Image: Emu in the Sky with a tracing of the Rock Engraving superimposed

Description: This photograph shows the Australian Aboriginal "Emu-in-the-sky" in the Milky Way. Unlike European constellations, which are formed from stars, the Emu in the Sky is foemd from the dark spaces in between the stars. To see the "constellation", look at the dark dust-clouds, not the stars! Below it is the emu engraving at the Elvina engraving site, in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, near Sydney The constellation is positioned above the engraving as it appears in real life in Autumn. Many Aboriginal groups have stories about the “Coalsack” – the famous dark cloud next to the Southern Cross. Some see it as the head of a lawman, or a possum in a tree, but many groups tell stories of a great emu whose head is the Coalsack, and whose neck, body, and legs are formed from dust lanes stretching across the Milky Way. It’s easy to make out the emu in a dark autumn sky, and once you’ve seen it, the Milky Way will never look the same again. See also File:Emu In The Sky.tif for a version without the tracing

Credit: Barnaby Norris & Ray Norris
Author: Barnaby Norris and Ray Norris
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
License Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Attribution Required?: Yes