Have you ever had one of those days where you’d take a nice walk in the night time and just gaze into the night sky, and when you look up you see a bunch of beautiful stars. Well, if you have taken a closer look you may have noticed that the stars have patterns that create images called constellations. Constellations are a group of stars that are connected together to represent mythological images of animals and objects from the past that is located in the celestial sphere 1, 3. They were mainly discovered by the early people, primarily used as references to coordinate directions, measure time, predict farming seasons, and for religious studies3. According to the International Astronomical Union, there are 88 constellations in the sky, but …show more content…
Though, the Ancient Greeks did have quite the knowledge in constellations, they received most their knowledge from Ancient Egyptians, who inherited their knowledge from the Ancient Babylonians. It was the Ancient Babylonians who first discovered approximately 30 constellations around the Late Bronze Age when the oldest Babylonian star catalogs were found1, 3. As time progressed, the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrew scholars went on to creating their own astronomical systems. The Ancient Babylonians were also one of the first ones to realize that astronomical phenomena are calculated periodically with mathematics2. As time progressed, Ancient China first discovered their astronomical system in the13th century BCE, followed by India 3300-1300 BCE3. As time progressed, the Greeks learned more from the Babylonians and added several more constellations. By the 2nd century CE, Claudius Ptolemaus combined all the 48 constellations into a single arrangement called the Almagest, which was used by European and Islamic Scholars1. As time went by more and more constellations were discovered. Henry Norris Russell, an American astronomer was the one who divided the celestial sphere into 88 sectors, which was where the International Astronomical Union recognized the 88 constellations that are in …show more content…
As constellations move about one degree per day, they complete a 360 degrees circular motion in a year, making them return back to the same position as they were the year before3. As mentioned earlier the rotation of constellations depends on where you look and your location. For instance, a person who looks up North would tend to realize that the constellations are rotating in the counterclockwise direction around the north celestial pole, which is beside Polaris3. The explanation to why it seems like the constellations are rotating counterclockwise is because the earth spins from west to east, meaning that it is rotating to the right, while the stars and constellations above, moves from east to west3. In contrast, those who face the south, will see the stars rotate clockwise3. For a person who is facing the east will see the stars rise in the front of them and set behind, while a person who faces the west will see the stars rise behind and set in front of them3. Though constellations travel from East to West like the planets, people from different parts of the world will have a different standpoint on the movements of the constellations. Now that we have an understanding of constellations, lets take a look at a few notable ones, starting with the
First, the zodiacal constellations provide the backdrop for the pathway of the sun around our sky each year, and of the moon for every month. Since the sun’s path lies within these constellations, you know you can look for them along the approximate path that the sun follows during the day from east to west across the sky. The constellations of the Zodiac should be visible during the month of October.
My Favorite Constellation is Hercules. Hercules is the fifth largest constellation in the sky, occupying an area of 1225 square feet in the sky. I've chosen this constellation because I quite enjoy the Greek myth behind it.
Correspondents of the Constellation Era Christine Hackett My journey into the Order of the Eastern Star has been enlightening with moments of frustration. The Order of the Eastern Star does very much to enhance each member philosophically, spiritually and socially, but all too often this beautiful work remains hidden in plain sight. My thirst for knowledge and passion for mystery inspired me to seek profound truths as they relate to the deeper meaning and purpose of the Order of the Eastern Star. Over the last three years, I have contributed countless hours and resources in my quest to understand the Great Mysteries of this organization. In the process, I asked numerous questions pertaining to the Constellation
In today's society, constellations are known as a group of stars that when viewed from our planet earth, form a pattern that we can see at night with the unaided eye. There are also groups of constellation families; such as the Ursa major family, the Perusues Family, the Hercules Family, the Orion Family, the Bayer Group, the Heavenly Waters, the La Caille Family and finally the most known constellation group; the Zodiacal Family. The zodiacal family consists of the zodiac constellations signs. These signs usually describe your personality and who you are as a family. The constellation, Leo, is my zodiac sign, and in my particular interest for it depicts who I am. The Leo constellation is the twelfth largest constellation in the night sky and
My favourite constellation is the Aquarius one. I particularly like this constellation because I love the mythology behind it. It is said the the Greeks connected the Aquarius constellation with Ganymede who was known as the cup bearer to the gods. According to the myth, apparently Ganymede was a handsome young boy who Zeus had an interest for. Ganymede was brought to Mount Olympus by Zeus, where he served as cup bearer to the gods and there he was granted eternal youth after he poured out Zeus wine and water which caused a great flood because he didn't want to serve drinks anymore.
