Comets in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy

TL;DR

This paper documents 25 accounts of comets in Australian Aboriginal communities, highlighting their cultural perceptions and historical sightings, and provides linguistic data across 16 languages.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive ethnographic and linguistic compilation of Aboriginal perceptions and terminology of comets, linking cultural beliefs with historical comet observations.

Findings

Comets are associated with fear, death, and omens in Aboriginal cultures.

Historical accounts of bright comets are documented from 1843 to 1927.

Linguistic data for comet terminology is provided in 16 Aboriginal languages.

Abstract

We present 25 accounts of comets from 40 Australian Aboriginal communities, citing both supernatural perceptions of comets and historical accounts of bright comets. Historical and ethnographic descriptions include the Great Comets of 1843, 1861, 1901, 1910, and 1927. We describe the perceptions of comets in Aboriginal societies and show that they are typically associated with fear, death, omens, malevolent spirits, and evil magic, consistent with many cultures around the world. We also provide a list of words for comets in 16 different Aboriginal languages.