Stonehenge project investigates possible Moon alignment

Due to major lunar standstills occurring relatively infrequently, academics have jumped at the chance to study it.

English Heritage is working with experts from the universities of Oxford, Leicester and Bournemouth, as well as the Royal Astronomical Society.

“So we could be talking about a generational event that people might have come to Wiltshire for,” said Dr Fabio Silva from Bournemouth University.

“We’ll never be able to prove this, but the greater understanding we can get of these monuments and the Moon, the stronger the argument will be.”

Lecturers and students from Bournemouth University will document the Moon’s movements and relationship with the stones.

“It’s rising further to the north than it has done and a fortnight later, it rises further to the south and we believe places like Stonehenge might have aligned to the Moon when it’s doing this,” Dr Silva continued.

“It will add a much more diverse nuance to the answers we already have.”