Northern Minimum Moonrise at the Newark Earthworks!

Newark Earthworks: A Lunar Calendar

Video Courtesy of The Ancient Ohio Trail.

You are invited to see the moon rise in alignment 

with the Newark Octagon Earthworks!

Join us on either of two evenings: 

On Friday, November 27 plan to arrive at the Octagon by 6:15 PM 

and to leave by 7:45 PM; 

On Saturday, November 28 plan to arrive at the Octagon by 7:15 PM 

and to leave by 8:45 PM.

You will be the guests of The Ohio State University's Newark Earthworks Center 

and The Ohio History Connection.

The moon follows an 18.6 year cycle.  The Newark Octagon, built two thousand years ago by American Indians, aligns with eight “standstill points” in the cycle of the moon.

Those who built the Octagon understood that every month the place on the horizon where the moon first rises moves south for roughly 14 nights and then returns again. Further, the distance it moves between the first and 14th night grows greater every month for 9.3 years and then shrinks again until it is the same distance it had been at the beginning.

Multiple exposures show the path of the moonrise above the south wall
of the Octagon State Memorial, Newark Ohio.
 Image was taken at three-minute intervals beginning
at 2:11 am early Monday, September 7, 2015.
Image Courtesy of Timothy E. Black.

These ancient America Indians identified four "standstills" points  where the rising moon seemed to stop going in one direction and began going in the other: the northernmost rising of the moon and the southern-most,  the northern minimum and the southern minimum. They also observed another four times when the setting moon did the same:  the northernmost and southernmost moonset, the northern minimum and southern minimum  moonset.

Although the moon arrives at each of these standstill points only once every 18.6 years, it is very close to each of them on several nights. November 27 and 28 are the last dates on which we are likely to see the northern minimum moonrise for the next 18.6 years.

Be one of few who have experienced this event
 in centuries!

Octagon State Memorial

125 North 33rd Street

Newark, OH 43055

Park in the parking lot and gather at the large sign next to the parking lot and bring a flashlight.

If the weather seems to threaten the event,

Call  740-364-9584 on either of these days for an update.

For more information, 

Visit: 

The Ancient Ohio Trail: Newark Earthworks.