tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/constellations-24159/articlesConstellations – The Conversation2024-01-02T20:16:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179272024-01-02T20:16:49Z2024-01-02T20:16:49ZMeteors, supermoons, a comet and more: your guide to the southern sky in 2024<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560591/original/file-20231121-15-ckqlc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C7%2C1715%2C1140&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Geoffrey Wyatt</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What exciting events will we see in the southern sky in 2024? Meteor showers, Saturn covered by the Moon, close approaches of bright planets to each other, supermoons – and, if we’re lucky, a comet visible to the naked eye.</p>
<p>Even if you live in a city surrounded by light pollution, these are all worth looking out for. Here are some of the highlights.</p>
<h2>May – the Eta Aquarid meteors</h2>
<p>The first of the two main Southern Hemisphere meteor showers during the year is the <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/eta-aquarids/">Eta Aquariid or Eta Aquarid</a> shower. It’s named after a star in the constellation of Aquarius, the Water Carrier, as the meteors appear to originate from there. </p>
<p>Meteors are small particles hitting Earth’s atmosphere and creating a streak of light as they burn up. A meteor shower occurs when many particles hit, all coming from the same direction. </p>
<p>They are generally due to Earth passing through a stream of dust left behind by a comet. For the Eta Aquariids, the comet is the famous Halley’s Comet, which was first recorded more than 2,000 years ago.</p>
<p>In 2024, there will be a good opportunity to see them in the early mornings of Monday 6 and Tuesday 7 May, as the Moon will not be brightening the sky.</p>
<h2>December – the Geminid meteors</h2>
<p>The second of the two main meteor showers is the <a href="https://research.princeton.edu/news/researchers-demystify-unusual-origin-geminids-meteor-shower">Geminid shower</a>. This originates in the direction of the constellation of Gemini, the Twins. </p>
<p>Unusually, they are associated not with a comet but with a rocky asteroid named Phaeton. In 2024, they are likely to be best seen early on the morning of Saturday 14 December. </p>
<p>The peak time to view is during the short interval between the setting of the Moon and the start of dawn.</p>
<h2>March, June and August – the planets</h2>
<p>Celestial objects approaching one another in the sky can provide a nice view. On the evening of Friday 22 March, the brightest planet Venus is less than the width of the Moon away from the ringed planet Saturn. Look low down in the east. </p>
<p>For people in the eastern part of Australia, the Moon covers the planet Saturn low in the eastern sky on the night of Thursday 27 June. The event can be seen by eye, but binoculars or a small telescope would help. </p>
<p>It is safe to take images or video. From Sydney, Saturn disappears at the bright edge of the Moon at 10:55pm and reappears at its dark edge at 11:41pm. The times for Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne are similar.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Diagram showing Saturn disappearing behind the Moon and later reappearing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560601/original/file-20231121-19-p42dv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The occultation or covering of Saturn on Thursday 27 June 2024.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lomb / Stellarium</span></span>
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<p>Another close approach is in the early morning of Thursday 15 August, when the red planet Mars is less than a Moon-width from the giant planet Jupiter.</p>
<h2>September and October – supermoons</h2>
<p>There will be two <a href="https://moon.nasa.gov/moon-in-motion/phases-eclipses-supermoons/supermoons/">supermoons</a> during 2024. The Moon has a path that sometimes takes it further from Earth and sometimes closer. </p>
<p>Recently, a time when the full Moon coincides with the Moon at its closest point to Earth has become known as a supermoon. At this time the Moon is slightly larger in the sky than usual. </p>
<p>It’s best to look at moonrise, as an illusion in our brains makes the Moon appear larger when it’s near the horizon. The supermoons in 2024 are on Wednesday 18 September and Thursday 17 October.</p>
<h2>October – Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)</h2>
<p>Comets visible to the naked eye are rare and exciting events. A comet with the impressive name of <a href="https://theconversation.com/astronomers-just-discovered-a-comet-that-could-be-brighter-than-most-stars-when-we-see-it-next-year-or-will-it-201377">Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)</a>, discovered in January 2023, is approaching the Sun and Earth, and may become bright enough to be easily seen. As yet, it is unknown whether this will happen – comets are notoriously fickle. </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/astronomers-just-discovered-a-comet-that-could-be-brighter-than-most-stars-when-we-see-it-next-year-or-will-it-201377">Astronomers just discovered a comet that could be brighter than most stars when we see it next year. Or will it?</a>
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<p>At a distance of 71 million kilometres, the comet will be closest to Earth on Sunday 13 October. However, for the next six days a bright Moon will make sighting it unlikely. </p>
<p>By Saturday 19 October, the Moon will have moved out of the way. That evening and the following few evenings will give us the best chance to see it. Look low in the west.</p>
<h2>January and May – constellations</h2>
<p>Not only these highlighted events can be seen in the sky. There are star pictures or constellations that still stand out in the sky of bright cities. </p>
<p><a href="https://universe.nasa.gov/news/147/discovering-the-universe-through-the-constellation-orion/">Orion, the Hunter</a>, is a favourite Southern Hemisphere summer constellation, high in the northern sky on January evenings. It consists of four bright stars in a rectangle with a line of three stars, representing Orion’s belt, in the middle. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of the constellation Orion." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560603/original/file-20231121-23-z23tgd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=639&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The constellation Orion is named for a hunter from Greek myth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lomb</span></span>
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<p>According to Greek legend, Orion was a great hunter who vowed to kill all animals. To stop him carrying out his threat, one of the gods sent a scorpion to kill him. This ancient story with <a href="https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/constellations/scorpius.html">Scorpius, the Scorpion</a> chasing Orion takes place above our heads each night. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of the constellation Scorpius." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=326&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560604/original/file-20231121-4807-rtd2ia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The constellation Scorpius is named for its resemblance to a scorpion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lomb</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Scorpius is another spectacular constellation with a curved line of bright stars, with a red star forming the creature’s heart. In January, people who are up at around 3 am can see Scorpius rising in the east, while its quarry Orion is sinking in the west. Alternatively, if you don’t like early mornings you can see the same scene on May evenings after dusk.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-oldest-story-astronomers-say-global-myths-about-seven-sisters-stars-may-reach-back-100-000-years-151568">The world's oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about 'seven sisters' stars may reach back 100,000 years</a>
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<p><em>The information in this article is from the <a href="https://unsw.press/books/2024-australasian-sky-guide/">2024 Australasian Sky Guide</a>. The guide contains monthly star maps and has much more information to assist with viewing and enjoying the night sky from Australia and New Zealand.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Lomb received author fees from Powerhouse Publishing for writing the 2024 Australasian Sky Guide.</span></em></p>In 2024 we will see meteor showers, Saturn disappearing behind the Moon, and – if we’re lucky – a comet bright enough to see with the naked eye.Nick Lomb, Honorary Professor, Centre for Astrophysics, University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2189212023-12-28T20:38:02Z2023-12-28T20:38:02ZWant to get into stargazing? A professional astronomer explains where to start<p>There are few things more peaceful and relaxing than a night under the stars. Through the holidays, many people head <a href="https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=3.80&lat=-28.5041&lon=129.6954&state=eyJiYXNlbWFwIjoiTGF5ZXJCaW5nUm9hZCIsIm92ZXJsYXkiOiJ3YV8yMDE1Iiwib3ZlcmxheWNvbG9yIjpmYWxzZSwib3ZlcmxheW9wYWNpdHkiOjYwLCJmZWF0dXJlc29wYWNpdHkiOjg1fQ==">away from the bright city lights</a> to go camping. They revel in the dark skies, spangled with myriad stars.</p>
<p>As a child, I loved such trips, and they helped cement my passion for the night sky, and for all things space. </p>
<p>One of my great joys as an astronomer is sharing the night sky with people. There is something wondrous about helping people stare at the cosmos through a telescope, getting their first glimpses of the universe’s many wonders. But we can also share and enjoy the night sky just with our own eyes – pointing out the constellations and the planets, or discovering <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-geminids-the-years-best-meteor-shower-is-upon-us-and-this-one-will-be-a-true-spectacle-218923">the joys of watching meteor showers</a>.</p>
<p>It is easy to be bitten by the astronomy bug, and a common question I get asked is “how can I get more into stargazing?”. Here are ways to get started in this fascinating and timeless hobby that won’t break the bank.</p>
<h2>Learning the night sky</h2>
<p>A good place to start if you’re a budding astronomer is to learn your way around the night sky. When I was young, this involved getting hold of a planisphere (a star map, <a href="https://in-the-sky.org/planisphere/index.php">you can make your own here</a>), or a <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope-ebook/dp/B07H4KN8G2">good reference book</a>. </p>
<p>Today, there are <a href="https://www.space.com/best-stargazing-apps">countless good apps</a> to help you find your way around the night sky. </p>
<p>A great example of such an app is <a href="https://stellarium-web.org/">Stellarium</a> – a planetarium program allowing you to view the night sky from the comfort of your room or to plan an evening’s observing ahead of schedule.</p>
<p>To memorise the night sky, you can try star hopping. Pick out a bright, famous, easy to find constellation, and use it as a guide to help you identify the constellations around it. </p>
<p>Learn one constellation per week, and within a year, you’ll be familiar with most of <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/">the constellations</a> visible from your location.</p>
<p>Let’s use Orion as an example. The slider below shows images from Stellarium, with Orion riding high in the sky on a summer’s evening. I’ve added arrows to show how you can use Orion (shown in the centre of the map below) to hop around the summer sky.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-1007" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/1007/811d84689c71ac5c004a402a84a7fb446f0ae803/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>To learn the constellations around Orion, your task is relatively straightforward. Head out on a clear, dark summer’s night, and find Orion high to the north. The three stars of Orion’s belt are a fantastic signpost to Orion’s neighbours. </p>
<p>If you follow the line of the belt upwards and to the right, you come to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius">Sirius</a> – the brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_Major">Canis Major</a>, the big hunting dog. Carry the line on and curve to the left as you go, and you’ll find <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canopus">Canopus</a>, the second brightest star in the sky.</p>
<p>Now come back to Orion’s belt, and follow its line down and to the left. You’ll come to a V-shaped group of stars, including the bright red <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldebaran">Aldebaran</a>. This is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyades_(star_cluster)">Hyades star cluster</a> (with Aldebaran a foreground interloper), which makes up the head of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taurus_(constellation)">Taurus</a>, the bull.</p>
<p>Take the line further, and you come to <a href="https://www.space.com/pleiades.html">the Pleiades</a> – often known as the Seven Sisters – a beautiful star cluster easily visible to the naked eye.</p>
<p>Back to Orion again. This time, you’re going to draw a line from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigel">Rigel</a> (the bright star at the top-left of Orion’s boxy body) through <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse">Betelgeuse</a> (the bright red star at the lower-right of the box) and continue it towards the horizon. This takes you to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemini_(constellation)">Gemini</a> – the twins.</p>
<p>Just by using Orion as the signpost, you can find your way to a good number of constellations (the cyan line points to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lepus_(constellation)">Lepus</a>, the hare; the white line to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canis_Minor">Canis Minor</a>, the little hunting dog). </p>
<p>By star hopping, you’ll slowly but surely learn your way around the night sky until the constellations become familiar friends.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kindred-skies-ancient-greeks-and-aboriginal-australians-saw-constellations-in-common-74850">Kindred skies: ancient Greeks and Aboriginal Australians saw constellations in common</a>
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<h2>Virtual observing</h2>
<p>Looking at the sky with the naked eye is a wonderful thing, but it’s also great to zoom in and see more detail.</p>
<p>What if you don’t have access to binoculars or a telescope of your own? Thankfully, software like Stellarium can give you a fantastic virtual observing experience.</p>
<p>Imagine you want to see Saturn’s rings – a spectacular sight through even a small telescope. You can easily do this with Stellarium. Find Saturn by using the search bar and click on it to bring up the planet’s info. </p>
