f86r

The girl may represent Cassiopeia again and is shown holding the disc of SN 1572 in her hand. The shoot like emanation form the top of the “flower” representing the Galactic Equator which passes through the constellation. She is holding the disc next to it, indicating its closeness to the Milky Way.

This may be Aquila, the Eagle. In China its bright star Altair is very important indicator of the milky Way. This bird does not look much like an eagle which may be due to its other identity as “Vultur Volans”, or the “flying vulture” from Roman times. It is also the location of a possible nova that was recorded in the 4th century BC, another reason why it may be included. The shoot like emanation from the top of the “flower” representing the Galactic Equator which passes through the constellation.

This may be Lyra, which has been depicted over time as an eagle holding a lyra. In China its bright star Vega is very important indicator of the milky Way. Again it does not look much like an eagle her but more like a vulture, the Romans called this constellation “Vultur cadens”, or the “falling vulture” it has also been known as the “falling eagle”. Although not shown in the process of falling, the sitting bird suggests it has “fallen” to earth and is not flying as opposed to Aquila the “flying vulture”.  The word for Vega comes from "wāqi‘" in the Arabic phrase "an-nasr al-wāqi‘ ", meaning the alighting vulture, a vulture "landing" rather than simply falling.

 The constellations of Aquila and Lyre are central to the Milky Way.  In China Altair was portrayed as Niulang (the cowherd) and Vega as Zhinü (the weaver girl), forever separated by the Milky Way except for one day a years when all the magpies would fly up and form a bridge for them to cross over.  This story defines the positions of Altair and Vega and shows the importance of the Milky Way in Chinese astronomy. Below is a  link to the story:

http://ilearn-culture.com/traditions/folklores/folklore-cowherd-and-the-weaver-girl/

http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20080606/0011432109fb09b3303e2f.jpg

There is no shoot like emanation from the top of the “flower” in this instance suggesting the Galactic Equator does not pass through this constellation.
 

I suggest this may be Cepheus, pointing at Cassiopeia and SN 1572 along the Celestial Zero Meridian, represented by The lines emanating from his hand. The shoot like emanation from the top of the “flower” representing the Galactic Equator which passes through the constellation. Cepheus and Cassiopeia also reflect the imagery form the story of Niulang and Zhinü waving to each other across the Milky Way with Aquila and Lyra reflecting the role of the magpies.  This may be an intentional combining of the astronomical details of the two cultures on f86r.The images below show SN 1572 in relation to the Celestial Zero Meridian, on the Voynich Manuscript image and the star map and the Voynich Manuscript image superimposed over the star map with SN 1572 locations retained. 

This lines up well but there remains a problem which is that Lyra and Aquila are on the wrong side and the star map needs to be flipped and then all the constellations are in the correct positions. This could be a means of hiding information from the casual reader, relying on detailed knowledge of the constellations to put them in their correct positions.

There are not the usual markers on the page, I suggest that the circle in the middle that resembles a T/O map is the marker that gives the accurate position of SN 1572. The circle would represent the Celestial Equator, the vertical line the Milky Way or Galactic Equator, and the horizontal line to the right the Celestial Zero Meridian that starts near Cepheus. SN 1572 would then be located at the centre.  The image above on the right shows the Milky Way as enhanced Gamma-ray image to show how it cuts through Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Aquila and just misses Lyre.  Aquila and Lyre contain the two of the brightest stars in this area along the Galactic Equator. Although Capella is even brighter and Aldebaran is almost as bright in relation to the Milky Way, Vega and Altair in Chinese astronomy and mythology specifically indicate the Milky Way.

The T/O map also contains what looks like writing or scribble across it, I suggest this is not just doodles but specific information relating to the subject matter of this folio. In my explanation of the simple image I suggested Aquila, Lyre, Cepheus and Cassiopea are shown and the T/O map shows the Celestial Zero Meridian and Galactic Equator within a circle. The seemingly bizarre squiggle I suggest shows the full complexity of the image on this folio and the circle is not the celestial equator as would appear most obvious but a circle centred on SN 1572, which also encloses the position of SN 1054.  In this particular view Lyre and Aquila not only act as pointers along the Milky Way to SN 1572, but also their main stars line up with the suspected position of SN 5 BC (and also the possible nova in Aquila in 4 BC which may relate to the same event) and act as a gateway from SN 1572 to SN 1604.

The

The star map below shows the main correlations between the supernovae and the squiggle and T/O map as seen from the viewpoint suggested.  The main correlations are shown by solid yellow lines but also many other correlations between the supernovae, stars, planets and the NCP are shown by broken yellow lines.  

The

Once again, apart from the more obvious correlations to constellations and supernovae there seems to be in the background other correlations which are hidden but nether the less keep surfacing relating to SN 1604 and SN 5 BC.

Copyright © 2010 P. Han