Astroblog

Karuna names for constellations and stars on January 26 at astronomical twilight from Adelaide (10 pm ACDST) similar views will be seen around Australia at astronomical twilight (90 minutes after sunset)	Western equivalent names for constellations and stars on January 26 at astronomical twilight from Adelaide (10 pm ACDST) similar views will be seen around Australia at astronomical twilight (90 minutes after sunset)

If you are out and about tonight watching the fireworks or just wandering, you may want to look up and think about the sky from an indigenous perspective.

When the first fleet arrived the Europeans and the indigenous inhabitants saw the same wondrous skies but interpreted them somewhat differently. Indigenous Australians used the stars to tell the seasons and the times for food harvesting in much the same way as the ancient Greeks and Egyptians did (although the practice had waned somewhat by the time of the First Fleet as Europeans used almanacs rather than the helical rising of the dog star Sirius). 

They also saw stories in the stars, just as the Europeans did (although most of the European stories came from the ancient Greeks and Romans). These stories played a more immediate role in indigenous culture than the sky stories did for the Europeans.

The biggest difference was the "dark constellations", figures made from the gaps in the sky, the dark nebula interrupting the arch of the Milky Way. They are not Unique to Australia though, most other Southern Hemisphere indigenous groups have them.

The most famous one is the Emu, a sprawling constellation whose head is the coal sack nebula, whose neck and body is the dark lanes of the milky way, with a fringe of feathers that is the Northern Hemisphere constellation Scorpius. if you look up tonight you will only see the Emus head rising below the Southern Cross.

Indigenous Australians were astute observers of the sky, and were able to follow the changes in light of variable stars, and may have recorded an outburst of eta Carina. There is even a stone circle, Wurdi Youang,  that was probably used for astronomical observations in Victoria.

Of course, there is no single "Aboriginal Astronomy", Indigenous Australians had many nations, living in environments from Mediterranean climates to the south, wet temperate forests, deserts, subtropical to tropical forests, and monsoonal grasslands. The names of celestial objects, their stories and significance differ from place to place, a star that signifies the malee fowl nesting will have a different meaning in landscapes with no malee fowl.

I am currently living on and writing this on Karuna land on the Le Fevre Peninsula (I grew up on Murri lands). Looking up tonight towards the north I will see Tinniinyaranna, the Hunting Youths, they form Orion's belt and Sword in the European tradition.Below them is their mother Madletaltarni (Betelgeuse) and above then their fater, Parnakkoyerli (probably Rigel). To the west is Mankamankarranna, a group of girls digging for roots,  the Pelaides star cluster in Western star lore. 

Looking South I can see Wilto, the eagles claw, which we identify as the Southern Cross, with the dark nebula the coal sack nebula, which from the head of the Emu, directly below. Almost due south and just belwo the bright stars Canopus and Achenar are the patches of light that form the Magellanic clouds, Dwarf galaxies that orbit the Milky Way (Wodliparri). One or both of the Magellanic clouds are Ngakallamurro, ashes of parakeets roasted by another sky dweller. 

So so take a moment to look up tonight, and gaze upon the constellations and stars named and observed by indigenous Australians millennia before Europeans arrived. 

If you want to know more about indigenous astronomy Australian Indigenous Astronomy has lots of good content and links.

Stellarium is a good, free  skymap program that has many indigenous sky representations, including the Boorong people of western Victoria.

Labels: constellations, indigenous astronomy, public outreach, unaided eye

The David Bowie constellation, as illustrated in the memorial webpages	What the constellation will actually look like this morning at around 3 am AEDST looking east. Simulated in Stellarium, click to embiggen	What the constellation will look on 1 April  in the morning at around 3 am AEDST looking south. Simulated in Stellarium, click to embiggen

DDB Brussles report of this amazing tribute to David Bowie has been circulating around the world. The images of the "constellation" Belgian astronomers of the MIRA public observatory created has attracted attention (rather than the fact that the image is interactive and that clicking in the lightning flash plays Bowie songs).

But will the "constellation" actually look like that? The constellation was drawn on 2D maps of the sky, and there is likely some distortion. So I used the "sky cultures" feature of Stellarium to create the Bowie constellation, using the stars nominated by the Belgian astronomers. The results can be seen in the images above.

The "constellation" is only briefly visible before Sunrise in the southern hemisphere (and a large chunk of it is permanently below the horizon for the northern hemisphere) at the moment, and it is side on It won't be until April that it will be oriented more vertically.  It is still a bit chunky, but not too bad a representation.

Of course, several of the stars are too faint to be easily seen, and the "constellation" ignores the obvious bright stars, but it does reasonably produce a lightning flash. And it is ephemeral, as it was produced to be "near Mars, but Mars will move away from the "constellation" over the year, and be far away by 2017.