<p>Click on the cross-hair symbol to “lock on”, then zoom in. The further you zoom in, the more you’ll see. You can even run the clock forwards or backwards to see the planet’s moons move in their orbits, or the tilt of Saturn’s rings <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-saturns-rings-really-disappear-by-2025-an-astronomer-explains-217370">changing from our viewpoint over time</a>.</p>
<p>A virtual observing session is as simple as that – just pan around the sky until you find something you want to see, and zoom in.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A close up of rotating Saturn" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564091/original/file-20231207-17-qvar43.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Example of using the clock feature in Stellarium to see the movement of Saturn’s moons.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>A hobby best shared</h2>
<p>Now, a virtual observing session is great, but it pales compared to the real thing. I’d recommend using planetarium programs like Stellarium to figure out what you want to see, then heading out to look at it with your own eyes.</p>
<p>Astronomy is a wonderful hobby, and one that is best shared. Most towns and cities have their own astronomy clubs, and they’re usually more than happy to welcome guests who want to gaze at the night sky. </p>
<p>I joined my local astronomy society, the <a href="https://www.wyas.org.uk/">West Yorkshire Astronomical Society</a> in the United Kingdom, when I was just eight years old. I owe them so much. The members were incredibly supportive of a young kid with so many questions, and I genuinely believe I would not be where I am today without their help. As a member, I saw firsthand just how fantastic the amateur astronomy community is. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A telescope inside a dome during daytime, with a young teen and two older men standing next to it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562685/original/file-20231130-29-ogkxpc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author Jonti Horner at age 16, showing then Astronomer Royal of the UK, Arnold Wolfendale (right), the WYAS 18-inch telescope, hand-made by members. Also seen is the society’s then president, Ken Willoughby.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alan Horner, author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>At the society, we had weekly talks on astronomy, given by the club members and visiting astronomers from local universities. We also had regular night sky viewing nights, using the society’s very own telescope – a behemoth the members had built themselves. </p>
<p>People who are passionate about their hobby love nothing more than sharing it with others. The members of astronomical societies are fantastic guides to the night sky, and they often have incredible equipment they’re more than happy to share with you.</p>
<p>Both astronomy clubs and universities often offer public night sky viewing nights, which are the perfect opportunity to peer at the sky through a telescope, with an experienced guide on hand to find the most impressive sights to share. </p>
<p>So, if you want to learn more about the night sky, reach out to your local astronomy society – it could be the start of something very special.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/want-to-buy-a-home-telescope-tips-from-a-professional-astronomer-to-help-you-choose-218604">Want to buy a home telescope? Tips from a professional astronomer to help you choose</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p><em>If you want to find a local astronomy group, check out <a href="https://astronomy.org.au/amateur/amateur-societies/australia/">this list</a>. If you’re a member of a group that isn’t listed, please reach out to get them to update the list using the ‘Contact Us’ link.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218921/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonti Horner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People have been looking up at the stars for thousands of years. Here’s where to start if you want to learn more about the night sky – from spotting easy-to-find constellations to using the best apps.Jonti Horner, Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1993832023-02-23T13:15:36Z2023-02-23T13:15:36ZNight skies are getting 9.6% brighter every year as light pollution erases stars for everyone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510410/original/file-20230215-24-phgv5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=747%2C249%2C5060%2C1458&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All human development, from large cities to small towns, shines light into the night sky. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/evobenny/38510489362/">Benny Ang/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=255&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510596/original/file-20230216-18-s7y17h.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For most of human history, the stars blazed in an otherwise dark night sky. But starting around the Industrial Revolution, as artificial light increasingly lit cities and towns at night, the stars began to disappear.</p>
<p>We are <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OrRLRQ4AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">two</a> <a href="https://noirlab.edu/science/about/scientists-at-noirlab">astronomers</a> who depend on dark night skies to do our research. For decades, astronomers have been <a href="https://about.ifa.hawaii.edu/facility/mauna-kea-observatories/">building telescopes</a> in the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/star-trekking-chile-astronomy-180955798/">darkest places</a> on Earth to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00159-010-0032-2">avoid light pollution</a>. </p>
<p>Today, most people live in cities or suburbs that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/457027a">needlessly shine light into the sky at night</a>, dramatically reducing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600377#body-ref-R3">visibility of stars</a>. Satellite data suggests that light pollution over North America and Europe has remained <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.1701528">constant or has slightly decreased</a> over the last decade, while <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/8/798">increasing in other parts of the world</a>, such as Africa, Asia and South America. However, satellites miss the blue light of LEDs, which are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2760/759859">commonly used for outdoor lighting</a> – resulting in an underestimate of light pollution.</p>
<p>An international citizen science project called <a href="https://globeatnight.org">Globe at Night</a> aims to measure how everyday people’s view of the sky is changing.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A number of panels showing different numbers of stars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510429/original/file-20230215-15-f11qnb.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Globe at Night survey asks users to select which panel – each representing different levels of light pollution – best matches the sky above them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://globeatnight.org/webapp/">The Globe at Night</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Measuring light pollution over time</h2>
<p>Relying on citizen scientists makes it much easier to take multiple measurements of the night sky over time from many different places. </p>
<p>To provide data to the project, volunteers enter the date and time, their location and local weather conditions into an <a href="https://globeatnight.org/webapp/">online reporting page</a> anytime an hour or more after sunset on certain nights each month. The page then shows eight panels, each displaying a constellation visible at that time of year – like Orion in January and February, for example. The first panel, representing a light-polluted night sky, only shows the few brightest stars. Each panel shows progressively more and fainter stars, representing darker and darker skies. The participant then matches what they see in the sky with one of the panels. </p>
<p>The Globe at Night team launched the report page as an online app in 2011, just at the beginning of widespread adoption of LEDs. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq7781">the recent paper</a>, the team filtered out data points taken during twilight, when the Moon was out, when it was cloudy or when the data was unreliable for any other reason. This left around 51,000 data points, mostly taken in North America and Europe. </p>
<p>The data shows that the night sky got, on average, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq7781">9.6% brighter every year</a>. For many people, the night sky today is twice as bright as it was eight years ago. The brighter the sky, the fewer stars you can see.</p>
<p>If this trend continues, a <a href="https://eos.org/articles/starry-nights-are-disappearing">child born today</a> in a place where 250 stars are visible now would only be able to see 100 stars on their 18th birthday. </p>
<h2>Causes, impacts and solutions</h2>
<p>The main culprits driving increasing brightness of the night sky are urbanization and the growing use of <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2760/759859">LEDs for outdoor lighting</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two pictures of the constellation Orion with one showing many times more stars." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/510413/original/file-20230215-28-33uihp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The more light pollution there is, the fewer stars a person can see when looking at the same part of the night sky. The image on the left depicts the constellation Orion in a dark sky, while the image on the right is taken near the city of Orem, Utah, a city of about 100,000 people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/79297308@N00/3180280752">jpstanley/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The loss of dark skies, both from light pollution and also from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slab030">increasing numbers of satellites orbiting Earth</a>, threatens our ability as astronomers to do <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00159-021-00138-3">good science</a>. But everyday people feel this loss too, as the degradation of dark skies is also a loss of human <a href="https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/night-sky-heritage/">cultural heritage</a>. Starry night skies have inspired artists, writers, musicians and philosophers for thousands of years. For many, a star-filled sky provides an irreplaceable sense of awe.</p>
<p>Light pollution also interferes with the daily cycle of light and dark that <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/light-pollution-altering-plant-and-animal-behaviour">plants and animals</a> use to regulate sleep, nourishment and reproduction. Two-thirds of the world’s key biodiversity areas are <a href="https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2019/02/11/Light-pollution-affects-most-of-the-planets-key-wildlife-areas/1451549899187">affected by light pollution</a>.</p>
<p>Individuals and their communities can make simple changes to <a href="https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/light-pollution-solutions/">reduce light pollution</a>. The secret is using the right amount of light, in the right place and at the right time. Shielding outdoor light fixtures so they shine downward, using bulbs that emit more yellow-colored light instead of white light and putting lights on timers or motion sensors can all help reduce light pollution.</p>
<p>The next time you are far away from a major city or another source of light pollution, look up at the night sky. A view of the roughly <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/11/how-many-stars-are-there-in-the-sky/281641/">2,500 stars you can see with the naked eye</a> in a truly dark sky might convince you that dark skies are a resource worth saving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Impey receives funding from the National Science Foundation and Epic Games.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Connie Walker works for NSF's NOIRLab and the International Astronomical Union. She is a member of the American Astronomical Society's COMPASSE and on the Board of Directors for the International Dark-Sky Association.</span></em></p>With the help of thousands of citizen scientists, a new study measured exactly how much brighter night skies are getting every year.Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of ArizonaConnie Walker, Scientist, National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research LaboratoryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1980352023-02-09T16:59:27Z2023-02-09T16:59:27ZLight pollution has cut humanity’s ancient connection with the stars – but we can restore it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/508340/original/file-20230206-31-b29opi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C2991%2C1994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/milky-way-rises-over-pine-trees-384983128">Andrey Prokhorov/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans are naturally afraid of the dark. We sometimes imagine monsters under the bed and walk faster down unlit streets at night. To conquer our fears, we may leave a night light on to scare away the monsters and a light over the porch to deter break-ins. </p>
<p>Yet, in huddling for safety under our pools of light, we have lost our connection to the night sky. Star counts by public awareness campaign <a href="https://www.globeatnight.org/">Globe at Night</a> revealed that, between 2011 and 2022, the world’s night sky <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/19/light-pollution-rapidly-reducing-stars-visible-naked-eye-study-finds">more than doubled in artificial brightness</a>. Yet local interventions can create meaningful change. </p>
<p>Light pollution is cutting us off from one of nature’s greatest wonders, harming wildlife and blocking research that could help fight climate change. Stars are more than pretty glimmers in the night sky. They have shaped the mythology of every human civilisation. They guide birds on their astonishing migratory journeys. And now we need to do our bit to prevent light pollution so stars can be part of our future. </p>
<p><a href="https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-blogs/how-many-stars-night-sky-09172014/">The human eye can detect around 5,000</a> stars in the night sky. But the light emitted by skyscrapers, street lamps, and houses obscures all but a handful of the brightest stars. </p>
<p>Our ancestors used the rising and setting of the constellations as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/calendar/Time-determination-by-stars-Sun-and-Moon">calendars</a>. They also <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-far-theyll-go-moana-shows-the-power-of-polynesian-celestial-navigation-72375#:%7E:text=The%20position%20of%20Moana's%20hand,are%20travelling%20exactly%20due%20East.&text=Later%20in%20the%20film%2C%20we,by%20following%20Maui's%20fish%20hook.">navigated by the stars</a> as they searched for new lands or traced nautical trade routes. Sailors don’t normally use the stars to navigate any more, but they are still taught how to, <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a36078957/celestial-navigation/">in case their navigation systems break down</a>. </p>
