is some 
13500 years before Severian's present at the very least (could be 
several multiples of 26000 plus 13500 of course).

This doesn't have very much to do with proper motion of the stars as 
such of course; however, one might note that there's a hidden 
implication here that Apu-Punchau's era may be on the nearer end of that 
timescale, since proper motion of the stars would definitely affect the 
shape of constellations, and Sev has no hesitation in recognising the 
Crotali and other patterns.

JD