Using Stellarium in Educating the Young Generation on Ancient Lanna Astronomy

Abstract

The orientation of the ancient Lanna religious buildings was related to the calendar system. It included designing and using traditional Lanna style Architecture, houses, temples, and city planning to observe times and positions of the Sun, the Moon, and stars for timekeeping, intercalation, and regularly checking the season to prescribe calendar for agriculture or accurate rice-planting time. This knowledge was transferred to the young generation and embedded in the curriculum in the Religious Place Module, SCiUS CMU. One of the astronomy wisdoms called the “13-dark moon impending 13-full moon” (13DMFM) phenomenon involved using the temple and the celestial stars for synchronizing the lunar calendar with the solar calendar or seasonality so that rice could be planted according to the rainy season. This was selected as the case study in this paper. The Stellarium Software, a helpful tool for education through archaeoastronomy, is used to simulate a celestial sphere and visualizing the astronomical phenomenon. It helps young learners to unveil the ancient Lanna’s astronomical knowledge in predicting an Adhikamas year (leap month-year).