<p>Migratory animals, including birds and insects, are <a href="https://www.darksky.org/light-pollution/wildlife/">drawn away from their natural flight paths</a> by the beckoning “sky glow” of cities. In the summer of 2019, Las Vegas was <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/las-vegas-was-inundated-46-million-grasshoppers-single-night-2019-180977395/">invaded</a> by millions of migrating grasshoppers, while the beams of New York’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/10/opinion/9-11-tribute-in-light-birds.html">9/11 Tribute in Light</a> are a magnet for flocks of migrating songbirds flying at night. </p>
<p>Disoriented by the bright city lights, birds crash into towering skyscrapers. Insect numbers are collapsing worldwide and light pollution is making matters worse by <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/light-pollution-contributes-insect-apocalypse-180973642/">disrupting their nocturnal life cycles</a>.</p>
<h2>What is light pollution</h2>
<p>Light pollution is caused by the same <a href="https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/blue-sky/en/">physics that turns the sky blue during the day</a>. Sunlight is made up of all the colours of the rainbow and each colour has a different wavelength. The air that surrounds us is composed of tiny particles (such as oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules). </p>
<p>As light from the Sun makes its way through the air, it is scattered by these particles in random directions. Blue light (with shorter wavelengths) is scattered more than red light (which has longer wavelengths). As a result, our eyes receive more blue light from every direction in the sky. </p>
<p>At night, light scattered by the same air particles causes the sky to shine down on us. A small fraction of this sky glow is caused by natural sources, such as starlight and the Earth’s atmosphere. But most of the light that creates sky glow is artificial. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="The constellation Orion, imaged at left from dark skies, and at right from the teeming metropolis of Orem, UT comprising about half a million people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509173/original/file-20230209-22-xf5oal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Light pollution is not pretty.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Light_pollution_It%27s_not_pretty.jpg">Jeremy Stanley/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Light pollution also affects our ability to study the universe. Even modern observatories, built on remote mountaintops, are affected by the encroaching sky glow from growing, sprawling cities. Light pollution is so widespread that <a href="https://www.space.com/major-observatories-suffering-light-pollution">three quarters of all observatories</a> are affected. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h0RKQmVAeQM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Migrating birds flying through Tribute in Light in 2015.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking up</h2>
<p>There is no reason to despair, though. We created light pollution; we can fix it.</p>
<p>Around the world, <a href="https://www.darksky.org/">dark sky</a> <a href="https://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/">associations</a> are working to educate the public about the hazards of light pollution, to lobby for <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/new-york-city-passes-landmark-lights-out-laws/">legislation to protect dark sky reserves</a> and encourage people to reignite their connection with <a href="https://www.darksky.org/our-work/lighting/">dark, star-studded skies</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/turn-off-the-porch-light-6-easy-ways-to-stop-light-pollution-from-harming-our-wildlife-132595">Fighting light pollution begins at home.</a> If you need to keep outside lights on for security, use shielded lamps that only shine downwards. Use light bulbs that do not emit violet and blue light as this is harmful to wildlife. Smart lighting controls will also help reduce your house’s effect on wildlife and make it easier for you to observe the night sky.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/505372/original/file-20230119-16-5t6mrz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">2016 world map of artificial sky brightness. 80% of the world’s population is now affected by light pollution. Credit: Falchi et al., Science Advances, 2016;2:e160037.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You will also find <a href="https://www.lightpollutionmap.info">interactive maps</a> that show how polluted the skies are in your area. These maps are created from data gathered by satellites and by citizen scientists taking part in annual star counts. You can help darken our skies, too. </p>
<p>In the UK, the 2023 annual star count will take place on <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-care-about/nature-and-landscapes/dark-skies/star-count-2023/">February 17-24</a>. And, wherever you are in the world, you can always take part in the year-long <a href="https://globeatnight.org/">Globe at Night</a> star count whenever you want. </p>
<p>The task is simple: step outside on a clear night, count how many stars you can see in a well-known constellation, such as Orion, and report back. </p>
<p>To defeat light pollution, we need to know how severe it is and what difference national policies and local interventions (such as replacing the street lights in your town) make. In the UK, for example, star counts show light pollution may have <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/news/night-skies-outlook-is-bright-our-star-count-results-suggest/">peaked in 2020</a> and has started to decline. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most important aspect of star counts is that they shine a light on our vanishing night skies and galvanize us to take action. Ultimately, it’s up to each and every one of us to reduce our effect on the sky, by changing the way we light our homes and neighbourhoods and by lobbying our representatives to pass <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/new-york-city-passes-landmark-lights-out-laws/#">dark sky legislation</a>. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Imagine weekly climate newsletter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/434988/original/file-20211201-21-13avx6y.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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</figure>
<p><strong><em>Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?</em></strong>
<br><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeTop">Get a weekly roundup in your inbox instead.</a> Every Wednesday, The Conversation’s environment editor writes Imagine, a short email that goes a little deeper into just one climate issue. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/imagine-57?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=Imagine&utm_content=DontHaveTimeBottom">Join the 10,000+ readers who’ve subscribed so far.</a></em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Or Graur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>People travel hundreds or thousands of miles and spend a fortune to see the night sky in all its splendor. But we are literally blocking out the cosmic beauty above our homes.Or Graur, Reader in Astrophysics, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1811612022-05-05T19:57:17Z2022-05-05T19:57:17ZBeyond angry protesters and inked arms, there’s this First Nations story of the Southern Cross – one of unity and belonging<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458089/original/file-20220414-18-qulnsd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Southern Cross constellation in the night's sky.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Southern_Cross_-New_Zealand-.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Can the Southern Cross represent Australian identity? Waved by a proud athlete or an angry protester, inked into skin or stuck to a car window, these five stars condense different aspirations, identities and histories into a recognisable symbol. </p>
<p>Yet such symbolism is inherently contested: from the Eureka Stockade to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-20/protesters-told-not-to-use-eureka-flag-and-find-another-symbol/100633310">protests</a> over COVID-19 vaccine mandates, or from the coat of arms to the eponymous Sydney train station, Australians have projected differing values and narratives of belonging to this <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-symbolism-of-australia-s-southern-cross">constellation</a>.</p>
<p>Warwick Thornton’s 2017 film <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/we-dont-need-a-map/989794371595">We Don’t Need a Map</a> wrestles with racist usage of the Southern Cross, playing on a growing disquiet among many Australians who have come to associate the Southern Cross with bigotry. But Thornton also explores Indigenous narratives about the Southern Cross, suggesting the symbol can never be contained within a single defining narrative. </p>
<p>It is important to appreciate the diversity of identities under the Southern Cross. But we want to go further and ask: what role can the Southern Cross play in shaping an Australian identity, in which diversity coheres in a unique and life-giving way?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/supernovas-auroral-sounds-and-hungry-tides-unpacking-first-nations-knowledge-of-the-skies-178875">Supernovas, auroral sounds and hungry tides: unpacking First Nations knowledge of the skies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reading the stars, finding our home</h2>
<p>Through his teaching and artistic direction, Warlpiri Elder Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu asks these questions with anyone willing to hunt with him. Jampijinpa explores the meaning of the Southern Cross: a law emblazoned on the night skies since creation and read by countless generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.</p>
<p>Wanta has spent decades educating young Warlpiri, especially through his innovative work as artistic director of the biennial Milpirri festival in <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/344924739668/milpirri-winds-of-change">Lajamanu</a>, in the northern Tanami desert. </p>
<p>Through the Milpirri festival, Wanta and his father Jerry Jangala have drawn from rich wells of cultural identity to expound the concept of <a href="https://www.nintione.com.au/resource/DKCRC-Report-41-Ngurra-kurlu.pdf">ngurru-kurlu</a>, (Warlpiri for “home within”). Wanta understands Ngurru-kurlu to be a way of navigating identity for all who seek to live alongside one another under the Southern Cross. </p>
<p>Ngurra-kurlu is the essence of a people. You might call it their home. But it is more than just the ground we sleep on: we become our own home. The first three letters, ngu, mean “inner” and rra means flowing or being in motion. So ngurra is “inner flow”. By adding kurlu, which means “home,” or “with home,” you get ngurra-kurlu. </p>
<p>The Southern Cross can show us how to discover our ngurra-kurlu. This is more than identity: it’s also about belonging and purpose. The stars of the Southern Cross show us how our own ngurra-kurlu is bound together with the ngurra-kurlu of others. </p>
<p>For Warlpiri, each star of the Southern Cross represents the different <a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-land-kinship-and-ownership-of-dreamings-39637">skin groups</a> that make up Warlpiri society, <a href="https://www.ictv.com.au/video/item/2997">mapping</a> respective stories, language, law and country.</p>
<p>These skin groups are: </p>
<ul>
<li>Nampijinpa/Jampijinpa and Nangala/Jangala (north group – emu)</li>
<li>Napaljarri/Japaljarri and Nungarrayi/Jungarrayi (west group – wedge-tailed eagle)</li>
<li>Napurrula/Jupurrula and Nakamarra/Jakamarra (south group – kangaroo)</li>
<li>Napanangka/Japanangka and Napangardi/Japangardi (east group – goanna).</li>
</ul>
<p>The Southern Cross is like a map that shows us how to live alongside different people, country and ecosystems; these weave together to make our homes and sustain our identities. When we see birds, animals, plants, places, we see our families, so it reminds us of these relationships with people, the land and sky.</p>
<p>The little star in the Southern Cross is the wulyu-wulyu (Western chestnut mouse). That this star is off-centre is a reminder to keep learning about this country and its inhabitants, to nourish one another and grow together, so that we also do not drift away.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-technology-is-often-misunderstood-heres-how-it-can-be-part-of-everyday-life-167191">Indigenous technology is often misunderstood. Here's how it can be part of everyday life</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A gift for all</h2>
<p>The Southern Cross has deeper meanings than non-Indigenous people might realise. It is more than a symbol: for Warlpiri, it is a law that has existed since the beginning, which means we cannot claim the Southern Cross as our own but need to be reclaimed by it. By exploring its diverse meanings, we can discover those connections that sustain life in all its vibrant diversity and unity. </p>
<p>Sitting above us all, the Southern Cross calls us to become <a href="https://www.tracksdance.com.au/milpirri-dance/wulpararri-milky-way-2007-2009-2012-2018">wantarri</a> (a gift to one another), to become wungu-warnu (companions who are the same but different), a relationship that is a cross between family and friend. Through generous acts such as the Uluru Statement from the Heart, First Nations people have invited the rest of the nation to discover shared belonging and purpose. This has been done against Australia’s backdrop of painful and violent dispossession and disrespect against First Nations people. </p>
<p>This invitation will continue to be shared because it is always there, written in country. <a href="https://www.tracksdance.com.au/milpirri-dance/wardapi-goanna-2005-2014">Wanta</a> teaches us there are other stories in the Southern Cross, like Jardiwarnpa, the “real” Australia Day. Jardiwarnpa takes place in the cool season after the great storms of the wet, when the Southern Cross <a href="https://www.maas.museum/observations/2022/03/01/march-2022-southern-sky-guide/">rises</a> from below the horizon. This is a time for reconciliation and atonement, bringing our wrongdoings and discarding them in the open, so that all might see and we might become one body of people again.</p>
<p>Wanta’s teaching leads to the challenging yet hope-filled assertion: in all of our differences, we are called to become Australia. As we digest the knowledge from this continent, we are learning to belong to it. To learn about our respective relationships and responsibilities to one another is to become our home, which is a kind of freedom. </p>
