Northern, Southern, and Zodiac Constellations

Constellations

Group of stars that appear to form a pattern in the sky.

Edmond Halley

A British Astronomer who discovered that stars move, change positions, far away.

Seven Major Constellations

Cassiopeia, Orion, Cygnus, Ursa Major, Scorpius, Ursa Minor, Draco

Polaris/North Star

Appears in the same place every night all year long.

Southern Cross

Consists of 4 bright stars and some dimmer ones, all of these together point to the south pole.

Zodiac

Band of 13 constellations along the ecliptic

Ecliptic

The plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Ecliptic.

The apparent path that the sun and planets appear to move along against the star background.

Circumpolar Constellations

Can be seen all year long.

Circumpolar Constellations

Never fully set below the horizon.

Circumpolar Constellations

Appear to move counterclockwise around Polaris.

Circumpolar Constellations

Caused by Earth’s Rotation

Circumpolar Constellations

Ursa Major and Minor, Cassiopeia, Draco, Cepheus

Ursa Major

Best known constellation

Ursa Major

3rd largest constellation

Ursa Major

Known as the sever star dipper referred to as the Big Dipper Asterism.

Asterism

A recognized, group of stars within a constellation or a cross of constellations.

Big Dipper

It has sever stars and an asterism of Ursa Major

Cassiopeia “The Queen”

The 25th largest constellation

Cassiopeia “The Queen”

It has a five star asterism that forms the letter W

Cygnus “The Swan”

16th largest constellation and is recognized for its asterism

Cygnus “The Swan”

Northern Cross

Orion “The Hunter”

One of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky.

Canis Major (Big Dog)

follows the line made by 3 stars of Orion’s belt down to the left.

Sirius

The brightest star in the nighttime sky is found in Canis Major

Taurus (the Bull)

Follow the like made by Orion’s belt up and to the right

Aldebaran

Red star that is the eye of the bull is the 13th brightest in the nighttime sky

Pleiades Star Cluster

Also known as the Seven Sisters and Messier 45

Pleiades Star Cluster

Called Subaru in japan - means “Unite”

Pleiades Star Cluster

It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth

Crux

It is the smallest of the 88 constellations

Crux

Used to be a part of the constellation Centaurus

Carina

Is the latin for Keel which means the boat’s bottom

(34th largest constellation)

Canopus

the 2nd brightest star helps in spacecraft navigation

Centaurus

Refers to half man, half horse creature in greek mythology

Octans

A faint southern circumpolar constellation that contains the stellar south pole which is a

Lupus

Its name is Latin for wolf and as previously an asterism associated with the neighboring constellation Centaurus.

Hydra

Its southern end reached Libra and Centaurus and its northern end borders Cancer.

Zodiac Constellations

are constellations that lie along the plane of the ecliptic.