65,000 Years of Australian Aboriginal Astronomy
Have you ever wondered how the Indigenous people of Australia described the night sky?
As part of National Science Week, Kirsten Banks explores Aboriginal constellations and the differing perspectives of Western and Aboriginal astronomy in this presentation.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=2966392776949056
Who is Kirsten Banks?
Kirsten Banks is a young Astrophysicist of Wiradjuri Heritage with a passion for space and astronomy.
Kirsten’s fascination with the sky started at a very young age. In Primary School she was intrigued by the weather and dreamed of becoming a meteorologist. Her earliest memory of this passion was from one particular day in Kindy class. The teacher had all of the students sitting around in a circle and one by one each of them would stand up and tell the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most of the boys would say they wanted to be an astronaut or a fireman, and the girls would say vet or ballerina. When it came to Kirsten’s turn, she stood up and came out with the biggest word any 4 year old knew and said, “I want to be a meteorologist!” From that moment, it was clear that Kirsten was a passionate young girl and nothing was going to stop her from achieving her goals.
Kirsten began her astrophysics career with a Bachelor of Science at the University of New South Wales in 2015. Majoring in Physics, Kirsten learnt about the fundamental workings of the Universe from the smallest atoms to the largest galaxies. She graduated from this program in 2018 and decided that more study was the next step for her, so she enrolled into the Physics Honours program at UNSW. Over 2019 Kirsten studied the evolution of the biggest and brightest galaxies in the Universe and was awarded 1st Class Honours upon completion. Prior to completing this program, Kirsten was accepted into the Scientia PhD program at UNSW and awarded a Scientia Scholarship to continue her studies of the Universe beginning in 2020.
Source: www.astrokirsten.com.au