<p>It is no good trying to define Australian identity through two-dimensional symbols: we must allow this country to teach us how to sit, feed and camp together under one sky.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181161/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Warlpiri Elder Wanta Jampijinpa Pawu interprets the Southern Cross, not as a contested symbol of identity, but as a summons to unite First Nations and non-Indigenous people.Samuel Curkpatrick, Researcher and adjunct lecturer, University of DivinitySarah Bacaller, Assistant researcher, University of DivinityWanta Jampijinpa Pawu, Artistic director, Milpirri Festival, Lajamanu, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1781992022-03-04T17:18:45Z2022-03-04T17:18:45ZCounting stars in Orion can help beat light pollution – here’s how to help<p>The <a href="https://www.cpre.org.uk/">UK countryside charity CPRE</a> is asking for help with its Orion Star Count 2022 project. You can take part this weekend by counting how many stars you can see in Orion and letting them know the results. That’s it. This activity brings people together and allows us to appreciate nature and experience the sky above. It illustrates how heritage is linked to the sky and what we’re losing through light pollution. After the count, you might look at your own house – and its lights – and consider what you can do to help keep our skies dark.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449935/original/file-20220303-9263-1q05ir3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The impact of light pollution upon how many stars you can see towards Orion. This is a simulation for skies above the Dark Sky Discovery Site Suprise View in the Peak District National Park, UK, using Stellarium. Four different skies are simulated, from an inner city on the left to the perfect dark sky on the right. Note how in rural skies you even start seeing the Milky way as a whitish band in the top left corner which is representing an appropriate light pollution level for this site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown (NTU)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The star count will map the current status of light pollution by showing where the darkest skies are in the UK. It can offer local councils information to take action and limit light pollution. Some culprits include badly installed lighting at monuments, sports grounds or excessive and unsuitable street lighting.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to measure how bright the sky is – which is pretty tricky – we can use stars. Stars differ in brightness levels, and usually the unaided human eye under good conditions can spot stars as faint as <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40671843?casa_token=GBKwIudij2MAAAAA%3A50HiidH0I61BI5nhXU9ISNK2saNeT1J1KCeHzH2g8z8bCzsI6AS4Zd19DDrSDtLYvNUF5kB1-HU5Io9dZ_bGtGqD6XfUbfAcPVuJoI3v3LuFNdy5dcE&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">6-7 magnitudes</a>.</p>
<p>A magnitude is a measure of a star’s brightness. Roughly speaking, the faintest visible star is approximately 6 magnitudes and the brightest around 0 magnitudes. This system is a legacy of the Greek astronomer Hipparchos – and was later improved by one of Nottingham’s own astronomers, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNe8zm76bNM">Norman R. Pogson</a>.</p>
<p>As the sky gets brighter – due to bad lighting on Earth illuminating the sky and sending light back to us – we can’t spot the fainter stars anymore. As a result, if we pick out a certain area in the sky, the amount of stars we can see in it will give us a pretty good idea how bright the sky is.</p>
<h2>How to take part</h2>
<p>If you want to join, the star count is happening until March 6. Make sure you pick a clear night with no clouds or haze in the sky, as that will make the sky brighter and the viewable stars even fainter. Wait until 7pm at least, so the sun has set substantially and skies are as dark as they can get.</p>
<p>Find a spot that is dark, where you feel comfortable and safe to watch the southern sky. Take your time to wait at least 20 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the darkness. Your eyes are marvellous and very sensitive, but need a bit of time to fully switch to <a href="https://rupress.org/jgp/article-pdf/2/5/499/1239727/499.pdf">night time vision</a>. You can use that time to explore the stars in the sky – and find the constellation of Orion.</p>
<p>At this time of year, look south after sunset and Orion (see image below for guidance) will be a handspan above the horizon. Once you have found it, you will need to count the number of stars you can see inside the rectangle formed by the four corner stars in the Orion constellation. Include “Orion’s belt” but not the four corner stars. Then report the number back using the CPRE website’s <a href="https://takeaction.cpre.org.uk/page/95536/data/1?ea.tracking.id=cpre-web">online form</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449921/original/file-20220303-21-t3ewt0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The constellation of Orion seen above a heritage site in Portugal during survey work. An easy constellation to spot through its clear three belt stars. The image on the right shows the four corner stars in Orion, including Betelgeuse and Rigel. You will need to count all the stars you and see within that rectangle in the sky marked in blue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown (NTU)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Orion is a beautiful winter constellation. <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/">There are 88</a> constellations that have been recognised by the International Astronomical Union. Orion is one of the easiest to spot, having seven bright stars resembling a human. Especially striking are the three bright stars forming the line of Orion’s Belt, as well as the infamous red star Betelgeuse at the top left shoulder and the white star Rigel at his bottom right foot. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=634&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/449923/original/file-20220303-19-g6on2l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=797&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Orion constellation seen above the NTU observatory in Nottingham, UK. The artwork represents the heavenly hunter Orion, with the more simplified lines connecting relevant stars. The thin red line shows the official borders of the Orion constellation. The image is visualised using stellarium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown (NTU)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Stellar heritage</h2>
<p>While gazing at Orion, you might not think it much resembles a mythical hunter as described in the Greek myths, but something entirely different. But when you look at these stars, you see what the builders of Stonehenge saw, the Pharaohs of Egypt gazed upon, and what was used to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-far-theyll-go-moana-shows-the-power-of-polynesian-celestial-navigation-72375#:%7E:text=The%20position%20of%20Moana's%20hand,are%20travelling%20exactly%20due%20East.&text=Later%20in%20the%20film%2C%20we,by%20following%20Maui's%20fish%20hook.">navigate between</a> the islands of Polynesia. It forms a window into our past heritage that light pollution is now closing on us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178199/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Orion Star Count 2022 calls on us to go outside and count the stars of Orion.Daniel Brown, Lecturer in Astronomy, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1515682020-12-21T22:23:29Z2020-12-21T22:23:29ZThe world’s oldest story? Astronomers say global myths about ‘seven sisters’ stars may reach back 100,000 years<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373445/original/file-20201207-21-1fl07ce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1278%2C921&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2004/news-2004-20.html">NASA / ESA / AURA / Caltech</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the northern sky in December is a beautiful cluster of stars known as the Pleiades, or the “seven sisters”. Look carefully and you will probably count six stars. So why do we say there are seven of them? </p>
<p>Many cultures around the world refer to the Pleiades as “seven sisters”, and also tell quite similar stories about them. After studying the motion of the stars very closely, we believe these stories may date back 100,000 years to a time when the constellation looked quite different.</p>
<h2>The sisters and the hunter</h2>
<p>In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were the seven daughters of the Titan <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_(mythology)">Atlas</a>. He was forced to hold up the sky for eternity, and was therefore unable to protect his daughters. To save the sisters from being raped by the hunter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(mythology)">Orion</a>, Zeus transformed them into stars. But the story says one sister fell in love with a mortal and went into hiding, which is why we only see six stars. </p>
<p>A similar story is found among Aboriginal groups across Australia. In many Australian Aboriginal cultures, the Pleiades are a group of young girls, and are often associated with sacred women’s ceremonies and stories. The Pleiades are also important as an element of Aboriginal calendars and <a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-people-how-to-misunderstand-their-science-23835">astronomy</a>, and for several groups their first rising at dawn marks the start of winter. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-people-how-to-misunderstand-their-science-23835">Aboriginal people – how to misunderstand their science</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=851&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373447/original/file-20201207-15-m4cz7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1070&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An Australian Aboriginal interpretation of the constellation of Orion from the Yolngu people of Northern Australia. The three stars of Orion’s belt are three young men who went fishing in a canoe, and caught a forbidden king-fish, represented by the Orion Nebula.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Drawing by Ray Norris based on Yolngu oral and written accounts.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Close to the Seven Sisters in the sky is the constellation of Orion, which is often called “the saucepan” in Australia. In Greek mythology Orion is a hunter. This constellation is also often a hunter in Aboriginal cultures, or a group of lusty young men. The writer and anthropologist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_Bates_(author)">Daisy Bates</a> reported people in central Australia regarded Orion as a “hunter of women”, and specifically of the women in the Pleiades. Many Aboriginal stories say the boys, or man, in Orion are chasing the seven sisters – and one of the sisters has died, or is hiding, or is too young, or has been abducted, so again only six are visible.</p>
<h2>The lost sister</h2>
<p>Similar “lost Pleiad” stories are <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades_in_folklore_and_literature">found</a> in European, African, Asian, Indonesian, Native American and Aboriginal Australian cultures. Many cultures regard the cluster as having seven stars, but acknowledge only six are normally visible, and then have a story to explain why the seventh is invisible.</p>
<p>How come the Australian Aboriginal stories are so similar to the Greek ones? Anthropologists used to think Europeans might have brought the Greek story to Australia, where it was adapted by Aboriginal people for their own purposes. But the Aboriginal stories seem to be much, much older than European contact. And there was little contact between most Australian Aboriginal cultures and the rest of the world for at least 50,000 years. So why do they share the same stories?</p>
<p>Barnaby Norris and I suggest an answer in a paper to be published by Springer early next year in a book titled <a href="https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783030646059">Advancing Cultural Astronomy</a>, a preprint for which is available <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/np0n4v72bdl37gr/sevensisters.pdf?dl=0">here</a>. </p>
<p>All modern humans are descended from people who lived in Africa before they began their long migrations to the far corners of the globe about 100,000 years ago. Could these stories of the seven sisters be so old? Did all humans carry these stories with them as they travelled to Australia, Europe, and Asia?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-galah-to-help-capture-millions-of-rainbows-to-map-the-history-of-the-milky-way-64887">A Galah to help capture millions of rainbows to map the history of the Milky Way</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Moving stars</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1001&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1257&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373444/original/file-20201207-13-1q4idtv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1257&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The positions of the stars in the Pleiades today and 100,000 years ago. The star Pleione, on the left, was a bit further away from Atlas in 100,000 BC, making it much easier to see.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ray Norris</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Careful measurements with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-galah-to-help-capture-millions-of-rainbows-to-map-the-history-of-the-milky-way-64887">Gaia</a> space telescope and others show the stars of the Pleiades are slowly moving in the sky. One star, Pleione, is now so close to the star Atlas they look like a single star to the naked eye. </p>
<p>But if we take what we know about the movement of the stars and rewind 100,000 years, Pleione was further from Atlas and would have been easily visible to the naked eye. So 100,000 years ago, most people really would have seen seven stars in the cluster.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/373446/original/file-20201207-17-xz5zp0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A simulation showing hows the stars Atlas and Pleione would have appeared to a normal human eye today and in 100,000 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ray Norris</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We believe this movement of the stars can help to explain two puzzles: the similarity of Greek and Aboriginal stories about these stars, and the fact so many cultures call the cluster “seven sisters” even though we only see six stars today. </p>
<p>Is it possible the stories of the Seven Sisters and Orion are so old our ancestors were telling these stories to each other around campfires in Africa, 100,000 years ago? Could this be the oldest story in the world?</p>
<h2><em>Acknowledgement</em></h2>
