Farmers astronomers

2000/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

The peasants who inhabit the Andes have always looked at the Pleiades, the open cluster of stars of the constellation of Taurus. Depending on how these stars look in June, potatoes will be sown sooner or later. If in June the Pleiades are not clear, it is a sign that the dry season arrives, so farmers delay the date of planting so that the latter rain wet the harvest.

Researchers from the Universities of California and Columbia have studied whether or not that popular knowledge has an astronomical basis and have discovered that Andean farmers function properly. It seems that the Pleiades in the atmosphere are exposed to cirruss, high altitude clouds, which are not clearly seen and are predictors of the Child phenomenon. El Niño cuts the Andean rains a few months after its arrival.