The constellation I have chosen to write about is Orion. This is one of the most famous constellations in the night sky. I chose this one because as I stated, it is very famous, and because it is one of those constellations that I have seen many times. Orion is a hunter, so the constellation shows a man holding a club and shield. It is easily recognized by the three stars in a line that form the hunter's belt.
Cassiopeia is the constellation I have chosen. It is a very interesting constellation, comprised of various stars named with a Greek letter followed by Cassiopeiae (e.g. Alpha Cassiopeiae). The stars also have various traditional names of other origin, for instance Alpha is traditionally called Shedir from Arabic. I chose the constellation partly because I like the name, but it also has interesting origins and I am glad I looked up more details about it.
Though Zeus condemned Atlas to hold the heavens apart from the earth, Atlas was able to “become the god who turns the heavens on their axis, causing the stars to revolve.” (“ATLAS”) His close relations with the heavens made people believe that he had “superior knowledge of the stars and constellations.” (Roman 93) This belief was furthered when Atlas’s children died and became constellations. His son, Hyas, “was killed by a lion and became the constellation Aquarius, and the lion became the constellation Leo…His grieving sisters were transformed into the Pleiades constellation.” (Roman 92) Even more, Atlas himself is represented as the constellation Kneeler. (“ATLAS”) Thus, it is no surprise that Atlas, “the father of many constellations,” is also seen as the father of astronomy.
Originally, in ancient texts, this constellation was defined as a specific pattern of stars, and has remained that way since then. Now it includes the ancient pattern as well as the surrounding stars. Aries, the constellation now known, was the final stati on along the ecliptic. The earliest identifiable reference to Aries as a distinct
The constellation I've chosen is Orion "The Hunter", because it is one of the most well known constellations in the night sky. It is one of the few I know and can point out in the night sky, although usually I can only see the belt. Orion also has my favorite star in it; the Betelguese red giant. When I was younger, I read a lot of astronomy books, and I remember reading about red giants and how big they were. That really interested me, because it was just so mind blowing at the time how unfathomably large space is.
1- The name of my constellation is Pisces. Its name is latin for fish (plural). It was introduced by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century. It is usually seen as two fish fish swimming in opposite directions, connected at the tails by a piece of string. In Greek Mythology, it is supposed to be the fish Aphrodite and her son Eros transformed into in the Euphrates while escaping from the the monster Typhon. The constellation Pisces has an area of 889 square degrees and has five stars with known planets. It can be seen at latitudes +90 and -65 and is best visible at 9pm during the month of November. In sidereal astrology, the sun moves through Pisces from March 15 to April 14. In tropical astrology, it is said to be in the sign Pisces
The Earth is constantly moving around, no longer in one place. The ecliptic path has changed and no longer do the constellations line up with the constellations in the horoscope. In order to make the constellations, astrologists had to divide the sky into evenly, however, they completely ignored one constellation called Ophiuchus because they believed that the astronomers were putting the devil on them (Haider, 2015). There is shown to be strong similarities between astronomy and some religions. Both refuse to change their original ways from thousands of years ago even though there is plenty of evidence to dispute it nowadays. Astrology, like some religions, use spiritual and magical concepts to explain things. Concepts are often mystical and supernatural, not natural, and therefore are hard to explain (Hill,
Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way consists of more than 100 billion stars, many of which can be interpreted by human visual perception, while other can only be observed with the aid of a magnifying or light-collecting optical device such as a telescope. The stars are organized into various groupings according to their visible arrangement as observed in earth’s atmosphere. Human beings from cultures of eras bygone such as the Greeks, Romans, and Babylonians, and bestowed most, if not all of the titles upon the constellations as we know them today. Earth’s atmosphere comprises eighty-eight constellations, of which I have chosen the following five to discuss for my laboratory report: Andromeda, Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Draco
I looked out at the sky, it was a nice summer day. The sun’s rays were bursting out, small wavy clouds rolled by. I looked over my shoulder and saw Anish running towards the school bus, panting and whaling his arms.
I chose my artifact by looking at what materials, tools, animals, etc. went back through the last two thresholds and had enough information about them to respond to all the requirements of the research paper rubric. At first, I chose agricultural tools, but that was too broad of a topic. I needed to single it down to a specific tool. I chose the hoe because that is the first thing that came to mind as it is a common tool. I used the hoe a lot as I had a garden when I was younger that I took care of for years with my grandpa. We grew things such as tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, cabbage, cantaloupe, sun flowers and some other veggies. Because of this, I was used to having to till up the soil everytime we would plant new or replant