What is the scoop on ABHIJIT or VEGA ?

By Sunder Rajan

What is the scoop on ABHIJIT or VEGA?:

Traditionally, the Indian Zodiac has 27 stars (Aswini, our own Bharani, Krithika, Rohini etc..) But this was not always so... according to Indian astronomers, the Zodiac had 28 stars...

In the Mahabharata - in the Vana Parva (230:8-11) - there is a conversation between Indra and Skandha. Skandha states that Abhijit (Vega in english) 'fell off the Zodiac path!!!!'  For a long time, this was ridiculed by the 'rationalists' of the day - laughing at the idea that a star can 'fall' :)

We now know that Vega did move away from the Zodiac (moon's path) sometime between 23,000 BC and 12,000 BC. This 'move' is because of the earth's axis shift.

What is interesting here is not the conversation itself.. The earth's axis does not tilt in one day or even in one (human) generation. It is very interesting to note that our ancestors had observed the skies, and passed it on to the next generation by word of mouth (remember, we had no scripts for a long time) and this went on for at least few thousand years, until someone jotted it down in the Mahabharatha.

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On another note, did you know that 1000 years before Copernicus, Aryabhatta had mentioned that the earth goes around the sun, in 365.25 days - in anelliptical orbit(!!!!), and also calculated the Siderial rotation? :) Or that the Rigveda (according to Saayana bhashya) mentions the Speed of Light to be 186500 miles per second? :)

Did you know Ancient Indian astronomers also said that the earth does not go around the sun in one 'full ellipse' like Ramsharma sir would draw on the board.. but it goes around in a spiral (never coming back to the same point it started..:) can you figure out why...?