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Constellations. Patterns of Stars. People of ancient time saw the constellations as character or animals in the sky. They made up stories to explain how the object, animal, or character came into the night sky. A pattern or group of stars in the sky is called a constellation. Orion.
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Patterns of Stars People of ancient time saw the constellations as character or animals in the sky. They made up stories to explain how the object, animal, or character came into the night sky. A pattern or group of stars in the sky is called a constellation.
Orion When the gods were tired of him, the sent a scorpion to bite and kill him. Orion is one of the brightest constellations and is a mythological character. According to Greek myths, Orion was a hunter who used to brag all the time. This bother the gods. The gods felt bad for doing having Orion killed, they they placed him in the sky.
Stars as Tools for Navigation • Earth rotates on its axis, this makes most constellations appear to rise in the east and set in the west during the night. • Most constellations appear in many different positions in the sky as the Earth revolves around the sun. • There is a group of stars that appear in the sky all night long and all year long. It seems that these stars do not rise and set, but circle the Earth’s north pole each night. These stars are called circumpolar.
Stars as Tools for Navigation • The North Star is called Polaris and located directly above the North Pole. This star appears in the same place every night all year long. • In the Northern Hemisphere, if you find Polaris you will be able to tell which direction is north. • The Southern Hemisphere does not have a star to help you find its pole. In stead it has what is known as a Southern Cross. • The Southern Cross consists of 4 bright stars and some dimmer ones. All of these together point to the south pole.
Stars As Calendars • It seems that the constellations in the east rise a little earlier each evening. This means that the seasons are changing and we are seeing different constellations. • An example is in the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is high in the sky during the winter and Scorpio can only be seen during the summer. • People of ancient times used these seasonal changes in the stars as calendars. • It is believed that the ancient people used the constellations to tell them when to plant and harvest crops. An example would be Leo and Virgo in the night sky would signify that the last frosts of the year have happened and it is safe to plant. This worked much like our paper calendars work for us today.
Interesting Facts • The brightest constellation is Crux (the Southern Cross). • The constellation with the greatest number of visible stars in it is Centaurus (the Centaur - with 101 stars). The largest constellation is Hydra (The Water Snake) which extends over 3.2% of the sky.
Ursa Major • Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is visible in the Northern Hemisphere all year long. • Ursa Major is the best known of the constellation and it appears in every reference known. • The story behind it: • Callisto was changed to a bear because of Zeus's jealousy and transferred her to the sky. This is improbable, as the constellation was already well established before this time. The drawings all show a bear with a long tail, again not likely correct since bears have no tails. The most likely explanation for the bears is the fact that Native Americans called the constellations the bear, but instead of the tail they depict the bear being chased around the pole by seven braves.
Ursa Minor • Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is visible in the Northern Hemisphere all year long. • Ursa Minor is mostly known for Polaris, the North Star which may be found at the end of the handle. • The story behind it: • Ursa Minor does not have any mythology attached to it, it was created in the 6th century B.C. as a navigational aid for sailors out of a long forgotten constellation called the Dragon's wing.
Cepheus • The story behind it: • Cepheus was the King of Ethiopia. He married Cassiopeia and they had a daughter Andromeda. Cassiopeia was incredibly beautiful but immensely vain. She was also proud of her daughter's beauty. In fact she continually boasted that the two of them were more beautiful than any of the fifty sea nymphs who attended Poseidon's court. • These nymphs (the Nereids) complained to Poseidon, who felt he had to defend his own reputation. So he sent a flood to devastate Cepheus' kingdom. The oracles told Cepheus that in order to save his people he must sacrifice his daughter to a great sea monster: Andromeda was tied to a rock along the coastline, dressed only in her jewelry. The monster would be along in due time to take his prize. • At that moment Perseus came flying by. He had just killed the Gorgon Medusa and was carrying the severed head back to Athene. To make a long story short, he saved her then turned everyone into stone by showing them the severed head. • Poseidon then put the stone frozen Cepheus and Cassiopeia into the heavens, but with a twist: he made the vain Cassiopeia spin around on her chair, spending half the year upside down. As for Cepheus, Poseidon gave him a number of medium sized stars that go to make his square face with a pointed crown.
