Aboriginal Australians Make Mention of ‘Red Giant’ Stars in Spoken Tales

Australian Aborigines probably observed the cyclical changes in the brightness of pulsating red giant stars such as Antares, Betelgeuse, and Aldebaran. They integrated their observations into their oral traditions – cultural narratives that served as a system of laws, social rules, and general knowledge transmission. European astronomers realized that red giants changed in brightness in 1596, when David Fabricius registered … Continue reading →