How come star constellations stay the same if stars die?

Answer 1

They are like any of the other stars, and they will run out of fuel eventually. Many of them may have already burned out, but light evidence of the events has not yet reached us.

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They all will, eventually. But the lifespans of stars are generally longer than the lifespans of entire species. The only major "constellation star" that might possibly "burn out" in our lifetimes is the red giant star Betelgeuse, at the shoulder of Orion. Betelgeuse is a relatively old star; about 10 million years old, which is very short for a star, but the bigger the star, the faster it burns out. Astronomers expect Betelgeuse to explode in a titanic supernova explosion "real soon now" on an astronomical time frame - which means any time between "now!" and about 100,000 years from now.

Fortunately, Betelgeuse is about 800 light-years away, so when explodes the Earth will be in no danger. But it ought to be a spectacular sight, shining as brightly as the full moon does!

Answer 2

They don't, actually. However, because the stars are so far away, even though they're moving it takes them a long time to move enough for us to notice without taking photographs and making very precise measurements.

Answer 3

Technically, they don't. Every star is in high-speed motion, all in different directions.

We can't see it, because they're so far away that the motion appears minuscule.

But in 1,000 years, we'll see that they have moved slightly from the positions

they used to occupy.

Answer 4

The fact that the north star Polaris happens to be almost directly above the north pole is, to be honest, merely coincidence, although a very fortunate one.

Every gyroscope experiences a wobbling phenomenon called precession. The Earth does, too. The problem is that the precession of the Earth is so S...L....O....W.... that nobody lives long enough to notice it! The cycle takes about 25,800 years to complete, and our civilization has only existed for about 3000 years. So the amount of the precession is measurable, but isn't obvious to the casual observer.

In 12000 years, the very bright star Vega will be fairly close to being a "pole star", and in the intervening years a succession of relatively dim stars may fill that role. 26,000 years from now, we'll be back to having Polaris as the pole star again - although by that time, we may be living on the planets of Polaris!

Answer 5

our view of them is light years away, and our life time is but a relative millisecond in their changes.

Answer 6

because it is made up of stars