Cassiopeia • This constellation is at the edge of the Milky Way galaxy and has the shape of a "W". • The story behind it: • Cassiopeia had been the wife of Cepheus. Because she thought herself more beautiful than the daughters of Nereus, a god of the sea, she angered the god Poseidon. To punish her, her daughter was chained to a rock of the coast as a sacrifice for a sea monster. Andromeda was saved from death by Perseus. To learn humility Cassiopeia was banned to the sky hanging half of the time head downward.
Draco • Draco, the Dragon, used to hold special significance as the location of the pole star, but due to the Earth's precession, the pole has shifted to Polaris in Ursa Minor. • The story behind it: • The dragon is Ladon, the guardian of the 'golden apples' of immortality which grew in the garden of Hesperides, beyond the River of Time, in the land of death. It is Ladon which Hercules kills in his 11th labor to get the golden apples.
Orion • Orion is the master of the winter skies. He lords over the heavens from late fall to early spring, with his hunting dog Sirius trailing at his feet. • The story behind it: (Orion holding a bow) • Orion was a handsome and famous hunter. The Battle-Goddess Anat fell in love with him, but when he refused to lend her his bow, she sent another man to steal it. This chap bungled the job, and wound up killing Orion and dropping the bow into the sea. This is said to explain the astronomical fact that Orion and the Bow (an older version of the constellation) drops below the horizon for two months every spring. • Another story behind it: (Orion holding an animal) • Orion was known as the "dweller of the mountain", and was famous for his prowess both as a hunter and as a lover. But when he boasted that he would eventually rid the earth of all the wild animals, his doom may have been sealed. The Earth Goddess sent the deadly scorpion to Orion to kill him. Orion engaged the scorpion in battle but quickly realized its amour was impervious to any mortal's attack. Orion then jumped into the sea and died. In his eternal hunting, Orion is careful to keep well ahead of the scorpion. Orion has disappears over the horizon by the time Scorpio rises in the east, as it becomes his turn to rule the evening sky.
OrionNot a circumpolar constellation, but a seasonal constellationBetelgeuse, the right arm of Orion (or "armpit" as the name suggests), glows with a dull red. Rigel, in the opposite corner of the constellation, is much brighter.
Orion • On the left: The Hunter - Orion • In the middle: Name: The Bull - Taurus • On the right: Name: The Greater Dog - Canis Major
On the left: The Lion - Leo • There is a record of the Lion in an astronomical poem from Greece in the 3rd or 4th century B.C. • In the middle: The Herdsman - Böötes • On the right: The Virgin - Virgo • At first, this constellation was recognized as the figure of a stalk of wheat, and then was introduced to the Greeks and become the figure of a virgin who holds a stalk of wheat, linking it with Greek mythology and legend.
Summer • On the left: The Crab - Cancer • Its name is Cancer in Latin, which is the same name as the disease, cancer. This disease was named after the shell of the crab, which is similar to the shape of breast cancer. • In the middle: The Scorpion - Scorpio • The Scorpion has existed since the oldest of times. After sunset, around the 7th of July, you can see it in the shape of a large S above the southern horizon where the milky way is streaming down. The figure of this constellation was originally the figure of a scorpion with scissors. Later the scissors were separated to become the Balance. • On the right: The Archer - Sagittarius • The Archer has been recognized since the Babylonian era. At that time it was the figure of a man with a bow in his hand, not the present figure of the half man half horse which is recognized in Greek mythology.
On the left and in the middle: Andromeda • The Andromeda constellation is famous for containing the Andromeda Nebula, the closest galaxy to our Milky Way. Andromeda was chained up for a sea monster to devour her. • Andromeda is also the daughter of Cassiopeia & Cepheus • On the right: The Fishes, Pisces • In ancient Babylon, this constellation was viewed as the figure of a mermaid tied together with a swallow with a fish tail. The present figure appeared in a 3rd or 4th century B.C. Greek poem.
Signs Of The Zodiac From our perspective on earth, the sun takes a path through the sky (known as the ecliptic). It passes through these constellations.
Ecliptic Constellations & Zodiac Signs • A band of 12 constellations around the sky entered on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun on the earth as the earth revolves around it). • Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces.
