An Indigenous astrophysicist is sharing ancient knowledge that will change the way you view the heavens.
When emerging Kamilaroi astrophysicist Krystal De Napoli was a schoolgirl in Victoria, on the rare occasions Indigenous Dreaming tales were mentioned in class, they were presented as fun stories for kids: myths about, say, the Rainbow Serpent.
In Aboriginal astronomy, as with all Indigenous science, information is handed down orally, through stories and songs, which encode histories and moral lessons, but are also rich in scientific knowledge, which non-Indigenous audiences often overlook.“We can look at the position of a star and download that knowledge: specific information about a plant or an animal, where it is at in its breeding cycle, when eggs will be available to harvest.
“I love it because it really does look like an emu’s head, you’ve got the black beak, and then a very long neck that goes into the body, which is the bulk of the Milky Way.”The Emu is predominantly the dark spaces between the stars.If you want to spot the Emu, start with the Southern Cross, which rests on the head of the emu. But good luck if you are in a big city. Light pollution is making city astronomy, especially of the dark spaces, almost impossible.
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