Skip to Content
🌞 Use the 3D-button to see the Interactive 3D Model
Chapters03 Precession

Precession cycles

Now let’s explore the precession cycles. But before we dive in, I need to introduce a new term: the Holistic-Year.

  1. What is a Holistic-Year?

    The Holistic-Year is a longer period cycle where 13 clockwise cycles of Axial Precession meet with 3 counter-clockwise cycles of Inclination Precession.

  2. Why would the Holistic-Year contain a 13 to 3 ratio of Axial to Inclination precession?

    Why in the ratio 13 to 3? To be honest, I do not know but if you look at nature you see these kind of Fibonacci numbers popping up all the time. I have already shown in the first chapter the Venus pattern aligning in the 5, 8, 13 ratio. The ratio 21 to 34 is showing in sunflowers , the structure of DNA molecules  shows 34 angstroms by 21 angstroms per cycle and the ratio 8 to 13 shows up in the structures of the pineapple .

    If you have a balanced system - which I think our solar system is - you automatically end up in the Fibonacci sequence.

    “The Fibonacci sequence appears consistently throughout the cosmos, prompting deep philosophical contemplation. Whether witnessed in the spirals of galaxies, fractal patterns on coastlines, or recurring motifs in art, this sequence suggests an underlying order or rhythm. ”

    It was already known the Fibonacci sequence shows on physical objects as can be seen in the examples provided above. My theory is the Fibonacci sequence also shows in timelines.

    What actually triggered me was this paper . It shows the precession cycles might be more or less connected (1/25,770 – 1/68,000 ≈ 1/41,000). This was revolutionary information to me and thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. I can’t imagine a perfect system like our solar system not having a real pattern. If it were just random numbers working against each other, it would be unstable. And if it were unstable, we wouldn’t be here.

    All timescales are encapsulated in the Fibonacci sequence.

    Fibonacci in timescales original picture can be found here 
  3. What is then the length of the Holistic-Year?

    The length of the Holistic-Year is 298,176 / 1 (Fibonacci) = 298,176 years

    This is the largest cycle which e.g. shows on historic temperature/ CO2 graphs.

    Science mostly talks about a visible ~100k year temperature cycle according to reconstructed geologic temperature records BUT this period is clearly missing in the Milankovitch precession cycles.

    The way scientists try to explain the absence of the ~100k period in any of the precession cycles, is the ~100k year period is explained with the ~100k eccentricity cycle. But then we end up in difficulties because orbital eccentricity has a theoretically cycle of ~100k AND ~400k year. And the ~400k year cycle is clearly missing in the temperature records. So it can’t be both right. More info can be found in this paper  and this paper  which explains it a bit deeper.

    If you zoom out, the ~100k year cycle more or less looks like the currently experienced theoretically ~112k year period of Apsidal precession (which I call Inclination precession). This ~112k year is actually an currently experienced value. The true movement across time is “just” 99,392 years. So there is a ~300K year cycle visible in the historic temperature records: Three times the Inclination precession duration of each 99,392 years.

    NOTE: Earth’s climate might also be impacted by Sun cycles, volcano eruptions, meteor impacts, fires, environmental impact humans, etc. The main driver is in my view however the inclination precession cycle which is the orbit of the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH around the Sun.

  4. What are the lengths of other type of precession movements?

    Now I have shown the length of the Holistic-Year, together with the Fibonacci sequence we can determine all other precession cycles as experienced on Earth.

    • The inclination precession of Earth is due to the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH movement around the Sun with a duration of 298,176 / 3 (Fibonacci) = 99,392 – counter-clockwise against in ICRF.
    • The inclination precession of Earth against Ecliptic has a duration of 298,176 / 5 (Fibonacci) = 59,635.2 years – counter-clockwise.
    • The obliquity cycle of Earth against ecliptic has a duration of 298,176 / 8 (Fibonacci) = 37,272 years – clockwise.
    • The axial precession of Earth is due to Earth’s orbit around the EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER with a duration of 298,176 / 13 (Fibonacci) = ~22,937 years – clockwise against in ICRF.
    • Combining the duration of the inclination precession and the axial precession, results in the perihelion precession cycle of 298,176 / 16 = 18,636 years – counter-clockwise.

