Taj Mahal’s Garden is Celestial Aligned with the Solstices

Tweet

Mysteries of the Taj Mahal in India is still being discovered, and one Italian researcher has made an interesting discovery.

The Gardens that grace the grand Taj Mahal’s property have been found by using a gps satellite imaging have uncovered the celestial alignment with the seasons sosltices.(Scroll Down for Video)

The Taj Mahal  “crown of palaces” is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The mausoleum is widely recognized as “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”.

Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a blend combining elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles.

A solstice is an astronomical event that occurs twice each year as the Sun reaches its highest or lowest excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. The solstices, together with the equinoxes, are connected with the seasons. In many cultures the solstices mark either the beginning or the midpoint of winter and summer.

The word solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the seasonal movement of the Sun’s path (as seen from Earth) comes to a stop before reversing direction.

At latitudes in the temperate zone, the summer solstice marks the day when the sun appears highest in the sky. However, in the tropics, the sun appears directly overhead (called the subsolar point) some days (or even months) before the solstice and again after the solstice, which means the subsolar point occurs twice each year.

The term solstice can also be used in a broader sense, as the date (day) when this occurs. The day of the solstice is either the longest day of the year (in summer) or the shortest day of the year (in winter) for any place outside of the tropics.