Why are some constellations only seen at certain seasons of the year?

Answer 1

the sun blocks our view of some stars. as the earth revolves further around the sun (over the course of a year), the stars that were originally blocked become visible from earth and stars that were once visible are now hiding on the other side of the sun.

Answer 2

the sun blocks our view of some stars. as the earth revolves further around the sun (over the course of a year), the stars that were originally blocked become visible from earth and stars that were once visible are now hiding on the other side of the sun.

Answer 3

Because we are observing from the surface of planet Earth, and

Earth's axis is not tilted at a right angle to it's plane of orbit.

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Think of a star or a constellation that's right up there nice and high in the

southern sky around midnight.

Six months from now, when the Earth has revolved around to the other side

of its orbit, that star will be behind the sun !

Another edit: Yes and there's also Latitude to consider. That's why the

night sky looks so different in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Answer 4

To see a constellation six months from now that is currently overhead at midnight, you would have to be able to look through the sun. Due to the sun's intensity, the stars and galaxies that are easiest to see are the ones in the direction opposite the direction of the sun. That view changes as Earth makes its way around the sun, with any particular view coming back around at the same time each year. It's similar to looking out from an amusement park carousel. Since you cannot look through the center of the carousel, if you want to look out at the park in all directions, you just look straight out while the carousel makes a full rotation.

Answer 5

The earth travels around the sun, carrying us with it.

That means that for most constellations, there's some time of year when the sun is in the same direction

from us as that constellation is.

That's just another way of saying that during that part of the year, that particular constellation rises

about the same time as the sun, is up in the daytime sky, and sets around the same time as the sun.

That would be a poor time of the year to try and see this particular constellation.

Answer 6

The stars are so far away that for most purposes, we can assume that they are standing still. (They aren't; all the stars are in motion, including our Sun. But they don't move enough in a lifetime that any of us will notice.) But the Earth is NOT standing still; it goes once around the Sun every year.

So as the Earth goes along in its orbit at just under one degree per day, it LOOKS TO US that the stars are moving one degree per night. We can only see the stars on the dark side of the sky, because the side with Sun is all bright and and the sky is blue, and the stars are too faint to see.

So we can't see the stars and constellations which are directly on the other side of the Sun from us, because then we'd be seeing the Sun, not the stars. For just a few minutes right after sunset, we can see starts that are CLOSE to being behind the Sun, when the Earth is shading the sun but not the stars, and for a few minutes before sunrise we can see the stars close to being on the OTHER side of the Sun. So we can see MOST of the stars in a single night - but not the ones that are within about 10 degrees of the Sun.

Oh, yes, one more thing. Most of us don't get up and go outside in the winter darkness before dawn, and that's why people think that they can't see "summer" constellations in the winter. They're there; you just have to get up way before dawn and hope that the weather is clear.

There's only one constellation that you CANNOT see, and that's the one directly behind the Sun. I was born in early July, so my astrological sun sign is Cancer; when I was born, the Sun was in the "House of Cancer". Except that it wasn't.

When I was born, in early July, the Sun was "in the house of Gemini", meaning that the Sun was in the Gemini constellation - and so Gemini was (mostly) not visible. Why the difference?

At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that the stars and constellations don't move enough to make any difference in one lifetime; but the astrologers are basing their work on observations that are 1500 years out of date. That's a great number of lifetimes. and the stars that look so constant are in fact racing off in all directions. If we could live 1000 years, you'd need to learn all new constellations, because all of the stars will be in slightly different places!

Answer 7

Basically you can't see a constellation when it is under the horizon. Due to the daily rotation of the Earth, and the yearly movement of Earth around the Sun, the position changes every hour, and every month.

Answer 8

Some constellations are invisible when the Sun passes close to them. Orion, for example, cannot be seen in June and July because the Sun passes close.

Answer 9

Because the Earth revolves around the Sun.

Answer 10

It depends on your location and the time of year as to what constellations are or are not visible.