Hello Kelly I have never actually been to stonehenge, though it is on my "must see" list. Ancient civilizations were interested in astronomy for very practical reasons. Seafarers had to navigate their vessels and farmers needed to know when to plant their crops. Stonehenge is one of many impressive monuments that dot the British Isles, proving ancient civilizations preoccupation with astronomy. Alignments of the stones in Stonehenge show were the Sun and the moon rise and set at key times during the year, such as solstices. So it wasn't so much used to study the Sun as it was more like a calendar.

I have been twice to stonehenge, and we use an animation of it in our planetarium shows that talk about the year. Yes, we think the ancients used it both as a calendar and as a way to predict eclipses. Unfortunately, they don't let you go inside the stone ring any more, but make you stay at a distance.

Hi Kelly,

I have been to Stonehenge once. On that trip I also visited Woodhenge and stayed in a Bed and Breakfast inside a LARGE "henge" called Avebury. There are stone circles all over England, Scotland, and Ireland. But Avebury, to me, is a much more impressive site than Stonehenge, mostly because it is so large. As far as scientists can tell (without a written record), these sites were set up to mark important astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes. There is some speculation that some (such as the King Stone at the Rollright Stones) had alignments to bright stars such as Capella in the constellation of Auriga.

Mitzi Adams

I have visited Stonehenge several times. I've also seen Avesbury and Belas Knap. -Sallie