<p><em>We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional owners and elders, both past and present, of all the Indigenous groups mentioned in this paper. All Indigenous material has been found in the public domain.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/151568/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ray Norris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cultures around the world call the Pleiades constellation ‘seven sisters’, even though we can only see six stars today. But things looked quite different 100,000 years agoRay Norris, Professor, School of Science, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1459232020-09-13T19:50:41Z2020-09-13T19:50:41ZNew coins celebrate Indigenous astronomy, the stars, and the dark spaces between them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357584/original/file-20200911-20-j92rhe.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3000%2C2995&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Seven Sisters Uncirculated Coin. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Australian Mint</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Two new coins have been released by the <a href="https://eshop.ramint.gov.au/">Royal Australian Mint</a> to celebrate the astronomical knowledge and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. They feature artworks from Wiradjuri (NSW) and Yamaji (WA) artists that represent two of the most famous features in Aboriginal astronomy: the great Emu in the Sky and the Seven Sisters.</p>
<p>Both celestial features are found in the astronomical traditions of many Aboriginal cultures across Australia. They are seen in similar ways and have similar meanings between cultures on opposite sides of the continent and are observed to note the changing seasons and the behaviours of plants and animals and inform Law.</p>
<p>The project has been three years in the making, with the third and final coin in the series to be released in mid-2021.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kindred-skies-ancient-greeks-and-aboriginal-australians-saw-constellations-in-common-74850">Kindred skies: ancient Greeks and Aboriginal Australians saw constellations in common</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Gugurmin – The Emu in the Sky</h2>
<p>The Wiradjuri of central New South Wales are the largest Aboriginal language group in the state and one of the largest in the country. Wiradjuri astronomical knowledge is rich and complex, linking the land and people to the cosmos (<em>Wantanggangura</em>). Traditional star knowledge features bright constellations of stars, as well as constellations comprising the spaces between the stars.</p>
<p>One of the many “dark constellations” is that of the celestial emu, called <em>Gugurmin</em>. The emu is a silhouette of the dark spaces stretching from the Southern Cross to Sagittarius in the backdrop of the Milky Way. The galaxy itself is a river called <em>Gular</em> (or <em>Gilaa</em>), which is also the Wiradjuri name of the Lachlan River.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two decorative coins with Indigenous designs." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357421/original/file-20200910-22-m0k5m8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two new uncirculated silver $1 coins commemorate Indigenous astronomy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Royal Australian Mint</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stories-from-the-sky-astronomy-in-indigenous-knowledge-33140">Stories from the sky: astronomy in Indigenous knowledge</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Wiradjuri watch when Gugurmin rises in the sky after sunset as a signal marking the emu’s behaviour patterns and changing seasons. When it rises at dusk in April and May, it signals the start of the emu breeding season, when the birds begin mating and nesting. By June and July, the male emus are sitting in the nest, incubating the eggs. In August and September, the chicks begin hatching.</p>
<p>The Emu in the Sky coin features the work of Wiradjuri artist <a href="https://www.parkesphoenix.com.au/peak-hill-artists-celestial-emu-coined/">Scott “Sauce” Towney</a> from Peak Hill, NSW. Sauce specialises in drawing and pyrography (wood burning) and was a finalist in the NSW Premier’s Indigenous Art Awards. The edge of the coin shows a male emu sitting on the eggs during the months of June and July when his celestial counterpart is stretched across the sky. It also shows men dancing in a ceremony, which takes place in August and September.</p>
<p>Gugurmin was one of the artworks Sauce created for a project entitled <em>Wiradjuri Murriyang</em> (“Wiradjuri Sky World”). This featured 13 traditional constellations for use in local school education programs, as well as public outreach. His art was incorporated into the <a href="http://stellarium.org/">Stellarium</a> planetarium software, enabling users around the world to see the movements of the stars from a Wiradjuri perspective.</p>
<p>Sauce’s work was incorporated into the Australian National Curriculum for the Year 7/8 module on <a href="https://indigenousknowledge.unimelb.edu.au/curriculum/resources/digital-technology-and-managing-indigenous-astronomical-knowledge">digital technology and managing Indigenous astronomical knowledge</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stories-behind-aboriginal-star-names-now-recognised-by-the-worlds-astronomical-body-87617">The stories behind Aboriginal star names now recognised by the world's astronomical body</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Nyarluwarri – The Seven Sisters</h2>
<p>The artwork featured on the Seven Sisters coin is from Wajarri-Noongar artist <a href="http://www.yamajiart.com/artists/christine-collard/">Christine “Jugarnu” Collard</a> of <a href="http://www.yamajiart.com/">Yamaji Art</a>. Christine was born and raised in Mullewa, Western Australia and paints under the name <em>Jugarnu</em> meaning “old woman” in the Wajarri language. The name was given to Christine by her now deceased Grandfather.</p>
<p>The Yamaji people of the Murchison region in Western Australia refer to the Pleiades star cluster as <em>Nyarluwarri</em> in the Wajarri language, representing seven sisters. When Nyarluwarri sits low on the horizon at sunset in April, the people know that emu eggs are ready for harvesting.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357418/original/file-20200910-19-1aj87r2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seven Sisters painting by Christine Jugarnu Collard and the Pleiades star cluster.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Christine Collard, Yamaji Art</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The story of the Seven Sisters tells of them fleeing to the sky to escape the advances of a man who wants to take one of the sisters as his wife. The man chases the sisters as they move from east to west each night, which appear to the northeast at dusk in November and set by April.</p>
<p>At the same time Nyarluwarri sets after the Sun in the west, the celestial emu (which is also featured in Yamaji traditions) rises in the southeast. Both serve as important seasonal markers.</p>
<p>The Seven Sisters and the Emu in the Sky were major themes in the <a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2014JAHH...17..205G"><em>Ilgarijiri</em></a> – Things Belonging to the Sky art exhibition. This project saw radio astronomers and Yamaji artists come together to share knowledge under the stars at the site of the new <a href="https://www.skatelescope.org/australia/">Square Kilometre Array</a> (SKA) telescope.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/indigenous-culture-and-astrophysics-a-path-to-reconciliation-42607">Indigenous culture and astrophysics: a path to reconciliation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane W. Hamacher was the consultant for the commemorative coins on Indigenous Astronomy developed by the Royal Australian Mint. He received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Laby Foundation, and the Pierce Bequest at the University of Melbourne.</span></em></p>Two new coins released by the Royal Australian Mint celebrate Indigenous astronomers, who have used the stars to map changing seasons, inform the behaviours of plants and animals, and encode Law.Duane Hamacher, Associate Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1288182020-01-24T13:39:36Z2020-01-24T13:39:36ZWhy your zodiac sign is probably wrong<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309355/original/file-20200109-80169-1wreuwe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1991%2C1476&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As the Earth orbits the Sun, the Sun appears to move through the ancient constellations of the zodiac.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ecliptic_path.jpg">Tauʻolunga/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>I was born a Capricorn (please don’t judge me), but the Sun was in the middle of Sagittarius when I was born. </p>
<p>As a <a href="http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/">professor emeritus of astronomy</a>, I am often asked about the difference between astrology and astronomy. The practice of astrology, which predicts one’s fate and fortune based on the positions of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets, dates back to ancient times. It was intermingled with the science of astronomy back then – in fact, many astronomers of old made scientific observations that are valuable even today. But once Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo realized the planets orbit the Sun, rather than the Earth, and Newton discovered the physical laws behind their behavior, astrology and astronomy split, never to be reunited. </p>
<p>The science of astronomy is now at odds with one of the basic organizing principles in astrology – the dates of the zodiac.</p>
<h2>The constellations of the zodiac</h2>
<p>Over the course of a year, the Sun appears to pass through a belt of sky containing 12 ancient constellations, or groupings, of stars. They are collectively called the zodiac and consist almost entirely of animal figures, like the ram (Aries), crab (Cancer) and lion (Leo). It is a disappointment to many that the constellations only rarely look like what they represent. How could they, since they are truly random scatterings of stars? They are meant to represent, not to portray.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/309733/original/file-20200113-103974-7f1x7p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The word ‘zodiac’ comes from a Greek phrase that means ‘circle of animals’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/zodiac-constellations-zodiacal-calendar-dates-astrological-1562183209">Tartila/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the constellations of the zodiac, which date back to Mesopotamia or before, may seem definitive, they are only one example of those produced by the various cultures of the world, all of which had their own, frequently very different, notions of how the sky is constructed. The Incas, for example, made constellations not from stars, but from the <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/inca-star-worship-and-constellations-2136315">dark patches in the Milky Way</a>. </p>
<p>The number of constellations in the Western zodiac comes from the cycles of the Moon, which orbits the Earth 12.4 times a year. Roughly speaking, the Sun appears against a different constellation every new Moon, the stars forming a distant backdrop to the Sun. Though the stars are not visible during daytime, you can know what constellation the Sun is in by looking at the nighttime sky. There you will see the opposite constellation.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310567/original/file-20200116-181617-c3nx4x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Sun is in Leo here, which means at night, you’d see Aquarius.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pngguru.com/free-transparent-background-png-clipart-gmeeu">PNGGuru</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Astrology suggests that each sign of the zodiac fits neatly into a 30-degree slice of sky – which multiplied by 12 adds up to 360 degrees. In actuality, this is not the case, as the constellations vary a great deal in shape and size. For example, the Sun passes through the constellation Scorpio in just five days, but takes 38 days to pass through Taurus. This is one of the reasons astrological signs do not line up with the constellations of the zodiac.</p>
<h2>Precession of the equinoxes</h2>
<p>The main reason astrological signs fail to line up with the zodiac, though, is a wobble in the Earth’s rotational axis called <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/precession">precession</a>. As a result of its rotation, the Earth bulges slightly at the equator, not unlike how a skater’s skirt fans out as she spins. The gravity of the Moon and Sun pull on the bulge, which causes the Earth to wobble like a top. The wobble causes the Earth’s axis, which is the center line around which it rotates, to swing in a slow circle over the course of 25,800 years.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qlVgEoZDjok?wmode=transparent&start=39" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A wobbling Earth causes the dates of the zodiac to shift from those established in ancient times.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This movement alters the view of the zodiac from Earth, making the constellations appear to slide to the east, roughly a degree per human lifetime. Though slow, precession was discovered with the naked eye by <a href="http://abyss.uoregon.edu/%7Ejs/glossary/hipparchus.html">Hipparchus of Nicaea</a> around 150 B.C.</p>
<p>In ancient times, the vernal equinox – or the first day of spring – was in Aries. Due to precession, it moved into Pisces <a href="http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/books.html#sky">around 100 B.C., where it is now and will remain until A.D. 2700</a>, when it will move into Aquarius and so on. Over the course of 25,800 years, it will eventually return to Aries and the cycle will begin again.</p>
<p><iframe id="x0CHI" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/x0CHI/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>As a game, astrology and its predictions of fate and personality can be fun. However the subject has no basis in science. It is to science what the game “Monopoly” is to the real estate market. </p>
<p>Astrology diverts attention away from the very real influences of the planets, primarily their gravitational effects on one another that cause real changes in the shapes, sizes and tilts of their orbits. On Earth, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07867">such changes likely caused past ice ages</a>. Direct collisions between Earth and celestial bodies can cause very rapid changes, such as the impact of an asteroid off the Yucatan Peninsula <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dinosaur-killing-asteroid-impact-chicxulub-crater-timeline-destruction-180973075/">66 million years ago that had global effects</a> including the disappearance of dinosaurs and the rise of mammals.</p>
