Exploring the Beauty of the African Night Sky

The African Night Sky⁚ A Tapestry of Stories and Legends

The African night sky is a breathtaking spectacle that has captivated people for centuries. With its vast expanse and brilliant array of celestial objects, it has served as a canvas for generations of stories and legends, woven into the fabric of African culture.

The Milky Way⁚ A Celestial Beacon

The ethereal, spiral arms of our galaxy can be seen arcing across the sky, particularly during the winter months when it passes almost directly overhead.  Even from suburban areas, the glow of countless stars is evident, but imagine what the sky must have looked like before the advent of electricity and industry and the pollution that they now cause!

The early Bushman told that this celestial beacon was created when a young girl threw the ashes of her campfire high into the sky to guide her father home from his hunting trip.  To some tribes, the diffuse white streak of the Milky Way represented the bellies of a vast herd of celestial springbok, while to others it traced a prodigious footpath upon which the spirits of our ancestors still tread.  In Zulu culture, the opalescent band was created by the hooves of the gods great herd of cattle as they marched to and from their feeding grounds, slowly wearing through the boundary between the perpetually lit celestial realm and the Earth below.

The brightest parts of the Milky Way are in Sagittarius, Scutum, Norma and Carina. The accompanying table gives their celestial coordinates and basic data. Two ...Questions on the topicWhat constellations can you see in Africa?What is the African myth about stars and constellations?What are the big 5 of the African sky?Can the Milky Way be seen from Africa?Stories in the night sky ― Africa Geographicafricageographic.com stories stories-i...December 29, 2020 г. night sky. The Southern Cross, or Crux, is the smallest of the recognised 88 constellations but is probably the most famous in the southern sky.

The Moon⁚ A Symbol of Reincarnation

According to the Bushmen, the Moon is the sandal of a trickster god named !Kaggen that had been frozen in a local waterhole before being tossed into the sky to light up the night.  However, the Sun was extremely unhappy about sharing the sky with another luminous object and, to this day, chases it through the night, cutting strips from the Moon until it is almost extinguished.  At the last moment, the Moon begs for forgiveness and Sun relents its attack, allowing the Moon to recover until it becomes full again.  At this point, the Sun recommences its onslaught once more.

Due to the repetitive phases of the Moon and its seemingly regular regeneration, much African folklore found it synonymous with reincarnation and recovery.  This belief was honoured by the Bushmen during their hunting trips, trusting that if one looked at the Moon after shooting their quarry with a poison arrow, it would allow the prey to recover and escape.

As it takes approximately 29 days for the Moon to go through a full cycle and return to the same phase, these phases have also been used for millennia to mark the passage of time. The Ishango Bone, found in the former Belgian Congo, is a baboon fibula decorated with various etchings that indicate its use as an ancient lunar calendar.  Scientists estimate that it is over 35,000 years old!

The Southern Cross⁚ A Herd of Giraffe

The Southern Cross, or Crux, is the smallest of the recognised 88 constellations but is probably the most famous in the southern sky.  Not only does it point towards the south, an invaluable navigation tool, but there are also many recognised animal associations.

The most common interpretation in southern Africa is that the four brightest stars of Crux are a herd, or journey, of female giraffe and the two Pointer Stars (Alpha and Beta Centauri) represent a pair of giraffe bulls in hot pursuit.  Another version of the story sees the cross as symbolising the head of a giant giraffe (due to the diamond shape), with the Pointers as its neck.  Some Bushmen tribes believed that the stars of the cross are a pride of lionesses, along with their young cub (Epsilon Crucis) and the Pointers embodying their two pride males following close behind as they prowl towards the horizon.

Constellation⁚ Southern Pleiades, IC 2602, Lac II.9 ... By noting how the position of Crux (the Southern Cross) changes throughout anight, and over the course of a year, the location of the Big 5 can be determined quite easily. ... you are eligible to buy a beautiful Big 5 of theAfricanSky mug ― personalized nogal! A handsome T-shirt is ;..

