The images interpreted by cultural groups from patterns of stars depend on the natural environment and cultural habits: only people who have seen emus can interpret such a bird in an arbitrary pattern in the sky. For the Inuit in the far north, this was the prediction of the return of the Sun for the Egyptians, it was the flood of the Nile for the Babylonians and others in the monsoon zone, it was the predominant direction of the wind and for the Aboriginal Australians, it was the emu’s breeding cycle. They developed astronomical methods for navigation in space and time, in particular, to determine their calendars: to measure equinoxes and solstices and to predict the seasonal behaviour of nature. Therefore, all cultures have long traditions of using astronomy as a tool of survival. Ancient peoples noticed that the rising and setting points of the Sun and the Moon, as well as the visibility of stars, change throughout the year.

Ever since people first wandered the Earth, great significance has been given to objects seen in the sky.

Stellarium online star map