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constellation

 
Dictionary: con·stel·la·tion   (kŏn'stə-lā'shən) pronunciation
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n.
  1. Astronomy.
    1. An arbitrary formation of stars perceived as a figure or design, especially one of 88 recognized groups named after characters from classical mythology and various common animals and objects.
    2. An area of the celestial sphere occupied by one of the 88 recognized constellations.
  2. The configuration of planets at the time of one's birth, regarded by astrologers as determining one's character or fate.
  3. A gathering or an assemblage, especially of prominent persons or things: The symposium was attended by a constellation of artists and writers.
  4. A set or configuration, as of related items, properties, ideas, or individuals: a constellation of demands ranging from better food to improved health care; a constellation of feelings about the divorce.

[Middle English constellacioun, from Old French constellation, from Late Latin cōnstellātiō, cōnstellātiōn- : Latin com-, com- + Latin stēlla, star.]

constellatory con·stel'la·to'ry (-stĕl'ə-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē) adj.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: constellation
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Any of certain groupings of stars that were imagined by those who named them to form images of objects, mythological figures, or creatures in the sky. They are useful in helping sky gazers and navigators locate certain stars. A constellation's stars are often designated by its name and letters of the Greek alphabet in order of brightness. Of 88 named constellations in Western astronomy, about half retain the names Ptolemy gave the 48 he identified in his Almagest. See also zodiac.

For more information on constellation, visit Britannica.com.

Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Constellation
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One of the 88 areas into which the sky is divided. Each constellation has a name that reflects its earliest recognition. Though pictures are associated with the constellations, they have no official status, and constellations have been depicted differently by different artists.

The catalog of Ptolemy, in Hellenic Alexandria in the second century of the Christian Era, included over 1000 stars grouped into 48 constellations. Johann Bayer's Uranometria (1603) included the constellations listed by Ptolemy and also named 12 new ones containing stars observed on expeditions to the Southern Hemisphere. Bayer originated the scheme of labeling individual stars in constellations with Greek and other letters, roughly in order of brightness, and the genitive form of the constellation name. In some cases, Bayer labeled stars in order around figures in the sky, as for the Big Dipper.

Johannes Hevelius added nine more southern constellations in his 1690 star atlas, Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia. Nicolas Louis de Lacaille added 14 constellations in 1763 from his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope.

In 1928, the International Astronomical Union formally accepted the division of the sky into 88 constellations, with the final list provided 2 years later; each star now falls in only one constellation. The boundaries follow north-south or east-west celestial coordinates (right ascension and declination lines) from the year 1875; because of precession, the current boundaries do not match rounded values of celestial coordinates. See also Astronomical coordinate systems; Precession of equinoxes.

Some of the most familiar patterns in the sky are asterisms rather than constellations. For example, the asterism known as the Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major. The asterism known as the Great Square of Pegasus has three of its corners in Pegasus but the fourth in Andromeda. The Northern Cross is made of stars in Cygnus.

Computer Desktop Encyclopedia: Netscape Netcaster
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A component of the earlier Netscape Communicator that provided a push model delivery system based on Marimba's Castanet Tuner. Users were able to subscribe to content channels on the Internet and receive information updates in the background while working on other applications. See Netscape Communicator.

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Columbia Encyclopedia: constellation
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constellation, in common usage, group of stars that appear to form a configuration in the sky; properly speaking, a constellation is a definite region of the sky in which the configuration of stars is contained. Identifiable groupings of bright stars have been recognized and named since ancient times, the names corresponding to mythological figures (e.g., Perseus, Andromeda, Hercules, Orion), animals (e.g., Leo the Lion, Cygnus the Swan, Draco the Dragon), or objects (e.g., Libra the Balance, Corona the Crown). Ptolemy listed 48 constellations in his Almagest (2d cent. A.D.).

