Astronomy Background • 3.33
ASTRONOMY BEAT
www.astrosociety.org
Number 18 • March 9, 2009
Publisher: Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Editor: Andrew Fraknoi
Designer: Leslie Proudfit
© 2009, Astronomical Society of the Pacific
390 Ashton Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112
The Navajo Sky — Down Under
Phil Sakimoto
University of Notre Dame
Editor’s Introduction
ASTRONOMY BEAT
Dr. Sakimoto, a member of the Board of Directors
of the ASP, recently attended the World Indigenous
People’s Conference in Australia to share some of his
intriguing work which makes it possible for Native
American knowledge holders to tell their own stories
in the setting of a digital planetarium. In this special
report, he describes his experience bringing together
Native and Western astronomy for a very different
audience than most of us are used to.
W
e are welcomed to the ceremonial grounds
by a member of the Kulin Nation, his
body decorated with clay paint, playing
a haunting sound on a didgeridoo. It is a sound that
has resonated over these lands in what is now called
Melbourne, Australia, for perhaps tens of thousands
of years. One by one, the delegations from other
Indigenous Nations rise in response, offering song and
dance from their Native lands. It is a scene repeated
over and over again as we move from pre-meeting to
conference, from welcoming ceremonies to partings.
As an outsider — one raised in the Western world
— I slowly begin to grasp the significance. These
are not performances put on by professionals for
entertainment. These are the conference delegates
— educators — declaring in ways that have been
practiced for millennia, this is who we are.
A few days later, thousands of delegates from around
the world gather to the sounds and displays of the
Maori from New Zealand, the Sami from Norway, the
Original paintings by Navajo artist Melvin Bainbridge were digitized, stripped of
their background, and placed on the planetarium sky.
Ainu from Japan, the Hawaiians, and the Native people
from other places throughout North America, South
America, Australia, Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific.
This is the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on
Education. And we are here to do astronomy.
My collaborators are Dr. Nancy Maryboy and Dr.
David Begay, founders of the Indigenous Education
Institute now located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They
are astronomers — Navajo astronomers. They have
devoted decades to researching, recovering, and
preserving traditional Navajo understanding of the
sky. It is my privilege to be working with them to
Astronomy Beat No. 18 • March 9, 2009
The Universe at Your Fingertips • Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Page 1
Page 1
3.33 • The Navajo Sky
Astronomy Background
the observed sky as described by my collaborators.
The results surprise me. They give me a sense of the
interconnectedness of features in the sky that I never
had before. They emphasize time, rather than place.
They speak of intimate relations between the sky,
the Earth, and the Navajo people. They are not the
superficial Native myths that Westerners sometimes
relate; they are the traditional voices of a people
declaring in a different way this is who we are.
In a meeting room at the Rod Laver Arena1, we prepare
to give a presentation on our work. Although we are
one of more than a dozen parallel sessions, hundreds
of people are trying to cram into a room that holds
only ninety. Security and the conference staff bar the
door, turning away more people than actually get in.
I learn a surprising new fact: the majority of people
in the audience have never been inside a planetarium
of any sort. Their level of interest in our work, in the
concept that Indigenous peoples could bring their
own perceptions of the sky into a planetarium, is
phenomenal.
The prototype digital planetarium module, Coyote Tosses the Stars,
is a Navajo sky story told by Navajo voices in their traditional language
with translations into English.
capture a small portion of this knowledge in a digital
planetarium. I have taken artwork that they developed
over the course of many years with a Navajo painter
and digitally placed it on the sky to represent Navajo
sky figures. I hesitate to call them constellations
because they are not connect-the-dots patterns of
stars. They are, I gather, representations of what a
knowledgeable Navajo pictures seeing in certain areas
of the sky.
We are experimenting with producing Navajo sky
stories for planetarium shows. The first is a rendition
of Coyote Tosses the Stars, as told by an elder to his
grandchildren in the setting of a traditional Navajo
hogan (or traditional home). I am amused by the
fact that, in order to recreate the scene of the Navajo
Talking God and Coyote placing stars in the sky, I have
to appeal to all the old-fashioned stuff I learned so
long ago in graduate school about celestial coordinate
systems and time-keeping, as well as the latest
precision location data for stars from the Hipparcos
mission. But, that is how the digital software recognizes
locations, so I mate it up with Navajo perceptions of
That evening, we offer a private presentation in the
Melbourne Planetarium. It is not part of the official
conference program. We advertise it only by word-ofmouth and handing out flyers. Anyone who wishes
to come must find their own way across town to
the planetarium. Nevertheless, a crowd of 50 people
gathers in the lobby while I do the usual planetarian’s
thing: frantically chasing down last minute glitches
A private preview of The Navajo Sky, a work in progress, was given with live
narration at the Melbourne Planetarium.
