Altjira
Encyclopedia
In Australia
n Aboriginal mythology, Altjira is the sky god of the Arrernte
. He was the central god of the Dreamtime
(called Alchera by the Aranda) who created the Earth
, then retired to the sky.
In art, he is depicted as having an emu
's feet. His wives and daughters have dog
's feet.
The Kuiper Belt
object 148780 Altjira
is named for Altjira.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Aboriginal mythology, Altjira is the sky god of the Arrernte
Arrernte people
The Arrernte people , known in English as the Aranda or Arunta, are those Indigenous Australians who are the original custodians of Arrernte lands in the central area of Australia around Mparntwe or Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The Arrernte tribe has lived there for more than 20,000 years...
. He was the central god of the Dreamtime
Dreamtime
In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...
(called Alchera by the Aranda) who created the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
, then retired to the sky.
In art, he is depicted as having an emu
Emu
The Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
's feet. His wives and daughters have dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
's feet.
The Kuiper Belt
Kuiper belt
The Kuiper belt , sometimes called the Edgeworth–Kuiper belt, is a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune to approximately 50 AU from the Sun. It is similar to the asteroid belt, although it is far larger—20 times as wide and 20 to 200 times as massive...
object 148780 Altjira
148780 Altjira
148780 Altjira is a binary classical Kuiper belt object . The secondary, S/2007 1, is large compared to the primary, 246 km vs. 340 km. The Altjiran lightcurve is quite flat 148780 Altjira is a binary classical Kuiper belt object (cubewano). The secondary, S/2007 (148780) 1, is large compared to...
is named for Altjira.