PHOTO | Lunistice over Rome, images of the 'Sistine-henge'

The particular phenomenon was presented today at the International Conference in Corfu

ROME – A case of intentional alignment towards the northernmost point where the Moon sets over Rome, in what is astronomically defined as the Upper Lunistice:an unprecedented and magical 'Sistine-henge' for hunters of unrepeatable celestial panoramas. It is the one identified and photographed by astrophysicist Giancluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project and Inaf-Oar associate, together with Giangiacomo Gandolfi of the Inaf-Astronomical Observatory of Rome.The shots show the circumstance in which the Moon prepares to disappear on the horizon in one of the most famous straights of Rome, composed of Via Depretis, Via Quattro Fontane and Via Sistina.

It is the Sistine Axis, center of the new urban structure conceived by Sixtus V and his architect and engineer Domenico Fontana (1585-1590) to connect the main basilicas and allow a convenient pilgrimage through the streets of the city. The stretch that connects the obelisks of S.Maria Maggiore and Trinità dei Monti, about a kilometer and a half long, is in fact oriented towards an azimuth of 307°, with a horizon elevation of about 1.5° in the direction of the Monte Mario hill, where in the 20th century it was the Astronomical Observatory of Rome, now home to the National Institute of Astrophysics, was transferred.This alignment transforms the urban canyon of the ancient 'via Felice' (named after Pope Peretti) into a 'telescopic goal' which is a natural extension of the axis of the famous basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.The circumstance strongly suggests a link with the original orientation of the early Christian church, conceived to celebrate the Virgin Mary and her celestial counterpart and at the same time favored by the pontiff and home to his monumental tomb.

The phenomenon, identified and photographed by Gandolfi and Masi, was presented today at the International Conference in Corfu dedicated to the 'Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena'.This is an extremely rare phenomenon:it occurs just a few dozen times over the course of about fifty months, at intervals of about 18 years.To confirm a certain level of awareness regarding the existence and exceptional nature of the configuration on the part of the scholars of the time, there is also a historic baroque engraving from 1696, which shows the Esquiline obelisk used as a gnomon to follow and trace the complexes motions of the Moon.