Orion⁚ The Hunter's Arrow

Orion as a constellation does not have any specific African mythology associated with it, but aspects of the constellation are well documented.  Many cultures have seen the famous Belt of Orion as various animals, including both tortoises and warthogs.  One legend identifies them as three zebras.  Mintaka, the first belt-star to rise was seen as the stallion, with Alnilam and Alnitak, his two mares following behind.

One version of Bushman starlore tells the story of the great god of East who set out hunting and climbed up to the Large Magellanic Cloud where he aimed his bow at the three zebras of Orions belt.  According to beliefs at the time, zebras were restricted to the heavens and were not found in Earth.  However, the god missed, his arrow falling short (symbolised by Orions sword and the Great Orion Nebula). The arrow could not be retrieved due to the presence of a great lion represented by the giant red star, Betelgeuse.  To honour the zebras escape, the god of the East sent them to Earth to live out their lives in peace.

Orion and the Pleiades ... IsiLimela or the Pleiades were the digging stars, whose appearance in southern Africa warned of the coming need to begin hoeing the ...

The Magellanic Clouds⁚ Sister Galaxies

When looking directly south on a clear night, two imperfections stand out against the clarity of the darkness.  The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are sister galaxies of the Milky Way, locked in a gravitational war with us, and each other.  They are named after the great Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who documented the ever-present clouds during his circumnavigation of the globe in the early 1500s.

However, these two smudges in the sky have been known since ancient times, and early settlers considered them to be indicators of summer and wet weather when visible at night.  The Large Magellanic Cloud was often portrayed as the shield of Naka, the Horn Star (Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky), as it slowly emerged from the eastern horizon, dragging in the start of the new year.

The bushmen saw the clouds as a pair of celestial steenboks, perhaps due to their diffuse nature rendering them hard to see under less than perfect conditions, in the same way that the diminutive steenbok prefers to remain hidden. Others saw the testicles of a great lion!  As strange as this may sound, one must remember that the bushmen had massive respect for the apex predator with whom they shared the land, and there are multiple of accounts of celestial lions in their history.

A Legacy of Stargazing

These examples are just a tiny percentage of ancient beliefs and stories associated with the heavens. Sadly, many records having been lost through the years, and much of history has been bastardised by centuries of oral tradition.  Regardless of the specifics, it is plain to see that since mankinds earliest origins, we have looked to the stars for guidance and a way to record our history.

From Ancient Observations to Modern Astronomy

This history is emblazoned in our genetics, and it is no surprise that we still gaze in awe at the glistening, inky expanse above, night after night after night.  Space may or may not be infinite, but it contains the hopes and [...] [...] [end of information from the Internet]

Dr; Jarita Holbrook studies more than just thesky. After earning her PhD in Astronomy amp; Astrophysics from University of California, Santa Cruz, her interests shifted towards something more interdisciplinary⁚ cultural astronomy, particularly indigenousAfrican astronomy. Her work has centered how humans relate to space, whether thats in her ...

Curiosity, enthusiasm and a user-friendly manual likeSky Guide Africa South 2020 will go a long way. Part-calendar, part-astronomy guide, this book gives you all the tools to confidently pick out the finest objects in thenightsky. It presents key facts about the sun, moon, planets, comets, meteors and stars, accompanied by illustrative ...

Tonight Timeline from Johannesburg, South Africa. Observing Location⁚ Johannesburg, South Africa. Latitude⁚ 26 12 08 S. Longitude⁚ 28 02 36 E. Timezone⁚ Africa/Johannesburg. This observing guide helps you plan your Solar System observations. Its divided into three sections, detailing visible objects for post-sunset, nighttime ...

2002 November 15. Explanation⁚ Spanning southern to northern skies, stars trail across this panoramic view of theAfricannight from equatorial Kenya . The three hour long exposure was made on a clear, dark, mid November evening facing due west and covers just over 180 degrees along the horizon. So, the South Celestial Pole is at the center of ...

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