I second that. Good work
Just some extra info. on Rev. line 6' and the lunar halo occuring on Sabatu 6, in case anyone's interested.
P. 41 of Neugebauer and Weidner's study:
The end of the line is completed, according to Obv. 5; Rev. 6, etc. The halo with a 22° radius around the sun and moon is meant by tarbasu (see Weidner, Beitr. z. Assyriol. VIII, 4, p. 81f.; Kugler, Sternkunde II, p. 99ff.). Halo observations are mentioned quite often in our text. Obv. 3, 5; Rev. 3, 8 report on halos around the sun; Rev. 6, 7, 14, 15 on halos around the moon. The latter are particularly important; indeed, as it is regularly stated which stars and constellations were seen in the halo, an important clue is given for identifying them by approximately fixing the limits.
Lunar halos can also help in pinpointing the date. If a lunar halo is 22 deg. in radius and the objects mentioned as falling within it actually fall outside of it, then there is a mismatch with the stated details on the tablet.
With the Feb. 17, 567 BC date, we find that the Pleiades, i.e. the object furthest from the Moon, is slightly less than 20 deg. away (CdC calculation). In contrast, if the date were to be revised to Feb. 27, 587 BC (assuming the new month began sunset Feb. 22), then the Pleiades would fall outside the 22 deg. halo perimeter at just over 29 deg. away, and therefore at odds with the tablet's information.
There are larger, fainter 46 deg. radius halos too, but the Babylonians used a different word to describe those and they are rarer. Astronomical Diaries and Related Texts, Vol. I says on p. 33:
“TÙR ‘halo’
Akk. tarbasu ‘pen, fold’. … The larger type of halo called supuru is not so far attested in diaries.”
See also CAD, Vol. 15, p. 398 and Vol. 18, p. 221-2.
Consequently, it is the word tarbasu describing the common 22° halo which is used in VAT 4956.
