Wander Lord

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Astonishing Constellations

Astonishing Constellations

Astonishing Constellations


Since ancient times people have tried to explain the night sky. A constellation is a group of stars. The groups are identified according to patterns that people have seen in the stars and they are simply ways that people have imagined the stars. Over thousands of years different cultures have seen different patterns in the stars. They have named many different constellations after familiar animals, everyday objects, and characters and beasts from stories.
Today constellations provide a connection between modern humans and ancient stories. Astronomers have named 88 constellations and they use them to help describe the location of specific stars.
There are 12 well-known constellations that lie in a band of space called the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. Today astronomers have calculated that during the period from November 27 to December 17, there is one more zodiacal constellation on the horizon – Ophiuchus.

Nowadays people depend less on celestial bodies, but their study does not stop.
Earlier constellations were considered to be figures that form stars, and today these are parts of the celestial sphere with conditional boundaries and all celestial bodies in their territory. In 1930, the number of constellations was fixed – 88, and 47 of which were described before our era, but the names given to the stellar figures in antiquity are still used. By the end of the 17th century, atlases of the starry sky with descriptions of 22 new constellations were published.
Hydra is the largest of the star figures, it occupies 3.16% of the starry sky and is located in the northern and southern hemisphere.
The brightest stars of the northern hemisphere belong to Orion, 209 of them are visible to the naked eye. The most interesting space objects of this section of the sky are the Orion’s Belt and the Orion Nebula.
The brightest constellation of the southern sky and the smallest among all the existing clusters is the Southern Cross. Its four stars were used by sailors for orientation for several thousand years, the Romans called them the Throne of the Emperor, but as an independent constellation the Cross was registered only in 1589.
The oldest map of the constellations dates back to the 2nd century BC. It was created by Hipparchus of Nicaea and became the basis for the work of astronomers of later time.

Astonishing Constellations

Bootes, Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices

Bootes, Canes Venatici and Coma Berenices

Canis Major and Lepus

Canis Major and Lepus

Capricornus

Capricornus

Delphinus, Aquila and Sagitta

Delphinus, Aquila and Sagitta

Draco and Ursa Minor

Draco and Ursa Minor

Gemini

Gemini

Leo Major and Leo Minor

Leo Major and Leo Minor

Perseus and Caput Medusae

Perseus and Caput Medusae

Pisces

Pisces

Taurus

Taurus

Ursa Major

Ursa Major

Virgo

Virgo

Atlas of constellations – drawings and engravings by Johannes Hevelius

Andromeda

Andromeda

Aquila, Antinous

Aquila, Antinous

Ara, Pavo, Triangulum Australe

Ara, Pavo, Triangulum Australe

Aries

Aries

Auriga

Auriga

Bootes, Coma Berenices

Bootes, Coma Berenices

Camelopardalis

Camelopardalis

Cancer

Cancer

Canis Major

Canis Major

Canes Venatici

Canes Venatici

Canis Minor

Canis Minor

Capricornus

Capricornus

Cassiopeia

Cassiopeia

Cepheus

Cepheus

Centaurus

Centaurus

Cetus

Cetus

Corona Borealis

Corona Borealis

Crater, Corvus

Crater, Corvus

Crux, Piscis Austrinus

Crux, Piscis Austrinus

Cygnus, Lyra

Cygnus, Lyra

Delphinus, Equuleus

Delphinus, Equuleus

Draco

Draco

Eridanus

Eridanus

Hydra, Crater, Corvus

Hydra, Crater, Corvus

Indus, Phoenix, Tucana, Grus, Apus, Pavo

Indus, Phoenix, Tucana, Grus, Apus, Pavo

Lacerta

Lacerta

Leo

Leo

Lepus, Columba

Lepus, Columba

Libra

Libra

Lupus

Lupus

Lynx

Lynx

Lyra

Lyra

Monoceros

Monoceros

Orion

Orion

Pegasus

Pegasus

Perseus

Perseus

Pisces

Pisces

Sagitta, Vulpecula

Sagitta, Vulpecula

Sagittarius

Sagittarius


Astonishing Constellations
Scorpius

Scorpius

Scutum

Scutum

Serpens, Serpentarius

Serpens, Serpentarius

Sextans

Sextans

Taurus

Taurus

Triangulum, Musca

Triangulum, Musca

Ursa Major

Ursa Major

Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor

Virgo

Virgo

Stars on the flags

Syria

Syria

Tajikistan

Tajikistan

Turkey

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan

New Hampshire

New Hampshire

New Zealand

New Zealand

North Dakota

North Dakota

Ohio

Ohio

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Philippines

Philippines

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Singapore

Singapore

USA

USA

Tuvalu

Tuvalu

Venezuela

Venezuela

Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan

Vietnam

Vietnam

Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Arizona

Arizona

Arkansas

Arkansas

Australia

Australia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brazil

Brazil

China

China

Cuba

Cuba

Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea

Ethiopia

Ethiopia

European Union

European Union

Honduras

Honduras

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Indiana

Indiana

Israel

Israel

Liberia

Liberia

Macau

Macau

Mauritania

Mauritania

Nepal

Nepal