Light Tricks

The other day I was in the yard when the sun was shining in just the right angle that the light was playing tricks on the edge of the chimney making It look like a well, like a certain pyramid in Mexico. Granted it was not the summer equinox but hey , we got special light tricks too and we don’t even charge the tourists.

… “ the El Castillo pyramid, Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico, played the role, among other things, of marking the spring equinox in a public and dramatic fashion. To the left is a picture of El Castillo at the time of the spring equinox. The shadows trace out an immense snake slithering down the side of the pyramid (this happens only on this special day). Such dramatic demonstrations had more to do with impressing the public with the power of the priests than low-budget astronomy, but they did require accurate observations and major efforts to understand them”…

I am pretty sure that when they built my house astronomy was not the first thing they were thinking about but the effect seems about the same to me. * Click on the photo for the close up*