Skies of the Andes

While journeying throughout the Andes, me and my family have seen some of the most beautiful starry skies ever. 

Sadly, on our one chance to see something like shown in the picture, we got rained out. We didn’t take that picture. I thought the skies were incredible anyways, and we didn’t even go in the stargazing season. Which is July. In July they have all sorts of festivals in Cusco. When we were there in May we already saw people practicing for it!

You probably know that the Southern hemisphere sky is the opposite of the Northern hemisphere sky, but there is something else that is different in Inca cosmology. Instead of using stars to create constellations, like dots to dots. They used shadows like dark and purple in the milky way. Those are called dark constellations. This really caught me by surprise because I have never seen the milky way in real life anyway. Also because the sky is different, instead of using the north star they used the southern cross. During our stay in Cusco we went to the Cusco planetarium. I looked at planets through a telescope for the first time. It was so cool. I also learned how to tell the difference between stars and planets. If it is a planet, it doesn’t blink. If it is a star, it does! The Incas were great astronomers. They were able to predict droughts just by looking at the stars. This way they were able to plan their rations, and make huge food stores to support the Inca empire during these times of drought. The priests of the empire were the only ones allowed to speak with the gods. They were able to convince the people that the gods were talking to them by predicting things through astrology.