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Astronomy
& Stellar Lore
Aboriginal Astronomy
Arcturus
the Guardian
Babylonian
Stars
Buying
or Naming a Star
Cosmic
Visions 2
Herschel,
Uranus and the Infra-red
Names
for the Pleiades Cluster around the world
Magellanic
Clouds
Mount
Stromlo Legacy
Night
Skies of New Zealand
Orion
the hunter
Proxima
Centauri
Tales
of the Milky Way
Three
Supergiants
The
Planets & Moons
Australian
Meteorite Craters
Ice,
an Asteroid Impact and the Rise of Complex life
Solar
eclipses 2002, 2003 & 2005
Transit of Venus 2012
OTHER STUFF
Book
Reading List
Extinct
Australian Megafauna
Lectures
& Events
Links
of interest
Our
Time Interview
Supernova's
at Ngaut Ngaut
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Welcome
to the 'STARLORE' website. For
those who have not visited my website before, it has a focus on 'ethnoastronomy', which concerns itself with the cultural
aspects of astronomy and how the world's various groups perceive the
night sky.
The major aim of this website is to share with you some of the diverse
stellar lore from around the world with a particular focus on the night
sky of Indigenous Australians. Many of us live in cities or countries
that now have excessive light pollution and pollution in general, so the
skies are not as clear as say 5,000 years ago. However, many us still
watch the nightly ballet of stars above and ponder about the celestial majesty displayed
before us.
 At
a meeting in Rome, in 1922, the International Astronomical Union,
who are the governing body in astronomy met in Italy to bring some
form of order to the many constellations. They bequeathed us the current
88 constellations
used by both professional and amateur astronomers today
to find their way around the sky. Many of these stellar patterns had been passed down through the ages from
earlier cultures who had watched the sky with alacrity and awe. The
Aboriginal Peoples of Australia have been looking at the night sky for
45,000+ years. Furthermore, ancient civilizations like the Sumerians, Babylonians and Egyptians were responsible for
introducing many of the
constellations in use today. These constellations were later passed on and added to by later civilizations like the Greeks,
Romans and Arabs.
Additionally,
many other cultures across our planet had also looked to the sky and
told stories relating to the
stars visible from their locations. The Chinese for example have a
long history of astronomy. Early cultures like the Aztec, Anasasi, Maya and Inca of the
Americas took a keen interest in astronomy. The Maori Peoples of New
Zealand, the Polynesians and Japanese cultures all have their own names
for stars and their own constellations.
If you have an interest in the stellar lore of our planet's various
cultures, I sincerely hope that you enjoy this website. In addition, if
you would like to drop me a line just to say hello, please feel free to
do so. If you have stories or articles that you would
like to contribute to this page I would be interested in hearing from
you. I am based in the city of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia
and if you ever plan to visit Adelaide please drop me a line.
About me - my bio.
 ©
Paul Curnow - Last update 1st of April 2013. Send your e-mail comments to:
starmanzone@adam.com.au
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