What is the constellation?

For most people, the constellation is a group of stars that seem to form a picture in the sky, provided one uses a poetic license. However, astronomers are the constellation of a specific area of ​​the sky, with astronomers break the visible sky into 88 different constellations. Whether you are a layman or an astronomer, the constellation is a way to see the night sky and break the information in the sky up into usable pieces rather than trying to take the sky as a whole.

In the layman, the constellation was an important part of many cultures. Historically, people have chosen clusters of stars and presented by patterns that surround them, from lions to boats, and many cultures have complex myths about constellations and their origin. Some cultures also have stories about "dark constellations", areas of night sky that are completely darkened. Astronomers refer to the constellation in the layman's sense as "asterisms", and some people prefer "Classical Constellations.", when they started breaking the sky into the constellation. For example, the Orion consistency lies in a rectangle drawn by astronomomomas, which were also named Orion, after the interplay with a layman.

Many asterisms are several names and are associated with several different myths. For example, Ursa Major passes through a large ladle in North America and a plow in England. The constellations often appear in the creation of myths, with a number of explanations of their presence, from myths about people imprisoned in the sky in the form of constellations to legends of spilled jewelry. It seems that the diversity of myths that include the night sky suggests that people have long been fascinated by stars and sky.

Although the cluster of stars in the constellation can look very close to each other from the ground, they are actually separated by considerable distances, and there are many stars between them that are too weak or too far to be seen. In many cases, the light from distant starsHe hasn't gotten yet because these stars are too new. On the contrary, some of the stars that are known to us from their place in asterisms may no longer exist, but it may take millions of years to find out because the light from the star travels over such an incredible distance.