Dear Frank, you know, the flag bears an artistical and simbolical drawing of the sky, not a scientifically precise representation of it. Now, to your questions:
1. Sorry, I don't know. 2. That's because, as you found, the republic was officialy proclaimed (signed) at 8:30 am on 15 november 1889 (estimated hour), and that time corresponds aproximately to 12 sidereal hours. Methinks it is mentioned in the legislation to avoid ambiguity, or confusion with the fact that the flag depicts stars, although it expressely represents the sky at morning, when the sun eclipses them. Apparently the precession of equinoxes wasn't contemplated by the legislation. 3. Probably for esthetical and political reasons; the Southern Cross is a conspicuous constellation, with a long history and fame in our hemisphere since the age of discovery, and therefore it's in the most preeminent place (the flag's center), and its stars represents the four states of Southeast Region, which were and still are the most rich Brazilian states (then Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo were also the most politically influent states, besides the city of Rio de Janeiro was the capital of Brazil), along with Bahia, the first land viewed by Pedro Álvares Cabral, and whose capital, Salvador, was the first capital of Brazil. Obs: Spica, which represents the state of Pará, is the only star above the white scroll, it simbolizes the city of Belém, near to the Equator. I think the scroll loosely represents the Equator line, and not the ecliptic, but I may be wrong. 4. In good schools, they are. Unfortunately the Brazilian public education, which was of good quality till thirty or forty years ago, has continually declined, so that our children and youth's performance in language and mathematics is poor even if compared with other developing countries' rank. Few of our public schools still have fanfares and civic education, or even good geography and history classes, so unfortunately many kids don't know nothing about astronomy or the flag. 2011/1/28 Frank King <[email protected]> > Dear Marcello, > > Several members of this list have been discussing > the Brazilian National Flag privately. We would like > to know how accurate it is! > > The best article I can find is in: > > http://www.zenite.nu/04/0804.php > > The key paragraph is: > > Adotada em 19 de novembro de 1889, seu círculo interno, > em azul, corresponde a uma imagem dessa esfera, inclinada > segundo a latitude da cidade do Rio de Janeiro às 12 horas > siderais (aproximadamente 8 e meia da manhã) de 15 de > novembro de 1889 (Proclamação da República) e cada estrela > representa um Estado da federação. > > In English: > > Adopted on 19 November 1889, the inner circle, in blue, > corresponds to an image of the globe, set for the latitude > of the city of Rio de Janeiro at 12 sidereal hours > (approximately 8:30 am) on 15 November 1889 (Republic Day) > and each star represents a state of the federation. > > Four questions: > > 1. Do you know of an article that gives a proper > technical description of the projection and so on? > > 2. Do you know why "12 sidereal hours" was chosen? > [Subscribers to this list understand this time but > it is unusual to use sidereal time in legislation!] > > 3. Why is Crux shown so close to the ecliptic? > > 4. Are children in Brazilian schools taught about > these details of the national flag? > > Frank H King > Cambridge UK > >
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