An Archaeoastronomy Technique

This is a technique I developed in 1997 for analyzing possible astronomical alignments at ancient sites. During this time I was involved in archaeoastronomy and visited several ancient sites. I developed this technique to aid in data collection. It used a 3D modeling program, advanced for the time but by today's standard quite primitive. It was the beginning of using photos, digital techniques and planetarium type programs to reconstruct ancient sites and analyze them with great precision. Dr. Carolyn Sumner of the Houston Museum of Natural History in Texas was the only other person using a similar technique. We presented a paper at a AAS meeting. This video clip is from my Introduction to Archaeoastronomy CD available directly from me for a modest fee..

Rainbows are Polarized

Using your polarized sunglasses as an polaroid analyzer, you can easily see that a rainbow is polarized. Scattered electromagnetic radiation is polarized. Using a lens from your sunglasses can reveal a wealth of information about a property of light. Next time you see a rainbow and you happen to have your polarized sunglasses with you, look through one lens at the rainbow and rotate it 90 degrees and you will see the rainbow "disappear"!