The mystery of the Dogon tribe's advanced astronomical knowledge

S.O.T.T: Sirius is the brightest star in the sky and had a prominent place in many ancient cultures. Sirius, which is about 8.7 light years from Earth, has a white dwarf companion star, Sirius B. Sirius B cannot be seen with the naked eye, and astronomers first guessed at its existence in the 1830s. They mathematically developed a theoretical model of its orbit around Sirius (now referred to as Sirius A) later in the 19th century.

The astronomers knew that Sirius B must be made of a super dense matter, but the specifics were beyond their comprehension until quantum physics helped explain it in 1926. In 1894, irregularities in the movement of Sirius B led astronomers to consider that a third star, Sirius C, may exist and exert an influence on Sirius B's orbit. It is still a matter of debate whether Sirius C exists or not.

The Dogon are said to have known all of this centuries before Western astronomers began contemplating it. For them, Sirius is a three-star system. They allegedly accurately describe Sirius B: they say it is a companion star for Sirius that is invisible from Earth, that it has a 50-year orbital period, that it travels around Sirius A along an elliptical path, and it is made of a heavy substance not found on Earth...read more>>>...