An Astronomical Analysis of Some of the Diagonal Avenues of Washington
PHILICA, 2016,Article 613 Available at SSRN
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2789700
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
Here we are proposing an astronomical analysis of the directions of some of the diagonal avenues of Washington, made by means of satellite images and a modern ephemeris, the Photographer’s Ephemeris, a well-known software used for planning outdoor photography. Some diagonal streets of Washington seem had been aligned along the northern moonrise azimuth of 1791, the year the engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant started the survey for planning the town for George Washington, and along the southern moonrise azimuths of 1792, the year the surveyor Andrew Ellicott revised the plan. In this manner, in the directions of some diagonal avenues, the engineers that worked on the urban project, introduced a reference to the years of their plans for the Capital of the United States.
Keywords: Astronomy, Satellite Images, Architecture, Modern Ephemerides, Urban Planning
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna
Here we are proposing an astronomical analysis of the directions of some of the diagonal avenues of Washington, made by means of satellite images and a modern ephemeris, the Photographer’s Ephemeris, a well-known software used for planning outdoor photography. Some diagonal streets of Washington seem had been aligned along the northern moonrise azimuth of 1791, the year the engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant started the survey for planning the town for George Washington, and along the southern moonrise azimuths of 1792, the year the surveyor Andrew Ellicott revised the plan. In this manner, in the directions of some diagonal avenues, the engineers that worked on the urban project, introduced a reference to the years of their plans for the Capital of the United States.
Keywords: Astronomy, Satellite Images, Architecture, Modern Ephemerides, Urban Planning
Copy of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (1887).
Detail of Figure 1, with some diagonal avenues of L’Enfant Plan and angles.
A detail of the faint original map of 1791 (https://www.loc.gov/item/88694205/) after a processing of the image.
Google map of Washington.
Snapshot of the Photographer s Ephemeris for Washington on October 3, 2015. The
blue lines are the moonrise and moonset azimuths, the yellow and orange
lines those of sunrise and sunset. Note the coincidence to the diagonal
avenues.
Snapshot of the Photographer s Ephemeris for Washington on October 3, 2015.
Snapshot of the Photographer s Ephemeris for Washington on October 18, 2015.
