Speaker: Kate Earl

Prior to 150 years ago and the rise of light pollution, seeing the stars every night would have been an unavoidable joy. But did our early ancestors take advantage of these bright objects that appeared like clockwork every night? It seems they did. This is a talk on how the stars and planets have been utilised throughout prehistory, from Stone Age monuments to Egyptian timekeeping, to how Aboriginal Australians prevented being eaten by a shark. In addition, learn how Polynesian sailors navigated, solving the ‘problem of longitude’ hundreds of years before John Harrison and his marine chronometer. Kate Earl is a geologist with a passion for astronomy, and is the current chairman of the Wessex Astronomical Society.