[AstroNet] What's up at the Observatory next Saturday

[Thembela Mantungwa]

Hi there,

There will be a free public talk at S.A. Astronomical Observatory on Saturday, June 11 at 20h00 sharp. The title of the talk is "Sidereal narratives without boundaries". After the talk there will be stargazing (weather permitting). Visitors are advised to arrive at least at 19h30, this will give them time to park and find the venue for the talk. 

Abstract: 

When we think of starlore, the Greek Mythology comes to mind. This mythology brought us ferocious hunters and the strangest of beasts. Mostly requiring huge amounts of imagination to recognise in the sky. However, starlore also thrived amongst the indigenous people of Southern Africa, in particular, the Khoisan. Contrary to the Greeks, they did not "connect the dots" to make up mythical figures, but attributed specific characters to individual stars or planets to tell their stories.  Scholars collected some wonderful examples, one of the best known perhaps is the mammoth works by German linguists Bleek & Lloyd. He recorded stories told in mother tongue by interviewing six individual |xam Bushmen who spoke a language which is extinct today. Virtually unknown, but equally fascinating, are the San narratives recorded by Gideon von Wielligh, discovered by Willie only a few years ago. A far cry from the very brief accounts collected before, von Wielligh's work contains long complicated narratives with little astronomical theme.  Although there is an amazing amount of agreement between Bleek & Lloyd and von Wielligh, there are also differences, one of them suggesting that a specific tradition could be related to the San's acute eyesight,thus meaning they could see some of Jupiter's moons,with the naked eye!
Although the talk will touch on some of these technical aspects, a few starry narratives will also be told richly and illustrated in in the presentation.

About the presenter:

Willie Koorts’ career at SAAO began 23years ago in Sutherland, when he took up a position as an Electronics Technician.  At the time he was studying Computer Science through UNISA which he later supplemented with Astronomy classes as he became more and more interested. He later moved to Cape Town, which is where he is based currently. Here, the electronics team, of which he is a part of, designs and builds control systems and instrumentation for telescopes in Sutherland. 


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Regards

Thembela Mantungwa
S.A. Astronomical Observatory
Tel: 021 460 9319
Fax: 086 612 7502
Mob: 071 105 0109
Email: tm at saao.ac.za
Website: www.saao.ac.za / www.salt.ac.za