 Still, a nice idea. I you want to add this to stellarium yourself, in the skycultures folder create a folder called Bowie. The create the following files:

constellation_names.eng.fab, constellationship.fab, description.en.utf8, info.ini, 

references.txt and star_names.fab 

using the file contents below; constellationship.fab  is the Hippicaros numbers of the stars involved (placed in line connection order).  The star_names.fab doesn't work even though identically set up files work fine for my Boorong and  Karuna sky cultures. I leave fixing this as an exercise to the reader. See the abbreviated rules here.

========constellation_names.eng.fab===========
001 "Ziggy Stardust" _("Ziggy Stardust")
002 "NTest" _("NTest")
=======constellationship.fab===============
001 7  65474 73714 73714 77952 77952 70069 70069 70638 70638 64003 64003 68002 68002 65474
=======description.en.utf8=============


David Bowie Tribute
Music legend David Bowie gets his own constellation, delineated by seven stars that shine in the iconic shape of a lightning bolt. A remarkable tribute by Belgian music station Studio Brussel and MIRA Public Observatory. 
External links



 David Bowie Tribute: Starman Gets His Own Constellation.


Author
This sky culture was contributed by Stellarium user Ian Musgrave based on the work of Belgian music station Studio Brussel and MIRA Public Observatory. 


==========info.ini=========================
[info]
name = Bowie
===========references.txt===================
Reference sources -
http://ddbbrussels.prezly.com/belgians-give-starman-bowie-own-constellation#
http://stardustforbowie.be/
=========star_names.fab================
 65474|_("Spica")
 73714|_("sigma Librae")
 77952|_("beta Triangulum")
 70069|_("SAO 241641")
 70638|_("beta Octanis")
 64003|_("SAO 204132")
 68002|_("zeta Centauri") 
 80112|_("Wife of Dujit")  
=========================================

Labels: constellations, public outreach, stellarium

The Southern Cross as seen from Adelaide at 9:30 pm ACDST. Similar views will be seen from other locations at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

The Southern Cross is a Southern Hemisphere icon, and it appears as a central part of the Australian flag. However, many people would not be able to find the Southern Cross in the sky with confidence.

This Australia Day, when you are out getting ready to watch the Australia Day fireworks, is an excellent time to locate the constellation.
First you need to locate South. If you don't know which way south is at your local fireworks venue, then use a street directory (whose pages are oriented north-south, south is the bottom of the page) or Google Maps, to find where south is in relation to the nearby streets. Otherwise, south is to the left of Sunset.

Most of the fireworks will be around 9-9:30 to be family friendly but still be dark enough to see the fireworks.

Look south, about two handspans left from due south, and a bit over one handspan up (where a handspan is the with of your hand when making a "stop" sign with your arm fully outstretched) you will see a pair of bright stars, these are the pointers. A further handspan up and a bit over a handspan to the left you will see a cross shaped group of stars (see diagram above).

That's the Southern Cross. Now you can enjoy the fireworks knowing you have found the inspiration for our flag.

Labels: constellations, unaided eye, where to look

Over at Astronomy Blog Stuart has the story of  Aldebaran the Hunter, an African Bushman's tale of the stars we we associate with Greek and Roman mythology. I promised to give a similar tale from Indigenous Australians.

Unfortunately most of the Indigenous lore of South-Eastern Australia  is lost. Still we have some stories. This one comes from the Boorong peoples of north-west Victoria.

The stars we know as the belt and sword of Orion (or the Saucepan, here in Australia) are Kulkunbulla, a group of young men dancing a corroboree. Larnankurrk, the group of stars we know as the Pleiades, is a group of young women watching th young men dance. Gellarlec (Aldebaran) is an old man singing and beating time to the dancing. Gellarlecis also known as the Major Mitchell Cockatoo.

See Paul Curnow's Boorong Skies for more information.

Labels: constellations, miscelaneous

The Australian Science Communicators South Australia invite you to Ancient Skies Presented by Paul Curnow.

Do all cultures see the night sky the same way? Do Native Americans interpret the constellation of Orion in the same way as ancient Egyptians once did? How similar are the Australian Aboriginal and the ancient Japanese constellations?

Come and learn about the night sky as seen by many cultures of our world. Learn to identify prominent constellations and hear the stories behind the stars and the early beliefs attached to them.

Wednesday 30 March 2011, 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Adelaide Planetarium
Building P, Mawson Lakes Campus, University of South Australia

For ages: 16+
Cost:
ASCSA members and those who join
on the night: $10.00
Non-members: $20.00
Payment at the door
Bookings essential:
http://ascsaplanetarium.eventbrite.com/

Labels: constellations, science communicators

The evening sky around 10:00 pm daylight saving time in February in Australia.

