Modern astronomers break the sky into 88 designated star groups known as constellations. Here’s a quick breakdown of the five largest.
Constellations are typically measured in square degrees of the night sky; for comparison, a full moon covers about 0.2 square degrees.
Measuring at 1,303 square degrees, Hydra is the largest of the modern constellations. It’s visible in the Northern Hemisphere from January to May, but it’s best seen in the Southern Hemisphere.
HydraIt’s a string of nearly 20 main stars, and its brightest star, Alphard (also known as Alpha Hydrae), is about 177 light-years away from our sun. In artistic depictions, Hydra is typically represented as a serpent.
Virgo covers 1,294 square degrees. Its brightest star, Spica, is about 260 light-years from Earth, and it’s roughly 2,300 times brighter than our sun.
VirgoVirgo is visible from around the world. In the Southern Hemisphere, it’s most visible in the fall and winter, and in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s most visible in spring and summer.
Ursa Major means “great bear" or “larger she-bear” in Latin. It occupies 1,280 square degrees and includes the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is an seven-star asterism, which is a pattern of stars with no officially recognized boundaries; Ursa Major, the constellation it’s part of, is comprised of about 20 stars.
Ursa MajorThe Big Dipper is one of the most well-known asterisms in the night sky. In the United States, it’s represented as a ladle, but in other cultures, its shape represents other items such as a plow, bull’s thigh, or a wagon.
The brightest star in Ursa Major is Alioth (the middle star of the dipper’s handle), which is about 82 light-years from Earth. The constellation’s second-brightest star, Dubhe, is about 2 percent less luminous than Alioth.
Sometimes called “the Whale,” Cetus stretches over 1,231 square degrees. The brightest of these is Beta Ceti, which is 96.3 light-years from Earth. As a whole, Cetus is a fairly dim constellation, and it’s most visible in the Northern Hemisphere in November.
CetusCetus gets its name from a misshapen sea monster in Greek mythology, which was sent by Poseidon to consume Andromeda. It’s also depicted as a whale-like creature with various heads attached to its body.
Hercules occupies 1,225 square degrees. It’s often represented as a human body—the body of Hercules, or Heracles, of Greco-Roman mythology.
HerculesFour bright stars make up the “torso" of this body: Pi, Eta, Zeta, and Epsilon Herculis. Hercules is visible in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s most visible from April through November.
The brightest star in the constellation is Kornephoros (also called Beta Herculis). It is about 139 light-years from Earth.
Constellations
Galileo did not discover any new constellations. Instead, he made important observations about the existing constellations and their movements in the night sky, using his telescope to study the stars and planets.
There are 88 recognized constellations in the sky, but none of them exist within our solar system. Constellations are patterns of stars as seen from Earth and are not physical groupings of stars that exist together in space.
Ptolemy charted 48 constellations in his work known as the Almagest. These constellations were based on the knowledge of the time and laid the foundation for modern astronomy. Some of the constellations he charted include Ursa Major, Orion, and Leo.
Constellations do not orbit planets. Constellations are apparent groupings of stars as seen from Earth, and they are fixed in their position relative to each other. They appear to move across the sky due to the Earth's rotation.
It is the 7th largest of the 88 constellations.
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No. Virgo is the biggest of the zodiac constellations and second largest of the recognized 88 constellations in general. It occupies 1294.43 square degrees of the southern sky. Pisces is the fourth largest of the zodiac constellations with 889.417 square degrees.
Here are the five largest constellations: 1 Hydra, the water serpent 2 Virgo, the virgin 3 Ursa Major, the big bear 4 Cetus, the whale 5 Hercules, the hero
Andromeda,Orion,Sagittarius,Cassiopeia,Cancer,Taurus,Aquarius,Gemini,Scorpius,Leo
The largest constellations of the celestial sphere are Hydra and Ursa Major. Hydra is the largest constellation overall, spanning over 1,300 square degrees of the sky. Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear, is the largest northern constellation and contains the well-known Big Dipper asterism.
Alnath is the third largest Virgo second largest by area
Hercules is a constellation named after Hercules, the Roman mythological hero adapted from the Greek hero Heracles. Hercules was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolem, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations today. It is the fifth largest of the modern constellations.
"Constellations" translates to "constellations" in French.
The two groups of constellations are northern constellations and southern constellations. Northern constellations are visible primarily from the Northern Hemisphere, while southern constellations are visible primarily from the Southern Hemisphere.
88 modern constellations - a list of the current constellations. Former constellations - a list of former constellations. Chinese constellations List of Nakshatras - sectors along the moon's ecliptic Asterism (astronomy)
The largest of all of the constellations is Hydra. It was named after a sea serpent that was found by Hercules.