<p>Astronomical studies will eventually allow the prediction of such events, while astrological predictions will get you absolutely nowhere.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This story has been updated to correct the animal that Aries represents. The chart has been updated to include Oct. 31 under Virgo, where it falls most years.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128818/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>James B. Kaler does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Astronomy and astrology do not agree on the dates of the zodiac constellations.James B. Kaler, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1250052019-11-08T13:44:29Z2019-11-08T13:44:29ZHow to see stars and tackle light pollution in your own backyard<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300883/original/file-20191108-194650-1k90z4j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5611%2C3738&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-looking-stars-telescope-beside-her-541050616?src=c4cd8f17-84ca-4155-9624-434ee38e0097-1-15">AstroStar/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The dark skies of the great outdoors help people to see the wonders of space, either with the naked eye or using telescopes. That’s why observatories are usually placed in high altitudes or remote locations, where there’s often outstanding natural beauty and little <a href="https://theconversation.com/light-pollution-is-bad-for-humans-but-may-be-even-worse-for-animals-31144">light pollution</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/833726/landscapes-review-final-report.pdf">A report</a> commissioned by the UK government recommended that every school child should be given the opportunity to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-49781600">spend a night under the stars</a> in such places.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296443/original/file-20191010-188823-qefydr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=541&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School children aged ten to 11 on a summer school exploring a stone circle, Arbor Low in the Peak District National Park, UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D Brown & T Sherwood</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In my research I’ve noticed <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1011.5186">the awe and wonder</a> that young people feel while watching the stars in dark sky sites such as the <a href="https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/calanais-standing-stones/">stone circle at Callanish in Scotland</a>. The stones here are made from Lewisian Gneiss – the oldest rock in Britain – formed three billion years ago and erected by people more than 5,000 years ago. Here, the immensity of time and our universe can be felt in every fibre of the body.</p>
<p>Exploring the night sky in a national park could be a <a href="http://ecosensing.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/A-critical-pedagogy-of-place.pdf">transformative experience</a> for both young and old. They might see the dust lanes of the Milky Way galaxy for the first time, stretching across the night sky. Learning that this band is made from millions of stars, each not too different to our sun, gives us a new appreciation of the universe and our place within it.</p>
<p>Perhaps they might spot the closest galaxy to ours – Andromeda, 2.5m light years away – and marvel at how the light they’re seeing set off just before our <a href="http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/species/homo-habilis">species</a> walked the Earth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=434&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296432/original/file-20191010-188840-15mmnjg.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=546&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Finding chart to locate the Andromeda Galaxy as seen from a dark sky discovery site, Surprise View, in the Peak District National Park, UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown/Stellarium</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The sky at home</h2>
<p>But protecting dark sky sites in national parks is only half the story. It’s a shame that light pollution means these wonderful experiences are only possible far from home. Connecting everyone with the wonders of the universe should be taken up where people live.</p>
<p>In the UK the Dark Sky Discovery partnership – a network of astronomy and environmental groups – has developed <a href="https://www.darkskydiscovery.org.uk/dark-sky-discovery-sites/map.html">dark sky discovery sites</a> that offer safe and accessible stargazing in towns and cities. Urban parks are often perfect for this if the lighting can be reduced and shielded.</p>
<p>Outside of these sites, there are many things that stargazers can do to see more of the night sky close to home, like picking somewhere away from direct street light or switching off outdoor security lights. Turning off all the lights in the house can make a big difference to how much of the night sky is visible from outside.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296435/original/file-20191010-188814-uejpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Surprise View in daylight – a dark sky site in the Peak District National Park, UK.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The brightest objects in the solar system, such as Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the moon, are still visible in cities. But these simple steps to limit light pollution near your home can make it possible to see more stars and even some of the brightest constellations. It’s possible to spot and track these objects from night to night and understand the pattern of their movements.</p>
<p>Noticing how the moon seemingly changes shape and colour while rising, setting and moving through the surrounding stars from night to night is a memorable experience. The regular crazes around <a href="https://theconversation.com/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-myths-from-around-the-world-100548">super moons</a> suggest that people have sadly forgotten the nightly pleasure of tracking the moon.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300762/original/file-20191107-10961-1buzlk0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The night sky in Nottingham at 1am, November 7 2019. The pole star is the centre of the clock and the two pointer stars of the plough are the hour hand. This is a 24-hour clock that rotates anti-clockwise. First you need to read off the hour and then you will need to correct the time for your date. Every week after March 7 deduct half an hour or two hours per month. Here the time is initially 17:00 but needs correcting: eight months after March 7 means subtracting 16 hours. This results in 1:00 or 1 am. Adapted from ‘The Walker’s Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs’ by Tristan Gooley.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s still nearly always possible to find the Plough on a clear night in the northern hemisphere. The two stars at its back – opposite the handle and known as the pointer stars – can also help people locate the pole star, which gives the direction of north. But, it’s interesting to remember that this is only a coincidence. Over thousands of years the Earth’s axis tumbles and points to many different stars that become, in each of their era, the new pole star.</p>
<p>You can even tell the time using the position of the pointer stars in the Plough, as if the whole constellation were <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Walkers-Guide-Outdoor-Clues-Signs/dp/1444780107">a giant clock with the pole star at the centre</a>. </p>
<p>Spotting Orion is also simple enough when looking for his belt – three bright stars in a line. Looking below the belt reveals three much fainter stars forming the sword. The object at the middle of this is not a star, but the Orion Nebula – a cosmic nursery of new stars.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=670&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/296449/original/file-20191010-188797-1ua57om.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=842&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A finding chart including only the brightest stars in the constellation of Orion, many of which can be typically seen in towns away from direct light.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Daniel Brown/Stellarium</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Local action on light pollution – by people in their homes or local councils dimming and reducing non-essential lighting in parks – might seem small in scale, but the results can be impressive. </p>
<p>While dark sky sites remind us of how beautiful the night sky is, <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11245-018-9562-4.pdf">bringing that opportunity back to where most people live</a> could broaden the appeal of stargazing to those who’ve never tried it before. School trips to these places are still a wonderful idea, but allowing children and their families to experience the majesty of space in their own neighbourhood could connect them to the stars for life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/125005/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Brown received funding from both STFC as well as IoP to develop and embed light pollution education as well as develop Dark Sky Discovery Sites in the Peak District National Park, UK. </span></em></p>Dark sky sites can inspire new generations of stargazers, but a better long-term solution would be connecting people with the night sky where they live.Daniel Brown, Lecturer in Astronomy, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1219812019-08-16T04:02:33Z2019-08-16T04:02:33ZWhy do different cultures see such similar meanings in the constellations?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288272/original/file-20190816-136213-tgp668.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C0%2C6348%2C3962&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Milky Way: a pattern of stars, or a pattern of gaps?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Milky_Way_over_Island_Point.jpg">Luke Busellato/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Almost every person throughout the existence of humankind has looked up at the night sky and seen more than just a random scattering of light. Constellations of stars have helped us shape our own ongoing narratives and cultures – creating meaning in the sky above that guides us in our life on the ground below.</p>
<p>Of course, we don’t all see exactly the same night sky – there are subtle differences depending on where we are on the planet, what season it is, and the time of night, all of which are imbued into the meaning we construct about the stars.</p>
<p>But around the world and throughout history, we find remarkably similar constellations defined by disparate cultures, as well as strikingly similar narratives describing the relationships between them.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/kindred-skies-ancient-greeks-and-aboriginal-australians-saw-constellations-in-common-74850">Kindred skies: ancient Greeks and Aboriginal Australians saw constellations in common</a>
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<p>For example, the constellation Orion is described by the Ancient Greeks as a man pursuing the seven sisters of the Pleiades star cluster.</p>
<p>This same constellation is Baiame in Wiradjuri traditions: a man pursuing the Mulayndynang (Pleiades star cluster).</p>
<p>In the traditions of the Great Victoria Desert, Orion is Nyeeruna, a man chasing the seven Yugarilya sisters.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288274/original/file-20190816-136186-1c20bb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cultures thoughout the world have perceived Orion (top right) as a man pursuing a group of women – even though in the southern hemisphere he appears the other way up.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Erkki Makkonen/Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>These and other common patterns, as well as the remarkably complex narratives describing them, link the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kindred-skies-ancient-greeks-and-aboriginal-australians-saw-constellations-in-common-74850">cultures of early Aboriginal Australians</a> and the ancient Greeks, despite them being separated by thousands of years and miles.</p>
<p>Similarly, many cultures in the southern hemisphere identify constellations that are actually made of the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333700963_A_Comparison_of_Dark_Constellations_of_the_Milky_Way">dark spaces between the stars</a>, highlighting absence rather than presence. These feature predominantly in the dark dust lanes of the Milky Way.</p>
<p>Across cultures, these again show remarkable consistency. The celestial emu, which is found in Aboriginal traditions across Australia, shares nearly identical views and traditions with the Tupi people of Brazil and Bolivia, who see it as a celestial rhea, another large flightless bird.</p>
<h2>Significant differences too</h2>
<p>There are also significant differences seen between cultures, although the fundamental roots remain.</p>
<p>The Big Dipper is identified across many northern hemisphere traditions, but <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/574251/pdf">for the Alaskan Gwich’in</a> this is merely the tail of the whole-sky constellation Yahdii (The Tailed Man), who “walks” from east to west overnight.</p>
<p>Although we share a fascination with the stars, we have little documented knowledge of how particular constellations were identified by certain cultures. Why and how do we see the same patterns?</p>
<p>Our upcoming research explores the genesis of these different names and different groupings, and the idea that many came about mainly as a result of cultural variations in the perception of natural scenes. Thus an <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26954696">individual’s view</a> of a phenomenon can become the generalised view of a group or culture.</p>
<p>These differences may have endured due to the necessity of communicating these groupings across generations through complex oral traditions.</p>
<p>These oral traditions are often mistakenly compared to the children’s game of <a href="https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/chinese-whispers.html">Telephone</a>, in which a message is whispered down a line of people, resulting in errors as the information is passed on. In reality, they are far more organised and rigorous, enabling information to be passed on for thousands of years without degradation.</p>
<p>British psychologist <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederic-Bartlett-psychologist">Sir Frederic Bartlett</a> realised in the early 20th century that these errors typically reflect a person’s beliefs about missing or uncertain information filtering into the original message. The information passed from one person to another accumulates and ultimately informs an individual’s beliefs about the nature of the world.</p>
<p>In oral cultures - like those of Indigenous Australia - the focus of transmission is on ease of communication and recall.</p>
<p>The outstanding difference is that Aboriginal oral traditions constructed narratives and memory spaces in such a way as to keep the critical information intact through hundreds of generations.</p>
<h2>Search for meaning</h2>
<p>How this came about and how a thread of meaning endures across individuals, space and time are fascinating questions.</p>
