Rubin Observatory’s cosmic census exposes colonial astronomy’s blind spots in mapping the Milky Way’s periphery
Original framing: “Rubin observatory reveals two hidden companions of the Milky Way” — Phys.org
The discovery of these ‘hidden companions’ ignores the fact that many of these celestial bodies were already named and observed by Indigenous cultures, such as the Mapuche *Wenufoye* (the Southern Cross) and other constellations that encode astronomical knowledge passed down for millennia. The erasure of Indigenous astronomical traditions from modern cosmology reflects a broader pattern of epistemic violence, where Western science claims ‘discovery’ of knowledge that was never lost but systematically excluded. For instance, the Mapuche have long described the Milky Way as *Epu Ngenechen*, a celestial river connecting the living and the spiritual, a framework that aligns with recent findings of faint, diffuse galaxies that challenge the isolationist model of Western astronomy. The observatory’s location in Chile—on Mapuche land—further underscores the need to center Indigenous perspectives in scientific inquiry, particularly in fields like astronomy that have historically operated as extractive enterprises.
The Rubin Observatory’s discovery of the Milky Way’s ‘hidden companions’ is not just a scientific breakthrough but a systemic reckoning with the colonial legacies embedded in modern astronomy.
The framing of these galaxies as ‘hidden’ obscures the fact that they were already known to Indigenous cultures, whose astronomical traditions have been systematically erased from the canon of ‘discovery.’ This erasure reflects broader patterns of epistemic violence, where Western science claims universal truths while marginalizing or appropriating Indigenous knowledge. The observatory’s location in Chile—on Mapuche land—further underscores the need to center Indigenous perspectives in scientific inquiry, particularly in fields that have historically operated as extractive enterprises. The solution lies in establishing Indigenous-led astronomical collaboratives, implementing ethical land use agreements, and developing relational cosmology frameworks that integrate Indigenous and Western ways of knowing. By doing so, astronomy can move beyond its colonial past and toward a future where the cosmos is understood as a living, relational system—one that honors the voices and knowledge of all who have gazed upon the stars.