1. Yes, fellow tennis fans, this conference was held on the hallowed
grounds of the Australian Open.
Astronomy Beat No. 18 • March 9, 2009
The Universe at Your Fingertips • Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Page 2
Page 2
3.33 • The Navajo Sky
Astronomy Background
Planetarium’s production Stories in the Stars: Night Sky
of the Boorong People.
For the rest of the week, people stop me to say that
the time in the planetarium was the highlight of the
conference. The latest in technologies and the oldest of
traditions — they make good partners.
About the Author and Collaborators
The Digital Universe, manipulated by SkySkan’s Digital Sky 2 software, gave a
Western astrophysicist’s perspective on our place in the universe.
as showtime closes in. Our friends at the Melbourne
Planetarium, Monica Zetlin and Martin Bush, are
magnanimous in offering us free run of their facility
and tireless technical assistance. I am interrupted to
come out and meet a surprise guest: an emissary from
the U.S. Consulate in Melbourne.
We begin the presentation by asking Martin to give
everyone an introduction to the Melbourne sky. Then
we move to the sky as seen from the heart of the
Navajo Nation. Nancy and David describe the Navajo
Sky as I work to manipulate the software to follow
their words. We roll the Coyote story. I follow it up
by using the Digital Universe to show the audience
where the stars that Coyote tossed (the naked eye
stars) are located with respect to our Solar System, our
Galaxy, and the rest of the observable universe. It is a
new and unique perspective for most of the audience.
The audible gasps I hear as I bring on the thousands
of galaxies in the dataset compiled by Brent Tully2
are louder and more heartfelt than ever I’ve heard
with Western audiences. As a going-home bonus, the
audience is treated to a showing of the Melbourne
2. Of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii.
Phil Sakimoto is an astrophysicist and educator who
facilitates the work of Native people and others seeking
complimentary understanding of Indigenous and
Western science. He was formerly the Acting Director
of NASA’s Space Science Education Program and is
now resident at the University of Notre Dame. He
is using Notre Dame’s Digital Visualization Theater
to develop digital planetarium modules that allow
Indigenous people to present their own views of the
sky.
His primary collaborators are Nancy Maryboy
(Cherokee/Navajo) and David Begay (Navajo),
President and Vice-President, respectively, of the
Indigenous Education Institute. They are the creators
of the Navajo star cylinder for portable StarLab
planetariums; the authors of Sharing the Skies: Navajo
and Western Cosmos, a book and on Navajo and
Western astronomy; and the creators of Stars Over
Dine Bikeyah, an original recreation of Navajo star
stories on audio CD3. They have devoted their careers
to recovering, preserving, and sharing Navajo and
Cherokee sky knowledge.
Resources for Further Information:
Indigenous Education Institute:
http://www.indigenouseducation.org/
Sharing the Skies: Educational Resources:
http://www.sharingtheskies.com/
World Indigenous Nations Higher Education
Consortium (WINHEC):
http://www.win-hec.org/
3. These materials, along with a poster of the Navajo Universe, are
available at the Sharing the Skies Web site listed in the references
to this article.
Astronomy Beat No. 18 • March 9, 2009
The Universe at Your Fingertips • Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Page 3
Page 3
Astronomy Background
3.33 • The Navajo Sky
World Indigenous Peoples Conference: Education
(WIPC:E):
http://www.wipce2008.com/
Melbourne Planetarium: Stories in the Stars:
http://museumvictoria.com.au/Scienceworks/
Education/Education-Programs/Stories-in-the-Stars/
A Resource Guide on Multi-cultural Astronomy from
the ASP:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/
multi.html
NOTE: The artwork appearing in this article may not be
reproduced for any purpose without the express written
permission of the Indigenous Education Institute. F
Astronomy Beat is a service exclusively for members
of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. For more
information about becoming a member, visit
www.astrosociety.org/membership.html.
One copy of this article may be downloaded on any single
computer and/or printed for your personal, non-commercial
use. No part of any article may be reproduced in any form,
sold, or used in commercial products without written
permission from the ASP.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific increases the
understanding and appreciation of astronomy by engaging
scientists, educators, enthusiasts and the public to advance
science and science literacy.
Astronomy Beat No. 18 • March 9, 2009
The Universe at Your Fingertips • Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Page 4
Page 4