<p>In collaboration with Museums Victoria, our team is exploring how cultural differences in our traditions and stories can come about as a result of very small variations in the nature of perception and understanding in different people, and how this is influenced by both personal belief and geographical location.</p>
<p>Investigating how meaning in the stars is developed and passed on emphasises the fundamental aspects of humanity that we share across cultural bounds, despite differing beliefs, geographical isolation, and location.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-stories-behind-aboriginal-star-names-now-recognised-by-the-worlds-astronomical-body-87617">The stories behind Aboriginal star names now recognised by the world's astronomical body</a>
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<p>As part of National Science Week, more than <a href="https://starstories.space/">200 people submitted their own constellation</a> and story in response to a star field projected onto the ceiling of Victoria’s Parliament House; the preliminary data-collection phase in this study.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288276/original/file-20190816-136199-1svn1b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What do you see? Head to https://starstories.space and share your interpretation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Star Stories</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Humanity’s ongoing fascination with the stars has only recently been fuelled by our ability to dream about leaving the planet and visiting them. More fundamentally, they are a reflection and a framework for our life on this planet.</p>
<p>The meaning we find in the night sky seems, ironically, to ground us in the changing world in which we find ourselves. This is as important now as it was 65,000 years ago when people migrated to Australia using the stars.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>This article was <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/the-meaning-in-our-stars">co-published with Pursuit</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/121981/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Cropper receives funding from McCoy Foundation for the initial stages of this project. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Kemp receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Little receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the McCoy Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane W. Hamacher receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Around the world and throughout history, we find remarkably similar constellations defined by disparate cultures, as well as strikingly similar narratives describing the relationships between them.Simon Cropper, Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of MelbourneCharles Kemp, Associate Professor, The University of MelbourneDaniel R. Little, Senior Lecturer in Mathematical Psychology, The University of MelbourneDuane Hamacher, Associate Professor, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/748502017-04-09T23:54:13Z2017-04-09T23:54:13ZKindred skies: ancient Greeks and Aboriginal Australians saw constellations in common<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161769/original/image-20170321-5408-4eqwzt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Yurri and Wanjel - the Gemini stars Castor and Pollux in the Wergaia traditions of western Victoria, Australia.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.stellarium.org">Stellarium/John Morieson and Alex Cherney</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Look up on any clear night and you can see myriad stars, planets, and the Milky Way stretching across the sky. The chances are that you know some of the constellations.</p>
<p>The International Astronomical Union <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/">recognises 88 constellations</a>, ranging from the giant water-serpent <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/hya/">Hydra</a> to tiny <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/cru/">Crux</a> (the Southern Cross).</p>
<p>These are largely based on the mythology of the ancient Greeks. But they share remarkable similarities with the constellations of the oldest living cultures on the planet.</p>
<h2>Hunters and sisters</h2>
<p>One of the most easily recognisable constellations is <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/ori/">Orion</a>. In Greek mythology, the <a href="http://www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Orion/orion.html">boastful hunter</a> was killed by a giant scorpion.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164031/original/image-20170405-11383-19enkra.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orion dominates the evening skies during summer in the Southern Hemisphere and appears upside-down to us in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium</span></span>
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<p>Orion is constantly pursuing the seven sisters of the Pleiades. In the sky, Orion is defending himself from the charging bull <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/tau/">Taurus</a>, represented by the V-shaped Hyades star cluster. The Hyades are daughters of Atlas and sisters of the Pleiades. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164030/original/image-20170405-11395-8xnry9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orion (right) fights Taurus the bull (middle) while pursuing the seven sisters of the Pleiades (left), as seen from Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiradjuri">Wiradjuri</a> Aboriginal traditions of central New South Wales, Baiame is the creation ancestor, seen in the sky as Orion - nearly identical in shape to his Greek counterpart. Baiame trips and falls over the horizon as the constellation sets, which is why he appears upside down.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164029/original/image-20170405-11392-183zcsh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=620&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The stars of Orion also form a man, Baiame, In Wiradjuri traditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium, Wiradjuri artist Scott 'Sauce' Towney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Pleiades are called Mulayndynang in Wiradjuri, representing seven sisters being pursued by the stars of Orion.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=457&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164028/original/image-20170405-11350-m1abxj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=574&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pleiades are seven sisters in Wiradjuri traditions, called Mulayndynang.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium, Wiradjuri artist Scott 'Sauce' Towney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Aboriginal traditions of the Great Victoria Desert, Orion is also a hunter, Nyeeruna. He is pursuing the Yugarilya sisters of the Pleiades but is prevented from reaching them by their eldest sister, Kambugudha (the Hyades).</p>
<h2>Scorpions and canoes</h2>
<p>In Greek mythology, the scorpion that killed Orion sits opposite the hunter in the night sky as the constellation <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/sco/">Scorpius</a>. They were placed on opposite sides of the sky by the gods to keep them away from one other.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164235/original/image-20170406-16589-1q2huxx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Greek constellation of Scorpius as seen from Australia, which dominates the winter skies of the Southern Hemisphere.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A comparable relationship can be found in the traditions of the Torres Strait Islanders. The culture hero, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-shark-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-culture-in-the-torres-strait-15850">Tagai</a>, killed his 12-man fishing crew (Zugubals) in a rage for breaking traditional law, before they all ascended into the sky.</p>
<p>Tagai is standing on his canoe, formed by the stars of Scorpius. The Zugubals are represented by two groups of six stars: the belt/scabbard stars of Orion (Seg) and the Pleiades (Usiam). Tagai placed the Zugubals on the opposite side of the sky to keep them far away from him.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=609&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161728/original/image-20170321-9147-p6bqui.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=765&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The constellation Tagai. The curve of stars towards the bottom left are the stars of Scorpius.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tagai.png">Wikimedia/Osiris</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The twins</h2>
<p>Another famous constellation is <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/gem_new/">Gemini</a>, the twins, denoted by the bright stars Castor and Pollux.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164027/original/image-20170405-11356-11zir2f.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=726&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gemini’s two bright stars Castor and Pollux, as seen from Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Many Aboriginal groups also view these stars as brothers. In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wergaia">Wergaia</a> traditions of western Victoria, they are the brothers Yuree and Wanjel, hunters who pursue and kill the kangaroo Purra.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164032/original/image-20170405-11386-1pdg97e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In Wergaia traditions the brothers take the form of animals: Yurree (Castor), the fan-tailed cuckoo, and Wanjel (Pollux), the long-necked tortoise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium, John Morieson and Alex Cherney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In eastern Tasmania, the constellation Gemini represents two ancestor men who created fire, walking on the road of the Milky Way – similar in orientation to the Greek constellation. </p>
<h2>Bird flying high</h2>
<p>Bordering the zodiac near <a href="https://www.iau.org/public/images/detail/sgr/">Sagittarius</a> lies the constellation <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquila_(constellation)">Aquila</a>, the eagle. In Greek mythology, Aquila carried the thunderbolts of Zeus. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164033/original/image-20170405-11366-elxkfa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aquila, the eagle, in Greek mythology.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Wiradjuri traditions, Aquila is Maliyan, the <a href="https://australianmuseum.net.au/wedge-tailed-eagle">Wedge-tailed Eagle</a>. In some Greek and Wiradjuri traditions, the star Altair is the eagle’s eye - despite being seen in different orientations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=643&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164034/original/image-20170405-11366-v9opc2.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maliyan, the Wedge-tailed Eagle in Wiradjuri traditions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stellarium, Wiraduri artist Scott 'Sauce' Towney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even Indigenous constellations around the world have noteworthy similarities.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://aboriginalastronomy.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/the-kamilaroi-and-euahlayi-emu-in-sky.html">Emu in the Sky</a>, seen by Aboriginal groups across Australia, is composed of the dark spaces in the Milky Way.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164035/original/image-20170405-11379-1ttdzi8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gugurmin - the emu in the Wiradjuri night sky.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wiraduri artist Scott 'Sauce' Towney.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The rising of the celestial emu at dusk informs observers about the bird’s breeding behaviour. Across the Pacific, the Indigenous Tupi people of Brazil <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921311002304">see the same shape</a> as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/rhea-bird-group">rhea</a>, a large, flightless bird that is native to South America and related to the emu. </p>
<p>The rhea’s behaviour is nearly identical to that of the emu and the Tupi and Aboriginal traditions are remarkably similar. </p>
<h2>Why the similar stories?</h2>
<p>We’ve learned a bit about <a href="https://theconversation.com/stories-from-the-sky-astronomy-in-indigenous-knowledge-33140">Aboriginal</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-shark-in-the-stars-astronomy-and-culture-in-the-torres-strait-15850">Torres Strait Islander</a> views of the stars.</p>
<p>What we don’t yet know is why different cultures have such similar views about constellations. Does it relate to particular ways we humans perceive the world around us? Is it due to our similar origins? Or is it something else?</p>
<p>The quest for answers continues.</p>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge and pay respect to Wiradjuri, Meriam Mir, Wergaia, and Aboriginal Tasmanian artists and elders for sharing their knowledge of the stars.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duane W. Hamacher receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Many of the constellations we know in the night sky come from myths of the ancient Greeks. But similar stories are told by the oldest living cultures on Earth, including those of Australia.Duane Hamacher, Senior ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/582002016-04-27T10:10:44Z2016-04-27T10:10:44ZHow to capture the violent tumult of our roiling universe, moment by moment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119698/original/image-20160421-27019-12k6yp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">All is not calm in the cosmos.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-stares-into-the-crammed-center-of-messier-22">ESA/Hubble and NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The hustle and bustle of daily life is a stark contrast to the tranquility of the night sky.</p>
<p>The stars are the same, year after year. So much so that many of the very names we use for the <a href="https://www.naic.edu/%7Egibson/starnames/starnames.html">stars</a> and <a href="http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-resources/constellation-names-and-abbreviations/">constellations</a> are thousands of years old. <a href="http://www.ancient.eu/Greek_Astronomy/">Ancient Greek</a> and <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/astr/hd_astr.htm">Arabic astronomers</a> had almost exactly the same view of the heavens that we have today: the stars do not seem to change.</p>
<p>But this is a lie.</p>
<p>We now know that the night sky is a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU12jeGAUSg">seething, bubbling tableau</a>. Look up, and unseen by your eye a vast number of stars are erupting, exploding or being torn apart.</p>
<p>How can the universe be so tumultuous, when it seems so peaceful? Because with our limited human vision we see only the tiny brightest tip of what the cosmos has to offer. Look deeper, and violence abounds.</p>