    There are actually only two movements which are causing all these numbers: Axial and Inclination precession.

  5. The Axial precession

    The Axial precession is the age-old phenomenon whereby the equatorial point (Earth tilted 0° compared to the ecliptic plane around 21 March and 22 September) moves westward (BACKWARD) through the twelve zodiacal signs in a period of ~22,937 years (currently experienced ~25,772 years on Earth).

    Diagram showing Earth's axial precession cycle over 22,937 years, with zodiacal signs rotating westward relative to the equinoxes and pole stars changing positions in the sky
  6. The Inclination precession

    The inclination precession slowly increases Earth’s argument of periapsis and it takes 99,392 years (currently experienced ~112,000 years on Earth) to revolve once relative to the ICRF and ~59,635 years (currently experienced ~70,000 years) against the ecliptic.

    In below picture I have visualized a little over one cycle for the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH to move around the EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER. We start with location 0 as a point in the sky where the perihelion/aphelion meet at the June solstice, number 1 being the next where they meet again (every 18,636 years) and move all the way to 5.3333 for one Inclination precession cycle of 99,392 years to be completed.

    NOTE: 3 * 5.3333 = 16 which is the number we mentioned before as 298,176 / 16 = 18,636 years.

    Circular diagram showing one complete inclination precession cycle of 99,392 years, with PERIHELION-OF-EARTH positions marked at 16 intervals of 18,636 years where perihelion/aphelion align with solstices
  7. The Inclination precession meets Axial precession

    Every 18,636 years the Inclination precession meets the Axial precession FULL CYCLE (so from e.g. June solstice to e.g. June solstice). The last time this happened was at the start of the year 1246 AD (JD 2176142). The December solstice beginning of 1246 was exactly aligned with the perihelion.

    Duncan Steel  has created a lot of nice papers and pictures surrounding this phenomena.

    Historical diagram by Duncan Steel showing the alignment of December solstice with perihelion in 1246 AD, marking a complete 18,636-year cycle intersection point

    I found a picture on the internet  which I modified to reflect this Perihelion Precession movement for the coming ages.

    Diagram showing perihelion precession movement across future millennia, illustrating how the timing of perihelion shifts relative to solstices and equinoxes in Earth's orbit
  8. How do these two movements look like from Earth / ICRF?

    I know this can be hard to visualize, so I’ve created three animations to help. They show the difference between how these movements are experienced from Earth and how they appear from space (ICRF).

    You can also just have a look at the Interactive 3D Solar System Simulation. You can already go to chapter 12 to learn how to see it in the 3D simulation, but I will explain it over here with three GIF animations.

    The first animation shows how we experience the precession movements on Earth. You see the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH moving counter-clockwise in time. This movement is showing the shifting perihelion/ aphelion dates. At the same time the zodiac is also moving counter-clockwise. It looks very chaotic.

    Animated diagram showing perihelion precession cycle from Earth's frame of reference, with PERIHELION-OF-EARTH and zodiac both moving counter-clockwise over 18,636-year cycles

    But if you change the viewpoint by looking at our solar system from a birds-eye-view (ICRF view) it is actually very organized as can be seen in the second animation.

    Animated diagram showing perihelion precession from ICRF bird's-eye view, with PERIHELION-OF-EARTH moving counter-clockwise while Earth orbits EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER clockwise, meeting every 18,636 years

    You see the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH moving counter-clockwise in time. At the same time Earth is orbiting the EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER moving clockwise. They meet each other every 18,636 years FULL CYCLE so in total 16 times. The points however meet each other 32 times (at aphelion and at perihelion).

    If you change the focus view on the Sun as the center, the model would look like this.

    Animated diagram showing perihelion precession from Sun-centered ICRF view, with PERIHELION-OF-EARTH moving around the Sun while Earth wobbles at 1 AU distance from EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER

    The PERIHELION-OF-EARTH is moving around the Sun and because Earth is wobbling, the distances to the Sun changes. The Earth wobbling is however at a distance of 1 AU.

