Constellation

A constellation is a group of stars visibly related to each other in a particular configuration. In three-dimensional space, most of the stars we see have little relation to one another, but can appear to be grouped on the celestial sphere of the night sky. Humans excel at finding patterns and throughout history have grouped stars that appear close to one another into constellations.

History of the Constellations

:Main article:List of Constellations

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Our current list is based on those listed by the Roman astronomer, Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. (Claudius Ptolemy, the astronomer, was not related to the Greek kings of Egypt named Ptolemy.)

Related Topics:
Roman - Claudius Ptolemy - Alexandria - Egypt - Greek kings of Egypt named Ptolemy

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In more recent times this list has been added to, to fill gaps between Ptolemy's patterns. The Greeks considered the sky as including both constellations and dim spaces between. But Renaisance star catalogs by Johann Bayer and John Flamsteed required every star to be in a constellation, and the number of visible stars in a constellation to be manageably small.

Related Topics:
Johann Bayer - John Flamsteed

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Twelve of the constellations in the southern celestial hemisphere were not observable by the Greeks, and were created by Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman in the sixteenth century and first cataloged by Johann Bayer.

Related Topics:
Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser - Frederick de Houtman - Johann Bayer

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Other proposed constellations didn't make the cut, most notably Quadrans Muralis (now part of Boötes) for which the Quadrantid meteors are named. Also the ancient constellation Argo Navis was so big that it was broken up into several different constellations, for the convenience of stellar cartographers.

Related Topics:
Quadrans Muralis - Boötes - Quadrantid meteors - Argo Navis

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