Over the past eight years, I have been asked to submit astronomical evidence for court cases all over Australia.
or police reports. Often, this evidence requires an expert to explain it – to be able to communicate the findings and data to the members of the court to make an informed decision. These experts are typically in medicine, engineering, psychology, or other fields.The first time I was asked by police to do it came as a bit of a surprise. I had never thought about applying astronomy to the courtroom.
When I'm needed as an expert in court, it tends to be for matters of consequence. My evidence is either critical to a part of the case, or the case itself is fairly major and all the details are being checked and verified.Most court evidence from an astronomer involves calculating the positions and lighting from an astronomical body – the Sun or Moon.
There is also the situation where someone sees something, but it happened around sunrise or sunset. An expert is needed to say what the lighting level was – as there are very clear definitions based on the Sun's position below the horizon, and how much you can see. There are also historical cases or times when people note the view or phase of the Moon as a way of defining when something happened. The full Moon has a precise definition, but the day before or after may appear to look like a full Moon, despite it not technically being full.Of course, like any part of science, there are limits to what I can say.
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