The indigenous people of Australia had a rich lore associated with the sky, only fragments of which remain. To the Boorong people of Victoria, the Saucepan of Orion's belt is a group of young men dancing (Kulkunbulla) to music played buy a group of young women (Larnankurrk) represented by the Pleaides (the small cluster off to the left). Gellarlec, the rose coloured Cockatoo (Aldebaran) sings and beats time. To the east, the twins Yurree and Wanjel (Castor and Pollux) hunt Purra the Kangaroo. To the Karuna people of the Adelaide Plains, Orion's belt was the Hunter Tinniinyarra, to the Yonglu people, Orion was a canoe with three men fishing.

As you can see, some of the indigenous Australian constellations were similar to those of the Greco-roman constellations westerners are familiar with, while others are quite different. The sting of Scorpius the Scorpion is variously the head of Ingalpir, the crocodile, Karick Karick a pair of hawks or a fringe of feathers around the wings of dark constellation the Emu. This underlines the fact that constellations are human constructions (a Gellarlec zodiacal constellation would be cool though, with all those stubborn, steadfast Taureans finding they should be garrulous, flighty and given to chewing things).

Aboriginal sky lore went beyond constellations and their associated stories though. Listening to ABC radio national two week ends ago, I learnt of the stone circle Wurdi Youang in Victoria, an egg shaped stone arrangement built by the Wathaurung people. It is aligned east-west, with groups of stones indicating the setting position of the Sun at solstices and equinoxes. We know that indigenous Australians were acute observers of the natural world, but this is the first physical evidence we have of the detailed attention they gave to the sky. The site has been compared to Stonehenge, in terms of it's significance in our understanding of Indigenous Australians relationship to the sky.

While not on the same scale as Stonehenge, the organisation required to move these stones in place would have been considerable. This ring also strikes at the myth that indigenous Australian built no permanent structures, and extends the list of things they did build (from aquaculture dams to stone huts). Actually determining the locations to place the stones would have been relatively easy for long term sky observers, with access to sticks and string.

Unfortunately, we have lost a lot of the indigenous lore about the sky, and with it the significance of the ring to the local peoples. In the light of all that indigenous Australians have lost, this may seem a small thing, but the skies are a shared heritage, and a source of wonder for all. We are all diminished by this loss.

Sources:
Aboriginal Astronomy, Paul Curnow
Night Skies of the Dreaming, Paul Curnow
Kaurna Night Skies, Paul Curnow
Astronomy and Australian Indigenous People, Adele Pring
Wourdi Youang
Australias's First Astronomers

Labels: constellations

Left panel, northern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 daylight saving time on Monday January 17 showing the stars that form some of the zodiacal constellations (similar views will be seen elsewhere in the southern hemisphere at the equivalent local time. Right panel, stars with constellation figures overlain (click to embiggen).

One of the reasons that the recent zodiac kerfuffle became a news item is that, amongst other things, most people don’t know that the star sign in their daily newspaper horoscope is not actually associated with the constellation of the same name (and hasn’t really been so since around 1600) and most people can’t find their zodiacal constellation in the sky.

But this is a teachable moment. Most people do know their star sign, and although astrology is rubbish it would be fun to try and find your star sign in the sky. Finding a number of the zodiacal constellations can be difficult as they are dim and hard to see in our light polluted skies, but it’s worth the effort.

If you go outside tonight at 10pm local daylight saving time, Southern hemisphereians can see five of the 12 Zodiacal constellations (Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer). Tonight (January 17), if you look due north you will see a bright red star which forms part of a V shaped group of stars. This is the head of the constellation Taurus, the bull. To the right you will see the Moon. It is between the two stars that from the tips of the bulls horns. To the left you will see a small pretty cluster of stars, the Pleiades (well worth viewing in binoculars). The diagram above shows what you should see, and has the constellation figure shown as well on the right (for northern hemispherians, look south, the constellations will appear upside down to the depictions shown here).

Diagram showing the zodiacal signs in relationship to the constellations, The yellow band is the zodiacal sign location, and the red block is the zodical sign of Taurus in the newpaper horoscopes (click to embiggen).

That’s the constellation of Taurus, but not the zodiacal sign of Taurus. The horoscopes you read in the papers start the astrological zodiacal signs from the position of the sun at the Vernal Equinox (in the northern hemisphere). Due to the precession of the equinoxes, as the Earths axis of rotation changes its direction like a spinning top, the location of the Vernal Equinox has shifted by 23 degrees over the last 2000 years. As well, the astrological zodiacal signs are not associated with the boundaries of the constellations, but are slabs of sky 30 degrees long by 14 degrees wide[1].