As systematic observations were extended to the entire southern sky from the 17th cent. on, more constellations were added to the list by J. Bayer, N. L. de Lacaille, and others. For example, Ptolemy's 48th constellation, Argo Navis, representing a ship, was divided into four smaller constellations corresponding to different parts of the ship. The final list consists of 88 constellations, each associated with a definite region of the sky. Thus, the entire celestial sphere is divided according to a plan prepared by Eugene Delporte, with the boundaries fixed by international agreement in 1930, along lines of right ascension and declination (see equatorial coordinate system). The 12 constellations located along or near the ecliptic, the apparent path of the sun through the heavens, are known as the constellations of the zodiac; the remaining constellations are officially classified as northern (28 constellations) or southern (48 constellations).

The table entitled Constellations lists the constellations according to their official Latin names, with the English equivalents and the approximate positions given. In some cases, the English name for a constellation is not an exact translation of the Latin; e.g., the English name for Pictor reflects the fact that the figure in the constellation is not the painter himself but his easel. Certain familiar star groups, or asterisms, are not listed as constellations because they form only part of a larger constellation; the Big Dipper and Little Dipper are parts of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, and the Northern Cross is part of Cygnus.

Bright stars within a constellation are designated according to a system originated by Bayer in 1603: the brightest star is designated by the Greek letter alpha followed by the genitive form of the Latin name for the constellation, the second brightest star by beta, and so on, with Roman letters and pairs of Roman letters being used after the Greek letters have all been assigned. For example, the brightest star in Taurus, Aldebaran, is designated Alpha Tauri, the second brightest, Elnath, is designated Beta Tauri, and so on. The alphabetical order does not always indicate the stars' relative brightness: in a few cases, e.g., Ursa Major, the assignment of a Bayer name is according to position rather than brightness.

Science Dictionary: constellation
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An easily recognized group of stars that appear to be located close together in the sky and that form a picture if lines connecting them are imagined. Constellations are usually named after an animal, a character from mythology, or a common object. (See Big Dipper, Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor.)

Military Dictionary: constellation
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(DOD) A number of like satellites that are part of a system. Satellites in a constellation generally have a similar orbit. For example, the Global Positioning System constellation consists of 24 satellites distributed in six orbital planes with similar eccentricities, altitudes, and inclinations. See also global positioning system.

Word Tutor: constellation
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A named group of stars.

pronunciation Michael peered at the constellation through his telescope.

Wikipedia: Constellation
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Text document with red question mark.svg
 This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (November 2009)
This article is about the star grouping. For other uses, see Constellation (disambiguation).
The constellation Orion is one of the most recognized in the sky. The name is associated both with a set of stars in the sky, and a bounded region of the sky, marked in yellow.

In modern astronomy, a constellation is an area of the celestial sphere, defined by exact boundaries. The term "constellation" can also be used loosely to refer to just the more prominent visible stars that seem to form a pattern in that area.

Contents

Definitions

In colloquial usage, a constellation is what astronomers call an asterism: a group of celestial bodies (usually stars) that appear to form a pattern in the sky or appear visibly related to each other. Examples are Orion (which appears like a human figure with a belt, often referred to as "The Hunter"), Leo (which contains bright stars that outline the form of a lion), Scorpius (which can seem reminiscent of a scorpion), and Crux (a cross).

In astronomy, however, a constellation is an area of the sky, and contains all the stars and other celestial objects within that area. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) divides the sky into 88 official constellations[1] with exact boundaries, so that every direction or place in the sky is defined by one constellation. Most of these constellations are centered on the traditional constellations of Western culture. Constellations were devised by ancient people to be able to recognize stars in the sky. The shapes of constellations resemble objects familiar to those people.

Human perception versus reality

Constellations are normally the product of human perception rather than astronomical realities. 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, there are some exceptions. The famous star pattern known as the Big Dipper is almost entirely created by stars that are genuinely close together in astronomical terms; they are known as the Ursa Major moving group.

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

Official constellations

The 88 official constellations defined by the IAU (International Astronomical Union) are mostly based upon those of the ancient Greek tradition, passed down through the Middle Ages, which includes the 'signs of the zodiac,' twelve constellations through which the sun passes and which thus have had special cultural significance. The rest consist of constellations which were defined in the early modern era by astronomers who studied the southern hemisphere's skies, which were invisible to the Greeks.

Boundaries

The constellation boundaries now used by the International Astronomical Union were drawn up in 1930 by Eugène Delporte. 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 this early date is that due to precession of the equinoxes, the borders on a modern star map (e.g., 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.

