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.
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Articles on Indigenous astronomy
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A growing number of satellite ‘mega-constellations’ are being deployed. Will a starry night sky soon be a thing of the past?
The First Astronomers shares the extensive star knowledge of First Peoples worldwide, stretching back millennia to reclaim so-called Western discoveries and highlight the strength of oral traditions.
A new 3D film follows two children as they discover the astrophysical story of the universe and Yamaji stories of the sky and land. Making it was an extraordinary cross-cultural experience.
Mars, Venus and the crescent Moon will all come together in the sky just after sunset on Tuesday.
Uncle Segar is an expert on many things including the land, sea and sky. This knowledge is then captured in his artworks.
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 ago
Following on from the 2019 International Year of Indigenous Languages, 2020 has seen 5 asteroids given new names recognising the contribution of illustrious Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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.
The planets we can see in the sky were known to the ancient Greeks as ‘wandering stars’. But they appeared much earlier in the stories and traditions of Australia’s Indigenous people.
Four star names from Aboriginal Australia have been recognised by the International Astronomical Union. So what are they and where to find them?
This exhibition at the National Museum of Australia is not only brilliant but marks an important turning point in how Aboriginal art is exhibited.
A new look at some of the oral traditions of Aboriginal Australians shows a deep understanding of three red-giant variable stars, long before European observers.
Disney’s Moana has a remarkably accurate depiction of how Polynesian peoples navigate by the stars, and draws attention to the richness of Indigenous astronomy.
At many Spanish missions in the US and Latin America, the rising sun illuminates the altar on the winter solstice or other symbolic days. To the faithful, these events meant that Christ was with them.
Aboriginal people have been using the stars to help remember routes between distant locations, and these routes are still alive in our highway networks today.
The southern lights that put on a show recently across parts of Australia are easily explained by science. But some cultures have their own explanation for these dazzling lights in the sky.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people have between 40,000 and 60,000 years of pre-colonial history that includes stories of constellations they observed in the night sky and traditions that align…
Top contributors
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Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
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Professor, School of Science, Western Sydney University
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John Curtin Distinguished Professor (Radio Astronomy), Curtin University
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Honorary Senior Lecturer, Australian National University
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Researcher and adjunct lecturer, University of Divinity
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Senior Lecturer, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria, and Honorary Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor, Social & Political Sciences, University of Technology Sydney
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Adjunct fellow, Western Sydney University
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Associate Professor in Mathematical Psychology, The University of Melbourne
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Chair/Professor, Division of Social, Behavioral & Global Studies, California State University, Monterey Bay
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Cultural Astronomy & Cultural Competence Researcher, UNSW Sydney
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Lecturer in Archaeology and ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, James Cook University, James Cook University
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Assistant researcher, University of Divinity
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Professor, The University of Melbourne
