CONSTELLATIONS
A Constellation is an area on a Celestial Sphere in which a group of visible stars forms an outline or pattern, typically representing an animal, mythological person or creature, or an inanimate object.
The first constellations are thought to have originated in prehistoric times. They were used to tell stories about people's beliefs, experiences, creations and mythology.
Outlined below are details of some of the famous known constellations:–
1. URSA MAJOR
Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear is a constellation in the Northern Sky, whose associated mythology likely dates back into prehistory. Today it is the third largest of the 88 modern constellations.
Ursa Major is primarily known from the pattern of its seven major stars, which has been dubbed the "Big Dipper", "The Wagon", "Charles' Wain" ot " The Plough", among other things. The Stellar arrangement of the Big Dipper, in particular, resembles the form of the " Little Dipper." Names of seven stars are Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, and Alkaid. The brightest star in Ursa Major is Alioth, a blue-white star which is 102 times brighter than our sun. Ursa Major is estimated to be located 3,30,000 light years away from our Earth. It can also be seen as a kite flying in the sky with a thread tied on it. Out of seven four stars form a shape of a square ans rest three are almost collinear (in a straight line).
Several bright Galaxies are found in Ursa Major, including Messier 81 (one of the brightest galaxies in the sky) and Messier 82 above the bear's head, and Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), a spiral northeast of Ursa Major. The spiral Galaxies Messier 108 and Messier 109 are also found in this constellation. The bright planetary nebula, Owl Nebula (M97) can be found along the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper.
2. AQUARIUS
Aquarius is a zodiac constellation located between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name comes from the Latin for "water carrier" or "cup carrier", and its zodiac sign is ♒, a water depiction. Aquarius is one of the zodiac's (the Sun's apparent path) earliest recognised constellations. It is one of the 48 constellations discovered by Ptolemy, a 2nd century Astronomer.
Despite its prominent position and enormous area, Aquarius contains no particular bright stars, its four brightest stars having magnitude less than 2.
The bulk of deep sky objects in Aquarius are galaxies, globular clusters, and planetary nebulae because to its location distant from the Galactic Plane. Aquarius contains three deep sky objects that are in the Messier catalog: the globular clusters Messier 2, Messier 72 and the open cluster Messier 73. Two well known planetary Nebulae are also present in Aquarius: the Saturn Nebula and the famous Helix Nebula.
3. ORION
Orion is a famous constellation seen all around the world that is positioned on the celestial equator. It is one of the most visible and easily recognised constellations in the night sky. It got its name from Orion, hunter in Greek mythology. The brightest stars in the constellation are the, blue-white Rigel and the red Betelgeuse.
Taurus to the Northwest, Eridanus to the Southwest, Lepus to the South, Monoceros to the East and Gemini to the Northeast are the Constellations that surround Orion. Covering 594 square degrees Orion ranks twenty sixth of the 88 Constellations in size.
In the night sky, Orion's seven brightest stars form a hourglass-shaped asterism or pattern. Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix and Saiph form a large roughly rectangular shape, in the centre of which lie the three stars of Orion's Belt– Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka. Descending from the "Belt," a smaller line of three stars, Orion's Sword (the middle of which is infact not a star but the Orion Nebula), also known as Hunter's Sword.
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