Cultural astronomy

Cultural astronomy is the study of how different cultures, both old and new, see the stars, planets, and other objects in the sky. It shows how people have understood and used the sky over many years. This field brings together many areas of study.

Cultural astronomy grew out of two main areas of study: archaeoastronomy, which looks at how ancient cultures used the sky, and ethnoastronomy, which combines astronomy with studying texts, cultures, and old images. It is also related to studying old astronomical data, the history of astronomy, and the history of the relationship between astrology and astronomy.

People who study cultural astronomy sometimes write about their work in a journal called the Journal of Astronomy in Culture. This journal began in 2016. It was started by a group called the International Society for Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture.

Examples

Different cultures around the world have special ways of looking at the stars and understanding the sky. Some examples include Ancient Greek astronomy, Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world, and Australian Aboriginal astronomy. Others are Babylonian astronomy, Chinese astronomy, and Egyptian astronomy.

There is also Hebrew astronomy, Indian astronomy, Maya astronomy, Inuit astronomy, Persian astronomy, Serbian folk astronomy, Tibetan astronomy, and the Nakh peoples#Cosmology_and_creation. These show how people made their own stories about the stars and planets.