How true is it in terms of
astronomy?
Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius (1950) and the more
comprehensive Renard Pale (1963) contain astronomical
data that are astounding if they are taken at face value as Dogon
knowledge. Whoever authored them, they are incredibly imaginative,
even for someone with state of the art knowledge in 1950, let
alone for a tribe claimed to have had this knowledge since the 13th
century.
Being poorly reproduced over the years has led to some confusion
about what they actually are, so the astronomical data directly
from Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius and Renard Pale
have been compiled into the following testable statements.
(From Un Systeme Soudanais de Sirius except as marked
*Renard Pale)
Sirius A is red. TEST 1
Sirius B is white. TEST 2
Sirius B is small but heavy. TEST
3
Sirius B has an orbit of 50 years. TEST
4
Sirius B orbit is perpendicular to the horizon. TEST 5
Sirius B has rotational period of one year. TEST 6
Sirius B spins and ejects matter. TEST
7
Sirius A scintillates at periastron and aposastron of Sirius B. TEST 8
Sirius B is remnant of first generation star whose material
formed others in the vicinity. TEST
9
Sirius C exists. TEST 10
Sirius C has "rays" (flares?) TEST 11
Sirius C is bigger but four times lighter than Sirius B. TEST 12
Sirius C has orbit of 50 (or 32*Renard Pale) years. TEST 13
Sirius C has a "larger" orbit than Sirius B. TEST 14
Sirius C orbit is at right angles to that of Sirius B. TEST 15
Sirius C has one main planet in orbit. TEST 16
Orbit of main planet is 30 years. (*Renard Pale) TEST 17
Sirius C has two planets in orbit. (*Renard Pale) TEST 18
(All taken from Renard Pale:)
Milky Way is a rotating spiral. TEST
19
Saturn has rings and is the "star of the Milky Way." TEST 20
Jupiter has four moons. TEST 21
Moon is dry and dead. TEST 22
Venus has 6 positions per year to mark a calendar. TEST 23
Following stars are important: TEST 24
a-CMa (Sirius -- of course!)
b-Ari (Sharatan)
g-Gem (Alhena) *NOTE. Renard Pale has it as g-CMi.
a-CMi (Procyon)
"a red star of Taurus" = a-Tau
(Aldebaran)?
Pleiades = M45 open cluster (9 visible members) in Taurus.
{Orion}
a-Ori (Betelgeuse), b-Ori (Rigel), g-Ori
(Bellatrix), k-Ori (Saiph)
{Orion's belt}
z-Ori (Alnitak), e-Ori
(Alnilam), d-Ori (Mintaka)
{Orion's sword}
i-Ori (Nair al Saif), Orion nebula.
Aliens exist. TEST 25
