Tukturjuit, meaning the “caribou". Known as the Big Dipper in western astronomy.
Inuit astronomy is centered around the Qilak, the Inuit name for the celestial sphere and the home for souls of departed people. Inuit beliefs about astronomy are the shaped by the harsh climate in the Arctic and the resulting difficulties of surviving and hunting in the region. The stars were an important tool to track time, seasons, and location, particularly during winter.[1]
The Inuit are a group of circumpolar peoples who inhabit the Arctic and subarctic regions of North America (Canada, Greenland and Alaska), and parts of northern Siberia. There are many similarities between the traditions and beliefs among the indigenous peoples in Arctic regions. For example, the Inuit, Chukchi and Evenks all have a worldview based on their religious beliefs and have related traditions about astronomy.[2] While differing traditions exist among groups, they overlap in the way the stars, weather, and folk tales assist in hunting, navigation and teaching their young about the world.[1]
Their astronomy and relationship to the sky is heavily influenced by their spiritual and pragmatic needs, as well as the high northerly latitudes where they reside. For those living above the Arctic Circle, the latitude affects the view of the night sky, especially the fact that during winter polar night may occur for multiple months and the midnight sun during summer.[2]
^ abPenprase, Bryan E. (2011). "Northern Circumpolar Sky from Around the World: The Arctic Inuit Sky". The Power of Stars. New York, NY: Springer. pp. 42–46. ISBN 978-1-4419-6802-9.
^ abMacDonald, John (2015), Ruggles, Clive L.N. (ed.), "Inuit Astronomy", Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy, New York, NY: Springer, pp. 533–539, doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_40, ISBN 978-1-4614-6141-8, retrieved 2021-09-17
Inuitastronomy is centered around the Qilak, the Inuit name for the celestial sphere and the home for souls of departed people. Inuit beliefs about astronomy...
Inuit religion is the shared spiritual beliefs and practices of the Inuit, an indigenous people from Alaska, northern Canada, parts of Siberia and Greenland...
needed] In Inuitastronomy, Polaris is known as Nuutuittuq (syllabics: ᓅᑐᐃᑦᑐᖅ). It is depicted on the flag and coat of arms of the Canadian Inuit territory...
Inuit navigation techniques are those navigation skills used for thousands of years by the Inuit, a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples who...
later more commonly known by the name of Saptarishi, "Seven Sages." In Inuitastronomy, the same grouping of stars is referred to as "the Caribou" (Tukturjuit)...
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry...
This name has also been attached to the main stars of Ursa Major. In Inuitastronomy, the three brightest stars — Polaris, Kochab, and Pherkad — were known...
139–40. ISBN 0-9750908-0-1. MacDonald, John (1998). The Arctic sky: Inuitastronomy, star lore, and legend. Toronto, Ontario/Iqaluit, NWT: Royal Ontario...
33. ISBN 978-0-387-95436-3. MacDonald, John (1998). The Arctic sky: Inuitastronomy, star lore, and legend. Toronto, Ontario / Iqaluit, NWT: Royal Ontario...
their skins or the reverse, with polar bears removing their skins. In Inuitastronomy, the Pleiades star cluster is conceived of as a polar bear trapped...
Orion's Belt. In Inuitastronomy, Arcturus is called the Old Man (Uttuqalualuk in Inuit languages) and The First Ones (Sivulliik in Inuit languages). The...
Central Inuit are the Inuit of Northern Canada, their designation determined by geography and their tradition of snowhouses ("igloos"), fur clothing,...
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Australian Aboriginal astronomy has been passed down orally, through ceremonies, and in their artwork of many kinds. The astronomical systems passed down...
mother of prince Ta'urua (Venus) who sails his canoe across the sky. In Inuitastronomy, Capella, along with Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), Pollux (Beta Geminorum)...
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feed guests. Known as Sikuliarsiujuittuq to the Inuit, Procyon was quite significant in their astronomy and mythology. Its eponymous name means "the one...
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of astronomy is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to astronomy and cosmology, their sub-disciplines, and related fields. Astronomy is...
Extragalactic astronomy is the branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside the Milky Way galaxy. In other words, it is the study of all astronomical...
Inu-Yupiaq InuitInuit–Aleut Inuit art Museum of Inuit Art InuitastronomyInuit Boots Inuit Broadcasting Corporation Inuit Circumpolar Council Inuit Circumpolar...
misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy, as modern astronomy is a scientific discipline, while archaeoastronomy considers...
satellites are classified by their orbital characteristics into the prograde Inuit and Gallic groups and the large retrograde Norse group, and their names...
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