Australian Indigenous Astronomy - Facebook Live

April 4  09:00 UTC

For more than 65,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have studied the intricate ways in which the sky and land are connected. Join Kamilaroi astrophysics student Krystal De Napoli to hear about the methods Indigenous astronomers use to predict weather and harvest cycles from the sky, plan ceremonial practices, and navigate vast distances. This presentation will explore the use of orality as the vehicle for encoding and preserving astronomical knowledge over thousands of years, while describing phenomena such as solar eclipses, supernova, variable stars and moon halos.

Krystal De Napoli is a Kamilaroi astrophysics student at Monash University, researching the ways in which the love for her culture and her passion for science intersect. Krystal researches and delivers public talks on the topic of Indigenous Astronomy, presenting the knowledge which describes the intricate understanding our First Nations people have of the night sky and its objects.