# Astronomical Investigation to Verify the Calendar Theory of the Nasca Lines
## 3 Astronomical Investigations in the Nasca Project
### Statistical Studies on the Astronomical Alignment of the Geoglyphs
#### 3.3.3 Investigation of the Correlation of Straight Lines with Stars  
For the investigation of the correlation of lines with stars, as a prerequisite, it would be necessary to identify, first, the celestial objects from which it can be assumed that they had a certain importance for the Nasca culture. Since there are no conclusive statements on this, the following procedure was chosen. The selection of stars to be examined was arbitrarily limited to 7 stars with a magnitude of less than 2. Sirius as the brightest star in the sky and Rigel as an important star in [PERSON]'s investigations were deliberately included. The other five (Achemar, Alkaid, Antares, Gacrux, Murzim) were chosen at random. In addition to the brightness, the movement of the stars must also be considered. All stars move through space, although their distances from Earth are too great for the human eye to perceive their movements. Hence, the stars were once called \"fixed stars\" because they seemed to remain stationary in relation to one another; therefore, the stellar constellations remain nearly unchanged. However, today, we know that the constellations change their shape, albeit very slowly, because each star has an independent proper motion. These proper motions are essential parts of all well-known star catalogs such as the Fundamental Catalog 5 (FK5) and they are measured in an instantaneous coordinate system. Another aspect to consider is the precession of the Earth. The rotation axis of the Earth describes, over a period of approximately 26,000 years, a small circle among the stars, centered on the ecliptic north pole and with an angular radius of about 23.5 degrees, an angle known as the obliquity of the ecliptic (see Figure 14). Figure 14: Precession–a gravity-induced, slow and continuous change in the orientation of the Earth’s rotational axis in a cycle of approximately 26,000 years. As a result, the equatorial coordinates \(\alpha\) and \(\delta\) (compare Figure 4a) of the stars must change with time (period of 26,000 years). For astronomical observations, the azimuth of the celestial bodies will change within the 1000 years of the Nasca time as shown in Table 3.  
The changes in the azimuth are between 23 arcminutes and 7.4 degrees. Regardless of the length and nature of the lines, the following hits resulted (Figure 15):  
One result is, for the moment, very surprising. The brightest star on the firmament (Sirius) has the fewest hits. However, the comparison with Table 3 shows that the number of hits is directly dependent on the extent of the azimuth changes. Therefore, there does not seem to be a statistically relevant number of correlations between the straight lines and the stars. In addition, there is no accumulation of hits in a certain time interval. The hits found are distributed over the entire Nasca period. Therefore, the purely geometric calculations show a rather negative result for the straight lines with regard to the calendar theory. However, the most important unknown, the atmospheric conditions during the Nasca period, can significantly change the result. First of all, the refraction should be mentioned here; the correction can reach approximately 35 arc minutes near the horizon. This applies equally to the Sun and the stars. For a very precise investigation, the refraction has to be studied and determined by long-term observations at the Pampa of Nasca. The extinction of the stars is even more problematic. In the Earth's atmosphere, it depends on the location, the wavelength and the elevation angle. If a star or another celestial body is close to the horizon, the path through the atmosphere is longer and the light attenuation is greater. The atmospheric extinction increases with the zenith distance. When stars disappear on the horizon mainly depends on the state of the atmosphere at the time of observation, but this is completely unknown [25].