h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you stick four standing stones into the ground at random, then you have created six different alignments, where two of the stones are lined up in a particular direction. If you add a fifth stone, you have ten alignments, and with a sixth stone, there are 16. By the time you have 20 stones, there are 190 different alignments, which means basically that everything on the horizon is lined up with some pair of stones.

So it is very easy to suppose that an alignment of stones in Stonehenge with an astronomical event such as the rising of the sun at the equinox is done by design whereas in fact it may be completely accidental.

Some of the astronomical alignments of Stonehenge are genuine: the alignment of the heel stone with the rising/setting sun seems to be by design.

Hi Gnomon, I'm putting together an entry on Stonehenge with Jimster's permission and I'd like to include your words above. Is it alright to add you as contributing researcher?

A2523188

Yes, you can add me in if you want.