Constellations

In ancient times when people looked up at the starry

night sky, they thought they saw shapes in groups of
stars. We call these shapes constellations. The
ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks,
and Chinese named constellations of stars after
heroes and beasts from stories and after everyday
objects.

You probably know some constellations. The Big

Dipper looks like a giant pot with a long handle. The
constellation Orion is named after a hunter in Greek
mythology. You can see his belt, marked by three
bright stars, and his sword, which hangs from his
belt.

The stars that form constellations are not really near

each other. Some of the stars in a constellation are
much farther from us than others. The stars just
happen to form patterns as we view them from the
Earth.

WHICH CONSTELLATION IS WHICH?

When you look up at the sky, you see shapes much like
those which the ancient stargazers named after characters
from magical tales. You can use a star chart, a map that
shows where stars appear in the sky, to become familiar
with the shapes and names of the constellations. As the
night passes, these great shapes seem to move through
the sky, just as the Sun appears to cross the sky during
the day. But it’s actually Earth that’s moving, not the Sun
and stars.
You can only see the brightest stars with the naked eye.
Try looking at the sky through binoculars or a telescope.
Thousands of fainter stars come into view. You can no
longer see the shapes of constellations.

DO CONSTELLATIONS ALWAYS LOOK THE

SAME?
Because Earth tilts as it circles the Sun, you see different
constellations at different times of year. The Big Dipper,
for example, is easiest to find during summer. Orion is
most visible during winter.

People in Australia and elsewhere in the Southern

Hemisphere see completely different constellations than
people in Canada or the United States. One of the most
famous southern constellations is Crux, the Southern
Cross.

The shapes of constellations slowly change over very long

periods of time. The familiar forms will look quite different
many thousands of years from now.

HOW DO ASTRONOMERS USE

CONSTELLATIONS?
Astronomers divide the sky into 88 constellations. Even
though the constellations do not represent real groupings
of stars, astronomers still find them useful for naming
stars and mapping the sky.

Astronomers use letters of the Greek alphabet to name

stars. They also use a form of the name of the
constellation the star is in. The brightest star in a
constellation has alpha in its name, because alpha is the
first letter of the Greek alphabet. For example, the
brightest star in the constellation Perseus is called Alpha
Persei. And the second brightest is Beta Persei. (Beta is
the second letter in the Greek alphabet.) The star closest
to the Sun is Alpha Centauri, the brightest star in the
southern constellation of Centaurus.

Some objects that are not stars are also named after the
constellations in which they appear. Such objects include
the Andromeda galaxy and the Orion nebula. At certain
times of the year, the Earth passes through showers of
meteors (shooting stars). Even these meteor showers,
such as the Perseids and Geminids, are named after the
constellations from which they seem to fall.

WHAT ARE THE CONSTELLATIONS OF THE

ZODIAC?
The ancient Babylonians noticed that the Sun’s position in
the sky changes through the year. They divided the stars
along the Sun’s path into 12 constellations. We call these
12 the constellations of the zodiac. They consist of Aries,
the Ram; Taurus, the Bull; Gemini, the Twins; Cancer, the
Crab; Leo, the Lion; Virgo, the Virgin; Libra, the Balance;
Scorpio, the Scorpion; Sagittarius, the Archer; Capricorn,
the Goat; Aquarius, the Water Bearer; and Pisces, the
Fishes.
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