Last night, December 21, 2012, I saw Bolon descend, and there were nine companions.
Last night I was standing by the doghouse of my dog, KeeKee, and looking at Jupiter. Early this morning I realized that Jupiter is Bolon.
Months ago I saw a list of Mayan Gods. Several of their names were short phrases containing the word Bolon. Likewise many Greco-Roman temples were inscribed with this or that appellation of some major God such as Jupiter, Zeus or Hera, derived from some attribute or aspect, for example "Jupiter Thunderer" or "Zeus of Hospitality", etc. The Mayan name-phrases containing the word Bolon, might have referred to what were understood to be different appellations or aspects of the same major God. This makes it likely that the Mayans would have referred to the planet Jupiter by the name Bolon.
The December issue of Sky & Telescope has an article titled "Jupiter Rules the Night" about Jupiter's opposition Dec 2. Tortuguero Monument #6 says that on Dec. 21, 2012, "Bolon descends with nine companions" (translations vary slightly but my paraphrase is typical). "Descend" might mean simply "set in the west" or might mean "move westward, rather than eastward, relative to the stars, in retrograde motion [or even more specifically, 'after opposition' also]". All of this will be true for Jupiter during Dec. 2012.
Sundown at the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacan (Wikipedia's coordinates: 19.6996N, 98.98440W, approx. 2000 ft. el.) on-center (i.e. zero elevation, airless model) is 23:58 GMT on Dec 21. Jupiter's apparent (airless model) J2000 coordinates then, from that observation point, are RA 67.12125, Decl 21.01891 (converting the JPL's equinox of date, to J2000 using the NASA Lambda utility).
This position places Jupiter just north of the Hyades. The Bright Star Catalog (on VizieR) lists nine stars currently nearer to this Jupiter position than Aldebaran is, and with Visual magnitudes less than +5.00. In order of nearness to the position:
kappa1 Tauri Vmag +4.22
epsilon 3.53
upsilon 4.28
omega2 4.94
delta3 4.29
delta1 3.76
delta2 4.80
tau 4.28
75 Tauri 4.97 (Flamsteed number only)(4.66 deg from Jupiter's position)
The next nearest star with Vmag < +5.00, besides Aldebaran, is a star lacking a Flamsteed number, 4.85 deg away. Specifying the number of "companions" this way, implies that the makers of the Mayan Calendar, were confident that they knew Jupiter's longitude with an error of no more than the order of 4.85 - 4.66 = 0.19 deg. In 1200 years, Jupiter travels about 360 * 100 = 36,000 degrees, so this is of the order of a part in 200,000, or less if the Mayan calendar is older. A modern value often given for Jupiter's orbital period, 4332.1 d, implies 0.05 d maximum error, a part in about 90,000. Earlier on this thread, I have posted evidence that the makers of the Mayan Calendar had accurate knowledge of stellar proper motions.
The next brightest star on this list would be kappa2 Tauri, Vmag +5.28, which is 0.31 mag dimmer than the dimmest of the above nine. The mean magnitude of the nine, is 4.34, with standard deviation 0.50 and range 1.44. Near the threshold of unaided eye observability, the distinction between +4.97 and +5.28 would seem large enough to make this the magnitude boundary which defines the "nine companions".
Nine stars brighter than +5.00, within a radius of 4.66deg, amounts to 0.13 such star per square degree. The Bright Star Catalog lists only 1604 stars with Vmag < +5.00 in the entire sky of 41,253 square degrees, i.e. 0.039 per sq. deg.
Such competent astronomers hardly would choose the term of their calendar frivolously. They were limited by inexact knowledge of the time of the event of which they were trying to warn, so they chose to end it on the last preceding solstice or equinox, to give future scientists another proof of competence.
