constellation

This article is about the star grouping. For other uses, see Constellation (disambiguation).

A constellation is any one of the 88 areas into which the sky - or the celestial sphere - is divided. The term is also often used less formally to denote a group of stars visibly related to each other in a particular configuration or pattern.

Some well-known constellations contain striking and familiar patterns of bright stars. Examples are Ursa Major (containing the Big Dipper), Orion (containing a figure of a hunter), Leo (containing bright stars outlining the form of a lion) and Scorpius (a scorpion). Other constellations do not encompass any discernible star patterns, and contain only faint stars.

Explanation

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) divides the sky into 88 official constellations with precise boundaries, so that every direction or place in the sky belongs within one constellation. In the northern celestial hemisphere, these are mostly based upon the constellations of the ancient Greek tradition, passed down through the Middle Ages, and contains the signs of the zodiac.

The constellation boundaries were drawn up by Eugène Delporte in 1930, and he drew them along vertical and horizontal lines of right ascension and declination. However, he did so for the epoch B1875.0, the era when Benjamin A. Gould made the proposal on which Delporte based his work. The consequence of the early date is that due to precession of the equinoxes, the borders on a modern star map (eg, for epoch J2000) are already somewhat skewed and no longer perfectly vertical or horizontal. This skew will increase over the years and centuries to come.

In three-dimensional space, most of the stars we see have little or no relation to one another, but can appear to be grouped on the celestial sphere of the night sky. Humans excel at finding patterns and throughout history have grouped together stars that appear close to one another.

A star pattern may be widely known but may not be recognized by the International Astronomical Union; such a pattern of stars is called an asterism. An example is the grouping called the Big Dipper (North America) or the Plough (UK).

The stars in a constellation or asterism rarely have any astrophysical relationship to each other; they just happen to appear close together in the sky as viewed from Earth and typically lie many light years apart in space. However, one exception to this is the Ursa Major moving group.

The grouping of stars into constellations is essentially arbitrary, and different cultures have had different constellations, although a few of the more obvious ones tend to recur frequently, e.g., Orion and Scorpius.

History of the constellations

Main article: Former constellations

Our current list is based on those listed by the Roman astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt.

In more recent times this list has been added to in order to fill gaps between Ptolemy's patterns. The Greeks considered the sky as including both constellations and dim spaces between. But Renaissance star catalogs by Johann Bayer and John Flamsteed required every star to be in a constellation, and the number of visible stars in a constellation to be manageably small.

The constellations around the South Pole were not observable by the Greeks. Twelve were created by Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman in the sixteenth century and first cataloged by Johann Bayer. Several more were created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in his posthumous Coelum Australe Stelliferum, published in 1763.

Other proposed constellations didn't make the cut, most notably Quadrans Muralis (now part of Boötes) for which the Quadrantid meteors are named. Also the ancient constellation Argo Navis was so big that it was broken up into several different constellations, for the convenience of stellar cartographers.

Greek constellation myths

The first ancient Greek works which dealt with the constellations were books of star myths. The oldest of these was a poem composed by Hesiod in the C8th BC, of which only fragments survive.

The most complete extant works dealing with the mythic origins of the constellations are by the Hellenstic writer termed pseudo-Eratosthenes and an early Roman writer styled pseudo-Hyginus. Each of these drew extensively from the writings of older sources (Hesiod and his successors), providing a clear overview of the stories which lay behind the star groups we are so familiar with today.

Chinese constellations

Main article: Chinese constellation

Chinese constellations are different from the western constellations, due to the independent development of ancient Chinese astronomy. Ancient Chinese skywatchers divided their night sky in a different way, but there are also similarities. The Chinese counterpart of the 12 western zodiac constellations are the 28 "Xiu" (宿) or "mansions" (a literal translation).

Star names

All modern constellation names are Latin proper names or words, and some stars are named using the genitive of the constellation in which they are found. The genitive is formed using the usual rules of Latin grammar, and for those unfamiliar with that language the form of the genitive is sometimes unpredictable and must be memorized. Some examples include: Aries → Arietis; Taurus → Tauri; Gemini → Geminorum; Virgo → Virginis; Libra → Librae; Pisces → Piscium; Lepus → Leporis.

These names include Bayer designations such as Alpha Centauri, Flamsteed designations such as 61 Cygni, and variable star designations such as RR Lyrae. However, many fainter stars will just be given a catalog number designation (in each of various star catalogs) that does not incorporate the constellation name.

For more information about star names, see Star designations and the list of stars by constellation.

See also

• List of constellations
• List of constellations by area
• Former constellations
• Chinese constellation
• Nakshatra

External links

• Star Tales (Ian Ridpath)
• The Constellations
• Photographic Atlas of the Constellations
• Celestia free 3D realtime space-simulation (OpenGL)
• Stellarium realtime sky rendering program (OpenGL)
• Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center Files on official IAU constellation boundaries (the older NASA ADC service does not function anymore)
• Interactive Sky Charts (Allows navigation through the entire sky with variable star detail, optional constellation lines)
• http://www.astronomical.org/constellations/obs.html
• http://www.seds.org/Maps/Stars_en/Fig/const.html
• Full constellation diagrams resembling their names
• Images of constellations
• The Constellations presented by Utah Skies
• Online Text: Hyginus, Astronomica translated by Mary Grant Greco-Roman constellation myths
• Observe satellites, space shuttles, constellations, comets