Astronomy within Brazilian Culture

The indigenous peoples of Brazil have historically been recognized for their skill in astronomy. Astronomy and ethnoastronomy are different disciplines (Salt 2015). Astronomy is one of the physical sciences and involves the systematic study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Ethnoastronomy is a social science belonging to the discipline of ethnology and examines the way astronomy is practiced in the context of a particular culture (Salt 2015). Ethnoastronomers have observed that the indigenous people of Brazil were particularly systematic in their observation of the sky. In the seventeenth century, Capuchin Claude d’Abbeville noted the stargazing practices of the Tupinambá people by stating “There are only a few of them that don’t know the majority of the celestial bodies and stars of their hemisphere and that don’t call them by the proper names that were invented and imposed upon each of them by their ancestors” (Lima 2015: 947). Consequently, considering that the Flag of Brazil represents an astronomical event, and the indigenous peoples are traditionally recognized as keen astronomers, I  sought to compose a work that recognized this cultural history by displaying and mapping the scientific data of the stars represented on the flag both visually and sonically.

The advancement of computing power over the last two decades has led to an increase in the availability of planetarium software for both desktop computers and mobile devices. Stellarium (Zotti and Wolf 2019), the software package used for this composition, is used by both amateur and professional astronomers as well as the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, who use it to facilitate distribution and sharing of visual data among scientists (Berglund 2008). Stellarium has a very high quality graphical display—supporting spherical mirror projection that can be used with a dome (McCool 2009)—and is used in many schools and museums because it is both scientifically accurate and visually engaging. Moreover, Stellarium can display constellations from several different cultures and has labels translated to more than 40 languages, making it both culturally aware and inclusive (Berglund 2008). Also, the landscape feature facilitates a connection between landscape and skyscape, so one that can map the sky against a landscape for research purposes or aesthetic reasons (Zotti, Schaukowitsch, and Wimmer 2017). It facilitates the identification of astronomical objects and the planning of viewing and astrophotography sessions by enabling sky simulation for any particular location, date and time (Ashley 2015). Archaeoastronomers often use the feature to generate an astronomical display from a location for a period sometime in the past (Zotti 2014). These features enabled me to graphically simulate the skyscape as it would have appeared at the exact moment of the declaration of the republic.