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Did Aboriginal Australians Discover the Variability of Betelgeuse?


JeremyS

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Interesting. We tend to assume ancient peoples had a rudimentary and passive understanding of the night sky, but there must have been mavericks who theorised about all sorts of aspects of astronomy, and it is s shame more of this isn't readily accessible to us today.

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Having read the paper, Dr Schaefer's conclusion is light on hard facts.

Yes, Aboriginal ethnographic lore states the variability as early as 1846 but John Herschel has discovered it by 1836. Ok, the Aboriginal lore will have been handed down for generations but who can say how far and how certain could one be of any claims.

To my mind, it is a big statement to claim Aboriginal peoples discovered the variability of Betelgeuse because "Orion is well placed in Australia" and Aboriginals were "intensive and exhaustive observers of their natural environment, including the stars, so Betelgeuse, as one of the brightest dozen stars and distinctly coloured, will have been watched many times over".

So were countless other cultures over the history of mankind. They have lore too. A strange paper.

 

 

 

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