Unlocking the Stars: How Disney’s ‘Moana’ Mirrors Real Polynesian Navigation Through Astronomy

If you’ve traveled to an isle such as one of the Hawaiian Islands, Tahiti, or Easter Island, known as Rapa Nui, you may have observed how tiny these land masses seem against the immense expanse of the Pacific Ocean. If you find yourself in Hawaii, the closest island to you is over 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away, while the coast of the continental United States lies more than 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) distant. Claiming these islands are remote would be an understatement.

For me, experiencing the film “Moana” in 2016 was enlightening. I was aware that Polynesian populations navigated among several Pacific islands, yet witnessing Moana embark on a canoe made me comprehend just how small those vessels are compared to what must have appeared as an infinite ocean. Still, our fictional protagonist undertook this adventure, much like the numerous authentic Polynesian navigators she is inspired by.

Polynesian islands can be separated by thousands of miles. Photo via NASA.

As an astronomer, I have spent over 20 years instructing college students and visitors at our planetarium on how to identify stars in our sky. In teaching others to appreciate the magnificence of the heavens, I aim to help them realize that if you have a solid understanding of the stars, you can never truly be lost.

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U.S. Navy veterans mastered the stars during their navigation training, and various European cultures relied on the stars for their journeys, yet the Polynesian wayfinding techniques depicted in Moana introduced these concepts to a broad audience.

The film Moana provided me with a fresh perspective – pun unintentional – for my planetarium presentations and lessons on locating celestial objects at night. With “Moana 2” recently released, I am thrilled to discover even more astronomy portrayed on the big screen and to explore how I can create new educational materials inspired by the film.

The North Star

Have you ever located the North Star, Polaris, in your night sky? I strive to identify it every time I go stargazing, and I teach my audience at presentations to utilize the “pointer stars” within the Big Dipper to spot it. These two stars in the Big Dipper guide you straight to Polaris.

When you are facing Polaris, you can be assured you are looking north. Polaris is unique since it is almost directly positioned above Earth’s North Pole, enabling anyone north of the equator to see it throughout the year at the exact same location in their sky.

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It is a vital star for navigation because measuring its altitude relative to your horizon reveals how far north you are from Earth’s equator. For the vast number of individuals residing approximately 40 degrees north of the equator, Polaris will appear around 40 degrees above the horizon.

If you reside in northern Canada, Polaris will seem higher in your sky, while if you are closer to the equator, Polaris will appear nearer to the horizon. However, the other stars and constellations shift with the seasons, meaning that what you see opposite Polaris will vary each month.

Locate the Big Dipper to find the North Star, Polaris.

You can utilize all the stars for navigation, but doing so requires knowing their positions throughout the year and at every hour of the night. Hence, navigating with stars aside from Polaris is more complex to master.

Maui’s fishhook

At the close of June, around 11 p.m., a bright red star may draw your attention if you look directly opposite Polaris. This star is Antares, the brightest star in the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion.

Maui’s fishhook.

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If you find yourself in the Northern Hemisphere, Scorpius may not fully rise above your horizon, but if you are on a Polynesian island, you should witness the entire constellation emerging in the southeast, reaching its zenith in the sky when it is directly south, and setting in the southwest.

Astronomers and navigators establish latitude through the measurement of star heights, as Maui and Moana did in the film by using their hands as measuring devices.

The simplest method involves determining how high Polaris is above your horizon. If it is entirely obscured, you must be located south of the equator, but if you can see Polaris 5 degrees (the width of three fingers at arm’s length) or 10 degrees above your horizon (the width of your full fist held at arm’s length), this indicates you are 5 degrees or 10 degrees north of the equator.

The other stars, including those in Maui’s fishhook, will appear to rise, set, and reach their peak position at varying places in the sky depending on your specific location on Earth.

Polynesian navigators committed to memory where these stars would appear in the skies from the various islands they sailed between, thus by observing those stars in the night sky, they could ascertain which direction to travel and how long they needed to cross the ocean.

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In contemporary times, most individuals simply extract their phones and rely on the built-in GPS for assistance. Since the release of “Moana” the…

was in cinemas, I notice a distinctly different response to my planetarium presentations regarding the utilization of stars for navigation. By accurately depicting how Polynesian navigators relied on the stars to cross the seas, Moana aids even those of us who have never sailed after dark to comprehend the techniques of celestial navigation.

The initial “Moana” film premiered when my son was 3 years old, and he immediately developed a fondness for the music, the narrative, and the visuals. There are numerous humorous remarks about parents who dread the need to watch a child’s favorite film repeatedly, but in my situation, I fell in love with the film as well.

Since that time, I have wished to express my gratitude to the storytellers responsible for this film for being so meticulous in representing the astronomy of navigation accurately. I also valued that they illustrated how Polynesian navigators utilized not just the stars but also other indicators, such as ocean currents, to traverse the vast Pacific Ocean and arrive safely on a tiny isle thousands of miles away from their homeland.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.