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Constellations

Constellations have fascinated astronomers for centuries. They are arbitrary formations 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. Questions about the various constellations of stars are what this category is all about.

3,677 Questions

Why do some constellations appear for part of the year and disappear from the night sky a few months later?

The sun and its light eliminates stars that are 6 degrees (civil twilight) 12 degrees (nautical twilight) and 18 degrees (astral twilight) from it. Thus a whole constellation. So if you are up all night as the stars rise and set, then you will see 11 constellations of zodiac. Only one of 30 degrees is blinded, (on both sides of the sun = 12 degrees civil; 24 degrees nautical; 36 degrees astronomical).

Is the Orion belt inhabited?

Do those stars have planets which have people? How would we know? Best guess, though, is no, they don't. Reason: those stars are giants; they burn out in a (cosmically) brief time, so Life, which took 3+ billion years to get to us, just wouldn't have that amount of time to develop.

What is the distance from earth of the constellation cancer?

Roughly speaking, a constellation is a direction in the sky. This is like asking "how far is left", or "how far is up". It starts right here, and goes all the way to infinity. Or however far the Universe reaches.

Where is delphinus located in the sky?

It is loccated in the Northern sky, west of the Pegasus

Why can you only see certain constellations during certain seasons?

the earth rotates and spins making u c diffrent one that r on the other side of the sun or the earth

What is the color of the star phecda?

Phecda is a white-hot star whose color (B-V) is 0

What are the constellations called that are on the elliptic?

The constellations on the ecliptic orbit of Earth are called the zodiac or circle of animals. Original zones extended to the north pole so that the Big Dipper inside the BIg Bear is still Leo.

Why Dr Stevan Dipper name the big Dipper?

because when he looked at the sky he saw the stars he connected the stars and he connected one and he called it big dipper because he was the first one to discover the big dipper.

What time of year can you see the great dog constellation?

the best time of year to see the great dog is in the fall .

What image does the big dipper represent?

The Big Dipper is known in the Northern Hemisphere as The Plough(Plow.American spelling) as the main Stars in the constellation resemble an ancient ploughing farm machine

Why do the constellations seem to move as the seasons change?

As the Earth goes around the sun, it changes its position relative to the stars in those constellations. At times, some stars won't be visible as they will be behind the sun. This change in perspective isn't enough to make it appear as if they stars have taken a radically new position. They still seem to be just where they always have been. That's why the stars of each constellation stay in the shape of the constellation and instead it seems as though the whole constellation moves. Really, it's just us that are moving.

How many stars does the human race know of?

There is only one star that has ever been observed in our solar system, but some

scientists have theorized that there is a second star out beyond the Oort Cloud

that only comes close enough to be observed every 32 million years. That length

of time between observational periods would explain why a human has never

proven its existence.

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On the other hand . . .

-- About 2,300 stars are bright enough to be seen in the night sky by the unaided

human eye.

-- Enough individual stars have been observed and catalogued within the Milky Way

Galaxy with modern optical and photographic aid to estimate that the total number

of them in our local galaxy is between 200 to 400 billion stars.

-- Two satellite galaxies of the Milky Way and one completely independent galaxy

are near enough and bright enough to be seen in the night sky by the unaided

human eye.

-- Enough individual galaxies have been observed and catalogued with miodern

optical and photographic aid to estimate that the total number of galaxies in our

universe exceeds 100 billion galaxies.

For a total count of stars, simply do the math.