Same stars, different stories

Maggie Aderin-Pocock considers how other cultures interpret the night sky

- Maggie Aderin-Pocock

In ancient times, when people looked up at the night sky, the stars were more vivid than they are today, as there wasn't the light pollution of modern times. People came to recognise patterns in the arrangement of stars. To them, one group of stars might look a bit like a woman seated on a throne, another like a dog or a bear. They wove these characters into the stories they told, interweaving culture with pinpricks of light.