<h2>Stars are far from static</h2>
<p>A growing number of astronomers now devote their careers to what is known as “<a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2014/01/06/how-a-new-type-of-astronomy-investigates-the-most-mysterious-objects-in-the-universe/">time-domain astronomy</a>” – the search for celestial bodies that appear, disappear or change with time. The goal is to catch stars in the very act of brightening or fading, and to use these changes to learn more about the cosmos.</p>
<p>Flashes and flares in the sky usually represent <a href="https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/">catastrophic releases of energy</a>, under conditions <a href="http://solomon.as.utexas.edu/magnetar.html#Strong_Magnetic_Fields">far more extreme</a> than we could ever hope to reproduce in laboratories here on Earth. To see the sky change is to open a window into exotic and fundamental physics that we could never otherwise study.</p>
<p>The catch is that time-domain astronomy is a cosmic guessing game, with seemingly impossible odds stacked against us.</p>
<h2>Where to focus our shared sights</h2>
<p>The fundamental problem is that we don’t know in advance where the next change in the heavens is going to happen. So even if we look at the sky all the time, chances are we won’t be looking in the right place.</p>
<p>For example, suppose that once a night, somewhere in the universe, a star abruptly ends its life in a <a href="http://www.space.com/6638-supernova.html">colossal supernova explosion</a>. We would very much like to see this happen, but we cannot possibly know which of billions of stars <a href="http://www.universetoday.com/110394/which-star-will-explode-next/">will be the next to go</a>.</p>
<p>Maybe we should just stare through our telescopes, night after night, and hope for the best? Unfortunately, most modern telescopes have tiny fields of view, so it’s almost certain that we will always be looking in the wrong direction. The <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html">Hubble Space Telescope</a>, arguably the most powerful telescope ever built, has a field of view that covers <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/science/xdf.html">just 0.000008 percent of the sky</a> at any one time. Patiently point Hubble in a random direction once every 24 hours, hoping that you’ll see the one supernova in the universe that happened to occur that night, and you’ll average tens of thousands of years before you’re lucky enough to catch one in the act. </p>
<p>Astronomers have thus had to come up with a range of clever solutions, all aimed at dealing with the vastness of the sky, and geared toward finding the needle in the cosmic haystack.</p>
<p>Perhaps unique in all fields of research, astronomy is built on strong <a href="http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/news/role-amateur-astronomers-rosetta%E2%80%99s-mission">partnerships between amateurs and professionals</a>. Thousands of amateurs <a href="https://sciencebits.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/bob-evans-supernova-hunter/">patrol the skies</a> with their own modest-sized telescopes night after night, looking for anything unusual. With so many eyes on the sky at once, the chances of quickly finding any changes in the heavens are pretty good.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119697/original/image-20160421-26981-sr9z6l.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An aerial view of the Murchison Widefield Array, which has a drastically wider view of the sky than any telescope that’s come before.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://mwatelescope.org/multimedia/images">Murchison Widefield Array</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Astronomers have also built new types of telescopes, with spectacular fish-eye lens capabilities to image enormous swaths of the sky at once. For example, the forthcoming <a href="http://www.lsst.org/">Large Synoptic Survey Telescope</a> will utilize a 3,200-megapixel camera to provide a field of view more than 3,000 times larger than that of Hubble. And a new radio telescope, the <a href="http://mwatelescope.org/">Murchison Widefield Array</a>, has a view of the sky larger than Hubble’s by a factor of 500,000. While we will still not know exactly where to look to see the next explosion or disruption, the odds are greatly increased when you’re looking through a massively wide-angle lens.</p>
<p>Once an astronomer finds something unexpected in the sky, the most urgent thing is to let everyone else know too, so that they can also study it before it fades away.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"723551606726336512"}"></div></p>
<p>Sophisticated <a href="http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/">electronic alert networks</a> have thus been developed, which allow any registered user to <a href="http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/">instantly notify</a> everyone else as to what they’ve seen and where to look. The truly dedicated sleep with their phones by their beds, ready to be awakened by an automatic alert calling them to action.</p>
<p>Upon receiving such an alert, astronomers will swing their telescopes to the relevant patch of the sky, eager to capture their own contribution to the aftermath of the event before it fades away. Every day, a <a href="http://gcn.gsfc.nasa.gov/other/G184098.gcn3">global game of “whack-a-mole”</a> takes place as these alerts crisscross the globe and call stargazers to action.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119693/original/image-20160421-26970-1g4ic1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A star quake’s massive blast of energy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_626.html">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Accumulating fiery findings</h2>
<p>What have we learned from time-domain astronomy?</p>
<p>We have seen <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/20/science/space/dying-star-flares-up-briefly-outshining-rest-of-galaxy.html">colossal distant star quakes</a>, releasing more energy than the sun can produce in a quarter of a million years. We have seen stars cry out their <a href="http://www.space.com/12719-black-hole-swallows-star-nasa-swift.html">final farewell in a flash of light</a> as they fall into the maw of a giant black hole. We have seen <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-22/dark-noodles-discovered-in-the-milky-way/7105344">invisible noodle-like tubes of gas</a>, drifting in front of galaxies, flaring and distorting their light like a funhouse mirror. And we have borne witness to the <a href="http://www.space.com/5826-scream-black-hole-birth-detected-halfway-universe.html">birth cries of newborn black holes</a>, formed when a star’s nuclear furnace shuts down and gravity takes over.</p>
<p>The universe is a dynamic, violent, exciting place. We have begun a heady new era, in which the sky changes in real time as we watch with amazement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58200/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bryan Gaensler receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and from the Canada Research Chairs Program.</span></em></p>Stargazing seems such a quiet, calm activity. But whether our eyes can see or not, those stars out there are in constant flux. Time-domain astronomy studies how cosmic objects change with time.Bryan Gaensler, Director, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/533932016-01-21T10:12:41Z2016-01-21T10:12:41ZDavid Bowie ‘constellation’ – a stellar hoax?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108631/original/image-20160119-29754-1mfhxen.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Star man: Belgian astronomers reportedly registered a new constellation for the singer.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://stardustforbowie.be">www.stardustforbowie.be</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The death of David Bowie has caused people to remember the artist in many different ways. Only recently a request for a <a href="http://www.mira.be/nl/node/2371">Bowie Constellation</a> was <a href="http://stardustforbowie.be">reportedly put forward</a> by Belgian radio channel Studio Brussels and the MIRA Public Observatory. Can this be done at all? And where can we see it?</p>
<p>Anyone watching the night sky will try to make out <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/871930.stm">patterns in the stars</a>. This aids in navigation and, over millennia, has allowed peoples to create myths and stories within the stars, making the sky a place that is sacred and important to them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108786/original/image-20160120-26079-1huxm3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Can you spot the constellations? The Milky Way above ALMA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/esoastronomy/7295279962/in/photolist-c7Edz1-c8TCmL-mGV6g9-eTBWKY-c6JdD7-fCHhPa-pqRfXu-ekw9yc-aj87Cw-xz6VsR-pK8Ld4-8S8zAi-v2DEVc-dUNNU1-hAZHvK-8mQpt3-dnst6u-st79qF-9x2Cmr-y4qm4V-oQfpcF-9vbE2t-sto9s8-BJ16Xn-uwf3jf-zVPxnN-pnSbae-jHFuot-pDRbPB-ejtyJf-bZ7ZKb-f9QQ1h-fKXCdY-kiUo82-cRREGs-2CVzAQ-geu2H1-cftacU-7uQ8NT-2N6Gaq-osCcQq-eiwgeo-rC1DtC-p6RZc4-f7xEcA-9joBgy-dJ1SMi-ck7g4m-rbVtRh-fwrNvb">European Southern Observatory/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Modern astronomers, however, have a more pragmatic view of the constellations. They have defined <a href="http://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/">88 regions in the sky as “constellations”</a>, including those of the zodiac. Astronomers use the constellations as we on Earth use countries – to describe where something is located. On Earth, we can state where we live by giving the longitude and latitude, which is similar to describing a location in the sky with the “right ascension” and “declination” used by astronomers. But it’s useful to be able to refer to a star in Cancer, say, just as we might first tell someone that we are from Britain, India or the US.</p>
<h2>Crowded skies</h2>
<p>So could we add a new one? Unfortunately, there is no space in the sky for a new constellation, everything has already been covered. Therefore, there is <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/160118-david-bowie-constellation-asterism-asteroid-astronomy/">no process to request a new constellation</a>. Additionally, the International Astronomical Union responsible for the definition of the boundaries of the constellations <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2016-01/19/bowie-constellation-debunked">never received a request</a>. </p>
<p>The “David Bowie constellation” was defined by the stars making up the unique lightning bolt from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aladdin_Sane">Bowie’s 1973’s Aladdin Sane Album cover</a>. That would actually be something that astronomers call an “asterism”, a shape made by stars, and not a region in the sky – or constellation – at all.</p>
<p>The asterism would encompass a vast region, starting with the brightest star in Virgo, <a href="http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/speed-on-to-spica-the-15th-brightest-star">Spica</a>, 10 times more massive and four times hotter at its surface than our Sun. It then encompasses Sigma Librae, Zeta Centauri and SAO 204132, Sigma Octantis and Beta Trianguli Australis, near the Celestial South Pole. It would contain parts of the zodiac, some considerably bright, named and well-known stars – but would also cross eight constellations.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=197&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=197&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=197&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108778/original/image-20160120-26101-ssmfo1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=247&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Moon and Spica, right.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/darronb/13920257368/in/photolist-nd5Xxo-9bj7gG-76iLaW-76cg5E-74eP3G-74aSjt-769zmX-7bZkXn-9bg6tT-76eSn4-768n9r-7fu7q7-7fjknv-769hEp-76dbbq-75cCDB-73hnQX-735mHo-72WRxa-8QAqQK-7bZkEF-7b6wnA-768no4-74TPbi-73nPc1-73hve6-73huJ4-73mjNU-731Us3-7iAeGB-76dsQs-92j3f5-7ker6Y-5qbhui-8ut7gw-5qcxj1-7f82ST-8wSqyp-7FceaU-hBPaQf-hBP74C-67rUpJ-969sz8-cWBrDo-9SmAxz-cWBrm9-8sg3K8-8sj6cb-eew9jN-AbWurB">Darron Birgenheier/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Overall, the “David Bowie constellation” was a description of an asterism linked to recent events that spiralled out of control through misinterpretation. What it shows is that what we see in the stars is very much influenced by what happens to the people seeing the stars and a good example of “<a href="http://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/ma-cultural-astronomy-astrology/">cultural astronomy</a>”. But even if it isn’t a constellation, this asterism does offer us a chance to use it as a way to explore what lies within it.</p>
<h2>A glorious patch of space</h2>
<p>The asterism, for example, includes the globular cluster <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130501.html">Omega Centauri</a>, which is nearly 16,000 light years away and has around 10m stars. It is so large that it is even thought to be the <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0008500">remains of a disrupted dwarf galaxy</a>. It would also include the closest and brightest barred spiral galaxy to us – M83, also known as the <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140128.html">Southern Pinwheel galaxy</a>. It is 15m light years from us and possibly shows <a href="http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/heic1403/">indications of a double nucleus</a>, making it a fascinating object for astronomers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=716&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108781/original/image-20160120-26105-1xfylbt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The core of Omega Centauri captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1465.html">NASA</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Depending on where you live, you would struggle to see the entire asterism. At latitudes similar to those in Europe and the US, the tip of the lightning bolt would always be below the horizon. But while observing the south to south-eastern horizon at the end of January in the early morning hours, enjoying the morning planets display, you would be able to see the top of the asterism starting at Spica. However, its huge extent in the sky – ranging from declinations of -11 degrees to -80 degrees – would ensure that nearly anyone on Earth further south than Svalbard at 80 degrees north, could see at least part of the Bowie asterism.</p>
<p>So enjoy observing the stars, try and find the unofficial Bowie asterism and see if you can make your own to help you explore the wonders in the sky and learn more about the stories in the sky and what they can say about us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Brown does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It contains countless wonders – but all is not what it seems.Daniel Brown, Lecturer in Astronomy, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.