A star pattern may be widely known but may not be used by the International Astronomical Union. One famous example is the asterism known as the Big Dipper; this term is not used by the IAU as the stars are considered part of the larger constellation of Ursa Major.

Constellation systems across the world

Western

In the Western world, the sky of the northern hemisphere is traditionally divided into constellations based on those described by the Ancient Greeks. 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 or around the eighth century BC, of which only fragments survive. The most complete existing works dealing with the mythical origins of the constellations are by the Hellenistic writer termed pseudo-Eratosthenes and an early Roman writer styled pseudo-Hyginus.

In the 2nd century AD, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy described the constellations in great detail in his influential work the Almagest.

Chinese

Main article: Chinese constellation

Chinese constellations are different from the Western constellations due to the independent development of ancient Chinese astronomy One difference is that the Chinese counterpart of the 12 western zodiac constellations is the 28 "Xiu" (宿) or "mansions" (a literal translation). The Western and Chinese too have some similarities.

Indian

See also: Jyotiṣa

In Vedic astrology, the 12 zodiac constellations are called raasis. The twelve raasis along the ecliptic correspond directly to the twelve western star signs. These are however divided into 27 Nakshatras, or lunar houses.

Dark cloud constellations

The "Emu in the sky," a constellation defined by dark clouds rather than the stars. A western interpretation would recognise Crux (the Southern Cross) above the emu's head and Scorpius on the left. The head of the emu is the Coalsack.

In the southern hemisphere, it is possible to discern dark patches in the Milky Way. Some cultures have discerned shapes in these patches and have given names to these "dark cloud constellations." Members of the Inca civilization identified various dark areas or dark nebulae in the Milky Way as animals, and associated their appearance with the seasonal rains.[2] Australian Aboriginal astronomy also describes dark cloud constellations, the most famous being the "emu in the sky" whose head is formed by the Coalsack.

See also

Pleiades large.jpg Astronomy portal

Notes

  1. ^ Ian Ridpath. "Constellation names, abbreviations and sizes". http://www.ianridpath.com/constellations1.htm. Retrieved 2007-10-05. 
  2. ^ The Incan View of the Night Sky

Further reading

Mythology, Star Lore, History, & Archaeoastronomy

  • Allen, Richard Hinckley. (1899) Star-Names And Their Meanings, G. E. Stechert, New York, New York, U.S.A., hardcover; reprint 1963 as Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning, Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, U.S.A., ISBN 978-0486210797 softcover.
  • Olcott, William Tyler. (1911); Star Lore of All Ages, G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, New York, U.S.A., hardcover; reprint 2004 as Star Lore: Myths, Legends, and Facts, Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, New York, U.S.A., ISBN 978-0486435817 softcover.
  • Kelley, David H. and Milone, Eugene F. (2004) Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archaeoastronomy, Springer, ISBN 978-0-387-95310-6 hardcover.
  • Ridpath, Ian. (1989) Star Tales, Lutterworth Press, ISBN 0718826957 hardcover.
  • Staal, Julius D. W. (1988) The New Patterns in the Sky: Myths and Legends of the Stars, McDonald & Woodward Publishing Co., ISBN 0939923106 hardcover, ISBN 0939923041 softcover.

Atlases & Celestial Maps

General & Nonspecialized – Entire Celestial Heavens:

  • Becvar, Antonin. Atlas Coeli. Published as Atlas of the Heavens, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.; with coordinate grid transparency overlay.
  • Norton, Arthur Philip. (1910) Norton's Star Atlas, 20th Edition 2003 as Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook, edited by Ridpath, Ian, Pi Press, ISBN 978-0-13-145164-3, hardcover.
  • National Geographic Society. (1957, 1970, 2001, 2007) The Heavens (1970), Cartographic Division of the National Geographic Society (NGS), Washington, D.C., U.S.A., two sided large map chart depicting the constellations of the heavens; as special supplement to the August 1970 issue of National Geographic. Forerunner map as A Map of The Heavens, as special supplement to the December 1957 issue. Current version 2001 (Tirion), with 2007 reprint.
  • Sinnott, Roger W. and Perryman, Michael A.C. (1997) Millennium Star Atlas, Epoch 2000.0, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and European Space Agency (ESA), ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands. Subtitle: "An All-Sky Atlas Comprising One Million Stars to Visual Magnitude Eleven from the Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues and Ten Thousand Nonstellar Objects". 3 volumes, hardcover, in hardcover slipcase, set ISBN 0-933346-84-0. Vol. 1, 0–8 Hours (Right Ascension), ISBN 0-933346-81-6 hardcover; Vol. 2, 8–16 Hours, ISBN 0-933346-82-4 hardcover; Vol. 3, 16–24 Hours, ISBN 0-933346-83-2 hardcover. Softcover version available. Supplemental separate purchasable coordinate grid transparent overlays.
  • Tirion, Wil; et al. (1987) Uranometria 2000.0, Willmann-Bell, Inc., Richmond, Virginia, U.S.A., 3 volumes, hardcover. Vol. 1 (1987): "The Northern Hemisphere to −6o", by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and George Lovi, ISBN 0-943396-14-X hardcover, printed boards (blue). Vol. 2 (1988): "The Southern Hemisphere to +6o", by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and George Lovi, ISBN 0-943396-15-8 hardcover, printed boards (red). Vol. 3 (1993) as a separate added work: The Deep Sky Field Guide to Uranometria 2000.0, by Murray Cragin, James Lucyk, and Barry Rappaport, ISBN 0-943396-38-7 hardcover, printed boards (gray). 2nd Edition 2001 (black or dark background) as collective set of 3 volumes – Vol. 1: Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Atlas, by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and Will Remaklus, ISBN 978-0-943396-71-2 hardcover, printed boards (blue edging); Vol. 2: Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Atlas, by Wil Tirion, Barry Rappaport, and Will Remaklus, ISBN 978-0-943396-72-9 hardcover, printed boards (green edging); Vol. 3: Uranometria 2000.0 Deep Sky Field Guide by Murray Cragin and Emil Bonanno, ISBN 978-0-943396-73-6, hardcover, printed boards (teal green).
  • Tirion, Wil and Sinnott, Roger W. (1998) Sky Atlas 2000.0, various editions. 2nd Deluxe Edition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England (U.K.).

Northern Celestial Hemisphere & North Circumpolar Region:

  • Becvar, Antonin. (1962) Atlas Borealis 1950.0, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Praha, Czeckoslovakia, 1st Edition, elephant folio hardcover, with small transparency overlay coordinate grid square and separate paper magnitude legend ruler. 2nd Edition 1972 and 1978 reprint, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Prague, Czeckoslovakia, and Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., ISBN 0-933346-01-8 oversize folio softcover spiral bound, with transparency overlay coordinate grid ruler.

Equatorial, Ecliptic, & Zodiacal Celestial Sky:

  • Becvar, Antonin. (1958) Atlas Eclipticalis 1950.0, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Praha, Czeckoslovakia, 1st Edition, elephant folio hardcover, with small transparency overlay coordinate grid square and separate paper magnitude legend ruler. 2nd Edition 1974, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Prague, Czeckoslovakia, and Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., oversize folio softcover spiral bound, with transparency overlay coordinate grid ruler.

Southern Celestial Hemisphere & South Circumpolar Region:

  • Becvar, Antonin. Atlas Australis 1950.0, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Praha, Czeckoslovakia, 1st Edition, elephant folio hardcover, with small transparency overlay coordinate grid square and separate paper magnitude legend ruler. 2nd Edition, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences (Ceskoslovenske Akademie Ved), Prague, Czeckoslovakia, and Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., oversize folio softcover spiral bound, with transparency overlay coordinate grid ruler.

