just a specific region in the sky
Vela in Latin means "sails" as in the sails of a ship. The constellation Vela was once included in the constellation Argo Navis which is Latin for "the ship Argo" or the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology. The constellation Argo Navis (so named by Ptolemy in the 2nd century) was considered to be too large by modern astronomers and so has been divided into three parts, Vela (the sails), Carina (the hull or keel) and Puppis (the upper deck).
So the earlier astronomers can locate things in the sky.. They used the constellations to help them point out certain things
Astronomers have debated several ideas about the significance of the Orion's Belt constellation. A popular idea is that it may have been the blueprint ancient Egyptians used to build the Giza pyramids.
Astronomers call that shape the Pot because it looks like aPot or a dipper as you say.
a region of the celestial sphere
About the same way that geographers use nations: "This star (city) is in this constellation (nation)," that sort of thing.
they help us "map out" the sky, and almost like sectioning off places so astronomers can say, "the star we are looking at resides in the Draco constellation" and all the other astronomers can have an understanding of the general area they should be looking at
Constellation are a useful quick way of dividing the sky up into its different regions, so astronomers have continued to use the traditional constellations. Unfortunately, constellation boundaries are made more complicated to define because of precession, which means that some boundaries that used to follow lines of constant right-ascension or declination no longer do so. This means that star atlases have to be redrawn every 50-100 years.
Roughly speaking, a constellation is a direction in the sky. The introductory paragraph of the Wikipedia summarizes the concept quite well: 'In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around patterns that represent the shapes that give the name to the constellations. When astronomers say an object is "in" a given constellation, they mean it is within the boundaries of one of these defined areas of sky, as the patterns may have several variants in its representation.' In modern astronomy, there are 88 or 89 constellations, depending on how you count.
Vela in Latin means "sails" as in the sails of a ship. The constellation Vela was once included in the constellation Argo Navis which is Latin for "the ship Argo" or the ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in Greek mythology. The constellation Argo Navis (so named by Ptolemy in the 2nd century) was considered to be too large by modern astronomers and so has been divided into three parts, Vela (the sails), Carina (the hull or keel) and Puppis (the upper deck).
So the earlier astronomers can locate things in the sky.. They used the constellations to help them point out certain things
So the earlier astronomers can locate things in the sky.. They used the constellations to help them point out certain things
Greek philosophers/astronomers thought that the constellation "perseus" looked like a human shape, and since "perseus" was a famous Greek hero, they named it after him.
Hercules is a constellation of the Northern sky, the constellation does not change position and so will never come to the Southern hemisphere. To see everything astronomers need to visit countries in both the northern and southern hemisphere.
Constellations are a group of stars forming a recognizable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure. Modern astronomers divide the sky into eighty-eight constellations with defined boundaries.(Definition given by Google)
Astronomers have debated several ideas about the significance of the Orion's Belt constellation. A popular idea is that it may have been the blueprint ancient Egyptians used to build the Giza pyramids.
Astronomers call that shape the Pot because it looks like aPot or a dipper as you say.