So the zodiacal sign of Taurus (indicated by symbolic bulls horns (♉), now covers the constellation of Aries (and a bit of the tail of Cetus, the whale, and the left leg of the bull). In fact the three brightest stars of Aries lie entirely outside the chunk of sky that makes up the zodiacal sign of Taurus. In the diagram the zodiacal constellation band is shown in yellow, and the zodiacal sign of Taurus in red.

The constellation of Taurus is covered by the zodiacal sign of Gemini (symbolized by two parallel lines (♊) . The Constellation of Gemini is to the right of the constellation of Taurus in the north-east, the bright stars Castor and Pollux (the twins) being easily visible (tomorrow night, January 17, the Moon will be in Gemini, and on the 19th it will be in cancer). The zodiacal sign of Cancer (symbolized by stylised crab claws (♋)) covers the constellation of Gemini (excluding the star Castor), bits of the constellations Orion, Auriga and a sliver of Cancer.

And so it goes; the constellations that symbolize the zodiacal signs are no-longer associated with associated with those signs. Not that it matters, the properties of the zodiacal signs are purely imaginary constructs, but it is worthy of reflection that the zodiacal sign of the mighty, charging bull is now represented by an unprepossessing collection of faint stars (as is spectacular Scorpio).

Still, getting out in the fresh air and seeing the constellation that gave your zodiacal sign its name over 2000 years ago is a good excuse for some sky watching.

[1] There are 4 different major forms of astrology, some set the zodiacal signs by the vernal equinox, some don’t, the newspaper ones do.

Labels: astrology, constellations, science, zodiac

Sol as seen from a hypothetical planet around alpha Centauri A (Click to embiggen). Last week I looked at what the Southern Cross would look like from planets circling other stars. The week before that I made a stereogram of the Southern Cross by overlapping the view of the Southern Cross seen from Earth with that seen from Alpha Centauri A, only 4 light years away.

This week I'm looking at what our Sun, Sol would look like from the "surface" of alien planets.

To answer this I've used Celestia yet again, to travel to exoplanet locations and see what Sol woul look like in their skies. As with last week, most of these planets are "hot Jupiters" and the concept of surface is problematic, so I've shown the view from orbit. From a hypothetical planet around alpha Centauri A, Sol is a bright magnitude 0.5 star (almost as bright as Acrux) situated between Perseus and Cassiopeia. I wonder how aliens would incorporate Sol into their mythology of the skies? Would they merge the constellations?

Sol from from Epsilon Eridani B, 10.5 light years away. Sol is a 2.3 magnitude star, moderately bright (like Gacrux, gamma Crucis), in the constellation of Serpens. It would fit right in.











Sol as seen from the super earth Gliese 581 d, 20 light years away. Sol is a faint, 3.8 magnitude star (like epsilon Crucis, the fifth, dimmer star of the Cross), between the highly distorted constellations of Taurus and Cetus.

Labels: celestia, constellations, exoplanet, extrasolar planet, Sun

The Big Aussie Star Hunt is now doing Summer Sky Tours! They have Skymaps, and audio guide with Fred Watson (AO), fast facts and more. Go on over and check it out. The Big Aussie Star Hunt is in the running for a Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) Award so you know it is good.

Labels: constellations, miscelaneous, unaided eye observation

Last week I made a stereogram of the Southern Cross by overlapping the veiw of the Southern Cross seen from Earth with that seen from Alpha Centauri A, only 4 light years away.

The Cross didn't look that much different, but how far would you have to go for the skies to begin to look strange? What would you see from the surface of alien planets?

To answer that I've used Celestia again, to travel to exoplanet locations and see what their skies would look like. As most of these are "hot Jupiters" the concept of surface is problematic, and I've shown the view from orbit.

The Southern Cross from Epsilon Eridani B, 10.5 light years away. The Cross is very distorted, but still recognisably a cross. Gacrux is only 88 light years away, compared to 320 Ly for Acrux, 352 Ly for Mimosa (beta Crucis) and 364 for delta Crucis, so Gacrux moves the most. Rigel Kentaurus (alpha Centauri) at only 4 Ly moves out of the frame.









The Southern Cross from Gliese 674 b, 14 light years away. The cross is very distorted now, despite being not much further away then Epsilon Eridani b.











The Southern Cross from the super earth Gliese 581 d, 20 light years away. The Cross is unrecognisable. In fact, the only recognisable part of any constellation from Gliese 581 d (assuming the atmosphere was transparent enough for you to see through) is the head of the constellation Scorpio, all else is distorted beyond recognition.

Labels: celestia, constellations, exoplanet, extrasolar planet