ASTRONOMY AT ANGKOR

In 1998 Graham Hancock and John Grigsby showed a correlation between the temples around Angkor Thom and the constellation of Draco. The diagram above shows the path of the celestial north pole around the ecliptic north pole, over an illustration of the main temples around Angkor Thom. On the ground, the location of Angkor Thom matches the location of the ecliptic north pole in the sky. West Mebon, East Mebon and Ta Som have the same spatial relationship to Angkor Thom that Deneb, Thuban and Kochab have to the ecliptic north pole.

The movement of the celestial pole is another aspect of the 25,776 year cycle known as the precession of the equinoxes. Because Angkor is in the tropics, the northern stars are low on the northern horizon. In the present era Polaris is close to the celestial north pole. When Draco is in alignment with the Angkor temples, it is below Polaris and below the horizon. During it's nightly rotation around the celestial north pole, when Draco is above Polaris and visible from Angkor, it is upside down in relation to the Angkor temples.

In 11,500 B.C. Vega was the northern polestar and Draco aligned with the Angkor temples above Vega and above the horizon. Vega is the brightest star in the northern sky and it is by far the brightest northern polestar. Canopus is by far the brightest star along the celestial south pole and the second brightest star in the sky, after Sirius. Canopus and Vega were both polestars around the same time, approximately 13,500 years ago.

The illustration above suggests that the area north of Angkor is cleared, as it may have been when the temples were constructed, but today the area is mostly jungle. Satellite images like the one below have been used to locate temples around Angkor. This image shows what appears to be temple ruins to the northeast of Angkor Thom in the correct relative position and distance to represent Polaris.

The illustration above also begins too far north to show Kok Chork. The diagram below shows that Kok Chork is in the correct position to represent Vega.