    So to conclude, you can look at this model from different point of views (a.k.a. Frame of reference). You can place Earth at the center, the EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER, the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH, The Sun, or some other planet. There is however one most likely correct point of view. I will explain in chapter 11 why we still live in a model where the Sun is at the center.

The perihelion precession cycle results in two major patterns

As shown in the first animation, the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH – although it is point orbiting the Sun - seems to move around Earth in a cycle of 18,636 years. The position of the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH - as seen from Earth - is therefore the Longitude of Perihelion value and determines where we are on our perihelion precession cycle.

Based upon the movement of the longitude of perihelion we can make predictions about the length of days and years.

  1. Graph showing the inverse relationship between longitude of perihelion movement speed and solar day length over the 18,636-year perihelion precession cycle Graph showing solar day length variation in seconds over 298,176 years (one Holistic-Year), displaying cyclical fluctuations synchronized with longitude of perihelion movement

    The slower the movement of the longitude of perihelion, the longer the length of day and vice versa.

    This can be seen as the direct effect on Earth because the angles of Earth compared to the EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER and the angle earth compared to the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH changes.

  2. Graph showing solar year length variation in days over 298,176 years, with values ranging between approximately 365.24 and 365.26 days per year in cyclical pattern Graph showing sidereal year length variation in seconds over 298,176 years, demonstrating inverse correlation with solar year length in days

    The shorter the length of solar year in days, the longer the length of a sidereal year in seconds and vice versa.

    This can be seen as a generic effect because of the distance of Earth to the Sun changes.

  3. Where are we now on our perihelion precession cycle?

    The speed of the movement of the longitude of perihelion is currently decreasing because the angle of Earth moving counter-clockwise on its Axial Precession Orbit (APO) compared to the angle of the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH moving counter-clockwise are balancing out a bit. We are now moving around ~11.4% slower than the mean value.

    As a result the length of day is currently increasing and since the solar year in days is currently decreasing because of the second pattern (and the length of the sidereal year in seconds is increasing), there will be point in time where the length of a solar year in seconds will eventually stop declining and starts increasing again.

    Here’s the exciting part: we are currently somewhere around this turning point where the solar year in seconds will start increasing again. Since the length of the precession can be calculated with a simple formula, I expect to see an increase of precession again IN OUR LIFETIME.

    EXCEL FORMULA LENGTH OF AXIAL PRECESSION IN YEARS WITH REAL LENGTH OF DAY
    =<Sidereal year (sec)>/(<Sidereal year (sec)>-(<Solar year (days)>*<REAL LOD>))

    Where:

    • Sidereal year (sec) = length of sidereal year in seconds
    • Solar year (days) = length of solar year in days
    • REAL LOD = length of day

    This is a very bold statement totally contradicting the current scientific consensus so if this happens it will be a clear indicator for the correctness of this model!

    The net effect of these two patterns are the main drivers for how we experience the length of all precession movements and therefore we can calculate the length of years and days based upon these movements.

    Animated diagram showing the relationship between longitude of perihelion movement and the cyclical variation in day and year lengths over the 18,636-year perihelion precession cycle

    The perihelion precession movement determines the length of days and years cycle and the orbital eccentricity cycle.

All precession movements are related to each other and how Earth moves around the EARTH-WOBBLE-CENTER and how the PERIHELION-OF-EARTH moves around the Sun comes together in a Holistic-Year cycle of 298,176 years.

I hope you see the bigger picture of all movements that are happening around us by now. They are all related and work upon each other based upon the Fibonacci sequence time-cycles.

All these numbers, year lengths, degrees, etc. are in the Excel sheet and are taken as input to the Interactive 3D Solar System Simulation. All data is FULLY in line with all scientific observations.

This is therefore NOT just some astrophysical, theoretically model. It is a practical 3D model which can provide insights into Obliquity, Eccentricity, etc. The model can be tested in time and I therefore make a lot of predictions in chapter 14.

Let’s look at the length of days and years in the next chapter.

Last updated on:
02 Model Basics04 Lenght of Days & Years