Astronomy

Star Signs
The 13 zodiac constellations have been prominent in ancient cultures for thousands of years. These
constellations all lie in the ecliptic, meaning they are visible from every place on earth where you can see
the sun rise and set.

Which way do the stars move across the sky?

Stars rise in the east and set in the west, just like the Sun and Moon do. It's because the Earth spins from
west to east, so everything in the sky comes into view as we spin towards it and leaves our view as we spin
away from it.

Does everyone See the same Stars?

As well as the earths position in space, the constellations we see at night are influenced by if we are
positioned in the southern or northern hemisphere e.g. our latitude ( how far north or south of the equator
we are).
Places at the same latitude see the same view of the night sky. So while Adelaide and the Chilean capital
Santiago are separated by the Pacific Ocean, they see the same constellations at night because the Earth
is spinning them past the same stretch of southern sky.

But people living on the same longitude can see quite different skies.

What Is unique to the southern hemisphere?

People in the Southern Hemisphere get an exclusive view of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds — two
of our neighbouring galaxies that can be identified with the naked eye. We also see some of the brightest
globular clusters (spherical clumps of stars that orbit galaxies) such as 47 Tucanae in the constellation
Tucana and Omega Centauri in the constellation Centaurus.

Navigation- A western perspective (Finding South)

Astronomy is thought to be one of the oldest sub disciplines of science with it being used to navigate using
the stars. This art form dates back to prehistoric time amongst humans and is used to navigate the land,
ocean and sky.

Using the southern cross individually or with the pointer stars you can get your bearing by finding south.
 Navigation, Calendars and Lessons- Astronomy for the Indigenous
It is thought that the astronomy started with the Greeks however, the indigenous communities have used
the night sky to survive the harsh Australian landscape even before that. The indigenous people used the
night sky differently by focusing on the milky way incorporating the dark patches between stars (clouds of
interstellar dust that block light from the stars behind them). This was very practical as navigation at night
was used to traverse during cooler temperatures.
Calendar
The night sky was used as a calendar for the indigenous, indicating when the seasons are shifting so they
knew when to move and which foods are available. For example, the Indigenous in the western desert
would know when to hunt for emus or collect their eggs based upon the position of the emu in the milky
way (running or sitting down).
Navigation
Star maps were used by the Indigenous to navigate outside of their own country, this indicated way points
along the route such as waterholes and turning points on the landscape. The star map was used by
travellers as a memory aid along with songs to teach others who had not made the journey to important
community gatherings. Some Journeys spanned more than 1,500km crossing the Simpson desert in
summer.
Lessons
The stars and dark patches were also used spiritually, teaching values of morality and community
amongst the communities. The stories were ingrained in the young as the constellations appeared,
lessons changing throughout the year.

Dream Time Story – The EMU

During the Dreaming, a blind man lived with his wife in the bush. Every day he told his wife to go out and
hunt for emu eggs for him to eat. Even though his wife tried hard to please her husband, he was always
angry with her, telling her that the eggs were too small.

One day while she was out hunting, she came across some very large emu tracks. She thought of her
husband and how angry he got, and followed the tracks all the way to the nest. She found a huge emu
there and threw stones at it to get at the eggs, but it stood up and ran towards her and killed her.

The blind man became hungry and worried about his wife. He felt around the camp until he came across a
bush with some berries on it and ate some of them. Suddenly he could see. He made some spears and a
woomera and set off to find his wife. He followed her tracks and finally saw the huge emu and the body of
his wife. He speared the emu and banished its spirit to the Milky Way, where it can still be seen today.
— a story from Papunya, Northern Territory

















References
Hobbs, B. (2017). A beginner's guide to finding stars and planets. Retrieved from
http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2017-04-04/a-beginners-guide-to-finding-planets-and-constellations/8373718
Steffens, M. (2009). Australia's first astronomers » Beginner's Guide to the Night Sky (ABC Science). Retrieved from
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/07/27/2632463.htm
Aboriginal Astronomy. Retrieved from http://www.emudreaming.com/whatis.htm