Stargazer

READING THE SEASON Tonight now shows you what the sky is saying this month in the Boorong reading. Right now, in August: Marpeankurrk marks the season for gathering bittur; Neilloan means the mallee fowl are on their nests; Tchingal the Emu stands up in the south. A star used as a calendar — which is exactly what the Australian Curriculum asks students to understand about First Nations seasonal knowledge. Only figures with a documented window appear. Nothing is guessed. SEARCH ACTUALLY FINDS CONSTELLATIONS Searching "southern cross" used to return nothing at all — constellations were not searchable, and Crux never calls itself the Southern Cross. Now it finds Crux, by nickname, IAU name or abbreviation. It also finds Bunya, Berm-berm-gle and Tchingal, because in the Boorong sky those same four stars are a tree with a possum up it. Big Dipper, the Plough, the Saucepan, the Teapot, the Seven Sisters and the Pointers all work too. THE SKY QUIZ NOW TEACHES THE BOORONG SKY New questions across all three levels: which star is Neilloan, what Tchingal is made from, and what the Boorong read from Lyra rising in March. Every answer names the nation it came from.