Duane Hamacher - The First Astronomers: How Indigenous Elders read the stars

Lakota astrophysicist Dr Annette S. Lee teaching traditional star knowledge in front of one of her artworks. (Courtesy of Annette S. Lee) Lakota Elder Jim Yellowhawk under the path of the Milky Way. (Prisma by Dukas/Alamy) Mer (foreground), Dauar (upper right) and Waier (upper left) in the Torres Strait. (Duane Hamacher) Our Culture is Important by Meriam Elder and artist Segar Passi (2012). It shows knowledge of the sky being taught to younger generations. (Courtesy of Segar Passi and Gab Titui) A sunspot photographed on 15 April 2019. (Courtesy of Peter Lieverdink) Kinich Ahaw, the Mayan Sun-god at Copn Ruinas in Honduras. Spots on his face can be seen under his right eye. (Alberto Paredes/Alamy) The thirteen towers of Chankillo in Peru, built by the Casma/Sechin culture. The Sun sets over each of the towers over a year. (Werner Forman Archive/Alamy) Calcite (Iceland spar), a mineral used by Norse navigators to locate the Sun behind cloudy skies. (Courtesy of Arni Ein) The northern lights (aurora borealis) over Alaska, used by Inupiat people to navigate, as streams tend to run east to west. (Lucas Payne/Alaska Stock/Alamy) Celestial navigation aid carved into the deck of the Marumaru Atua, a modern vaka built in the style of traditional Polynesian ships. (Chester Voyage/Alamy) Kerkar Meb 1 by Meriam Elder and artist Segar Passi (2011). The painting shows the angle of the waxing crescent Moon after sunset during the dry season. (Courtesy Segar Passi and QAGOMA) Kerkar Meb 2 by Segar Passi (2011). This painting shows the angle of the waxing crescent Moon after sunset during the wet season. (Courtesy Segar Passi and QAGOMA) Eclipse of the Moon on 8 June 2006. The red colour of the Moon is often associated with blood and death. (Peter Lieverdink) A Moon halo, used by many First Peoples to forecast approaching rain. (Kerstin Langenberger/Alamy) Venus and the crescent Moon in conjunction, with the glow of earthshine visible on the Moon. (Peter Lieverdink) Baumbirr (Morning Star) poles on display at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane. (Duane Hamacher) Zodiacal light stretching into the sky as seen from La Silla Observatory, Chile. (Reda & Co./Alamy) Comet McNaught over the Australian outback. The wispy tails of comets are often conceptualised as smoke, hair or a bundle of spears. (Excitations/Alamy) Gawarrgay (the celestial emu in the dark region of the Milky Way), drawn by Euahlayi Elder Ghillar Michael Anderson (2014). (Courtesy of Ghillar Michael Anderson and Stellarium) Kaygasiw Usul (the shovelnose ray in the Milky Way), headdress by Alick Tipoti (2014), an artist and Zenadh Kes islander from Badu in the western Torres Strait. (Courtesy of Alick Tipoti and Australian National Maritime Museum) The Pointer stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri (left), and the Southern Cross (right), with the dark Coalsack Nebula in the centre, representing the head of the celestial emu/rhea. (Alan Dyer/Stocktrek Images/Alamy) Eta Carinae, the blue-giant star that erupted in the 1840s and was observed by Boorong people who incorporated into their oral traditions. (N. Smith, University of Arizona, and J. Morse, BoldlyGo Institute, NASA/ESA) Tnorala (Gosse Bluff), a giant impact crater described as where a celestial baby fell to Earth as a star in Arrernte traditions of Central Australia. (Jean-Paul Ferrero/ AUSCAPE/Alamy) Kandimalal (Wolfe Creek crater), the site of several different Jaru traditions in Western Australia. (Russotwins/Alamy) An Aboriginal Songline in Western Australia mirrored in the stars, as described by Noongar Elder Dr Noel Nannup. (Duane Hamacher, using Google Earth and Stellarium) Next page