UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Polynesian explorers reached the Hawaiian Islands nearly 1,000 years ago in part by following the stars across thousands of miles of open ocean. How accurately do Disney’s “Moana” movies depict this stellar wayfaring?
In this video, Christopher Palma, teaching professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, explains how well Moana follows the Polynesian tradition of using the stars as guides to voyage from one Pacific island to another.
Read Palma’s article in The Conversation to learn more about wayfaring in the “Moana” films.