Transcript Slide 1

The Constellations:
A Link to Our History,
Our Map for the Night Sky
The Sky Appears to Move During the
Night…..
•Three basic motions
of the sky
– Daily- east to west
with respect to the
horizon
Image credit CSUF
…And During the Year
Yearly
motion
east to west
with respect
to the sun
Stars move
through
space over
long periods
•Who named the
constellations?
•Who first made up the
constellations?
•Did all cultures see the
same constellations?
•Are there some
constellations that are
no longer used?
•Why do we still use
constellations?
Orion From Hevelius’ Uranographia
Not All the Stars in a Constellation Are Next to Each Other
The 88 Modern Constellations Contain
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14 men and women
9 birds
1 insect
1 scorpion
19 land animals
10 water creatures
1 head of hair
1 serpent
1 flying horse
1 river
29 inanimate objects
Circumpolar Constellations
The Big Dipper- Part of Ursa Major
Cassiopeia- The Queen
Winter/Spring Constellations
Wouldn’t it be great if the sky looked like this?
Where did the lines go???
So Many Maps, So Much Sky:
Where Do I Begin?
Free Monthly Sky Maps With Calendar of Events
www.skymaps.com
East is east
and west is
west?
Note that on
star maps east
and west are
reversed when
compared to
road maps.
Can you see
why?
Arc to Arcturus; Drive a Spike to Spica!