Two other interesting aspects of the Roundway crop picture: the “orrery” and its relation to a “Man in the Moon” from Hackpen Hill on July 9, 2014 

The Roundway crop picture of July 30 was the most interesting and complex of 2014 so far. It showed an overlapping combination of landscape, mathematical and astronomical symbolisms. We have already discussed its “condor pi bird”, “mathematical pi” and “astronomical date” symbolisms. To complete our analysis, we will now add two more distinct symbolisms as described below, thereby bringing to the total to five.

                                                                                                                               
Similarity to an “orrery” 

The Roundway crop picture resembles an Earth-centred mechanical model of our solar system known as an “orrery”. The suggested date for this orrery as drawn in crops seems to be September 9, 2014, but please check this for yourselves, by using a wonderful on-line program that shows geocentric planetary locations (see www.theplanetstoday.com). Just click on the arrow provided at upper right, on the website linked, to watch eight planets, the Moon and Sun move around Earth as we go into the future, while comparing with the Roundway crop picture as described below. Which date do you think it most accurately describes?  

A long line and its associated circle, emerging towards lower right from the centre of this crop picture, seem not to represent a “planet”, but rather a “crank handle” which turns the model:  

Any medieval orrery included seven bright sky objects (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). This modern “crop orrery” seems to include ten sky objects, where faint Uranus, Neptune and Pluto have been added to the list.  

Saturn has been drawn naturally in the crop picture with “rings” as shown at upper left (in imitation of Hod Hill on June 1, 2014).  Jupiter has been drawn as a “large spiral” on the right, which resembles its banded gas clouds. The Sun, Mercury and Venus have been grouped together at centre right into the shape of a Greek letter “pi”. Mars lies along a line parallel to ringed Saturn above. Pluto as “number one” lies far away on the left. Ringed Uranus, Neptune and our Moon make up another group of three sky objects at lower left.  

Only Saturn and Uranus in our solar system have prominent ring systems, and only Jupiter has banded gas belts, so we can be fairly sure about the planetary identities of those three crop symbols, then work out the rest. For any orrery, Saturn and Jupiter should be the largest objects as shown. Neptune and Pluto hardly move over time, so given the known locations of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus for August 2014, and by comparison with a sky map (see below), we can say confidently that Pluto has been represented in the crop picture by a small trapezoidal shape at centre left, while Neptune is the small circle at lower left between Pluto and ringed Uranus.  

Thus we are left with only five sky objects which move significantly over months of time: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Mars and our Moon. By comparison with a sky map for August 2014 (see www.theplanetstoday.com), Mars is clearly the small circle at upper left, in line with ringed Saturn. Likewise our Sun lies within the large “pi” symbol at upper right, flanked by two other small planets Mercury and Venus. The final fast-moving sky object, our Moon, is represented by a thin crescent which lies below between Neptune and ringed Uranus (in imitation of Badbury Rings from June 17, 2014).  

So on the indicated date for this “orrery”, our Moon should have a Right Ascension between that of Uranus and Neptune. We are therefore led to study certain dates over intervals of one lunar month: namely August 10, September 9 or October 8 (two of which are “super full moons” as drawn in crops at Hackpen Hill on July 8, see www.ibtimes.com). Only on September 9 do the other fast-moving sky objects Sun, Mercury, Venus and Mars seem to match the new Roundway crop picture well.  

What might happen on that day? Certainly there will be a bright “super full Moon”! Also according to these artistic and metaphorical crop pictures, a “Man in the Moon” may be astonished to see a “bright spiral” in the night sky near Jupiter, while a “condor pi bird” will fly through Earth’s skies! Could this be Quetzalcoatl, the legendary “bird-serpent” from ancient central America, making fun of his expected activities on that day, which is now only one month off?  

Similarity to “Man in the Moon” 

Indeed, a small symbol for Earth’s Moon in this crop orrery (located between ringed Uranus and Neptune on the diagram below at right) seems to recapitulate the “lunar crescent”, “eye” and “spiral” symbols which were drawn in crops near Hackpen Hill on July 9, 2014 (see wiltshire2). 

These two crop pictures seem to fit together well. So the unknown “spiral” astronomical event, which was suggested at Hackpen Hill on July 9, may take place when the indicated date of September 9 this crop orrery is reached.  

Other interesting observations of Roundway on July 30, 2014  

We can also see, by direct comparison to aerial photographs of the July 30 crop picture (see roundway), that the Roundway White Horse, the new crop picture and a nearby round knoll create a “triangular shape” in the landscape, which resembles a Sun-Mercury-Venus “triangle” in Earth’s sky on September 9, 2014.  

The Jupiter-Earth-Saturn angle as drawn in crops is about 135^o, or slightly larger than 110^o as seen in Earth’s sky on that day, but the “spiral” shape as drawn for Jupiter appears quite wide. 

Finally we can see nearby in the landscape (just to the east) a similar image which looks like the crop picture, and like a geocentric view of our solar system:  

Overall summary of Roundway from July 30, 2014 

To summarize, the amazing new crop picture at Roundway on July 30 features a variety of complex overlaid codes. Basically it shows a “condor bird” with “pi” written on its side (like for the flag-marking of an airplane) flying in the air, and squawking “pi! pi!” from its open beak, just as a crow might squawk “caw! caw!”. The intended joke here is that a bird’s squawk may be compared to the “squawk code” of a flying aircraft.  

Below its “open beak” near the Roundway White Horse, we can see a geocentric model for our solar system (or “orrery”) which seems to read September 9, 2014 (although this is not certain), and also shows a clever code for pi = 3.141592654 as drawn in crops at Barbury Castle on June 1, 2008. We can also see a “Man in the Moon” looking up in amazement at a great “night sky spiral” near Jupiter.  

Whatever happens on September 9, which will be a super-full Moon, I would argue that the Roundway crop picture deserves to be considered as one of the greatest artistic masterpieces of the 21^st century, even though we still have a long way to go.  

Red Collie (Dr. Horace R. Drew) 

P.S. Vaya con dios, our old friend, 192 nations on Earth will watch in amazement.