Solstices

A solstice is the time when the Sun reaches its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around 20–22 June and 20–22 December. In many countries, the seasons of the year are defined by reference to the solstices and the equinoxes.

point on the surface of a planet where the sun's rays strike the planet exactly perpendicular to its surface

annual cycle of seasonal festivals observed by many modern Pagans

thumb|upright=1.3|Orange = equinoctial colure Blue = solstitial colure thumb|G = equinoctial colure H = solstitial colure Colure, in astronomy, is either of the two principal meridians of the celestial sphere. The term is now rarely used and may be considered obsolete.

Llaqtapata (Quechua) llaqta place (village, town, city, country, nation), pata elevated place / above, at the top / edge, bank (of a river), shore, pronounced 'yakta-pahta', Hispanicized Llactapata) is an archaeological site about west of Machu Picchu. The complex is located in the Cusco Region, La Convención Province, Santa Teresa District, high on a ridge between the Ahobamba and Santa Teresa drainages. == Discovery and mapping == It appears to be the site originally reported by Hiram Bingham as having this name. Although the site was little explored by Bingham, it was more extensively explo

E-Groups are unique architectural complexes found among a number of ancient Maya settlements. They are central components to the settlement organization of Maya sites and, like many other civic and ceremonial buildings, could have served for astronomical observations. These sites have been discovered in the Maya Lowlands and other regions of Mesoamerica and have been dated to Middle Preclassical to Terminal Classic Period. thumb|275px|right|North Face of the Temple of Masks, E Group Uaxactun It has been a common opinion that the alignments incorporated in these structural complexes correspond