Catalogs

  • Becvar, Antonin. (1959) Atlas Coeli II Katalog 1950.0, Praha, 1960 Prague. Published 1964 as Atlas of the Heavens - II Catalogue 1950.0, Sky Publishing Corporation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
  • Hirshfeld, Alan and Sinnott, Roger W. (1982) Sky Catalogue 2000.0, Cambridge University Press and Sky Publishing Corporation, 1st Edition, 2 volumes. LCCN 81017975 both vols., and LCCN 83240310 vol. 1. "Volume 1: Stars to Magnitude 8.0", ISBN 0-521-24710-1 (Cambridge) and 0-933346-35-2 (Sky) hardcover, ISBN 0-933346-34-4 (Sky) softcover. Vol. 2 (1985) - "Volume 2: Double Stars, Variable Stars, and Nonstellar Objects", ISBN 0-521-25818-9 (Cambridge) hardcover, ISBN 0-521-27721-3 (Cambridge) softcover. 2nd Edition (1991) with additional third author Frangois Ochsenbein, 2 volumes, LCCN 91026764. Vol. 1: ISBN 0-521-41743-0 (Cambridge) hardcover (black binding); ISBN 0-521-42736-3 (Cambridge) softcover (red lettering with Hans Vehrenberg astrophoto). Vol. 2 (1999): ISBN 0-521-27721-3 (Cambridge) softcover and 0-933346-38-7 (Sky) softcover - reprint of 1985 edition (blue lettering with Hans Vehrenberg astrophoto).
  • Yale University Observatory. (1908, et al.) Catalogue of Bright Stars, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. Referred to commonly as "Bright Star Catalogue". Various editions with various authors historically, the longest term revising author as (Ellen) Dorrit Hoffleit. 1st Edition 1908. 2nd Edition 1940 by Frank Schlesinger and Louise F. Jenkins. 3rd Edition (1964), 4th Edition, 5th Edition (1991), and 6th Edition (pending posthumous) by Hoffleit. Hardcover or softcover.

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Constellations
v • d • e
The 88 modern constellations
Andromeda · Antlia · Apus · Aquarius · Aquila · Ara · Aries · Auriga · Boötes · Caelum · Camelopardalis · Cancer · Canes Venatici · Canis Major · Canis Minor · Capricornus · Carina · Cassiopeia · Centaurus · Cepheus · Cetus · Chamaeleon · Circinus · Columba · Coma Berenices · Corona Australis · Corona Borealis · Corvus · Crater · Crux · Cygnus · Delphinus · Dorado · Draco · Equuleus · Eridanus · Fornax · Gemini · Grus · Hercules · Horologium · Hydra · Hydrus · Indus · Lacerta · Leo · Leo Minor · Lepus · Libra · Lupus · Lynx · Lyra · Mensa · Microscopium · Monoceros · Musca · Norma · Octans · Ophiuchus · Orion · Pavo · Pegasus · Perseus · Phoenix · Pictor · Pisces · Piscis Austrinus · Puppis · Pyxis · Reticulum · Sagitta · Sagittarius · Scorpius · Sculptor · Scutum · Serpens · Sextans · Taurus · Telescopium · Triangulum · Triangulum Australe · Tucana · Ursa Major · Ursa Minor · Vela · Virgo · Volans · Vulpecula
v • d • e
Constellation history
v • d • e
The Zodiac
Astronomy | Constellations of the Zodiac
Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpius Ophiuchus Sagittarius Capricornus Aquarius Pisces
Astrology | Signs of the Zodiac
Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpio Sagittarius Capricorn Aquarius Pisces
Aries.svg Taurus.svg Gemini.svg Cancer.svg Leo.svg Virgo.svg Libra.svg Scorpio.svg Sagittarius.svg Capricorn.svg Aquarius.svg Pisces.svg
See also: Ecliptic  · Zodiacal light

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Translations: Constellation
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - konstellation, sammensætning, stjernebillede

Nederlands (Dutch)
sterrenbeeld, constellatie, verzameling mensen/ideeën

Français (French)
n. - (Astron) constellation, (fig, littér) pléiade

Deutsch (German)
n. - Sternbild, Konstellation

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (αστρον., μτφ.) αστερισμός

Italiano (Italian)
costellazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - constelação (f) (Astron.)

Русский (Russian)
созвездие

Español (Spanish)
n. - constelación

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - konstellation, stjärnbild

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
星座, 灿烂的一群

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 星座, 燦爛的一群

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 별자리, 기라성 같은 사람들의 일단, 배열

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 星座

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) برج فلكي, مجموعه من النجوم, كوكبه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קבוצת-כוכבים, קונסטלציה‬

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