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Contributor: Rebecca Highland. Lesson ID: 12923
Have you ever seen animals or shapes in the clouds? At night, you can join stargazers from thousands of years ago who saw figures in the stars! You can even turn your ceiling into the night sky!
Look at the image below.
It was a snail!
It's true! People have been doing this with the stars for thousands of years!
You may already know a few constellations, like the Little Dipper in the photo above.
People can easily find it and the Big Dipper in the night sky.
Constellations are stars you can connect to make pictures in the sky. Since ancient times, astronomers have looked at the stars and connected them into meaningful pictures.
These pictures were used to tell myths and stories, and they were also used to help astronomers find their position in the solar system. Today, astronomers think that constellations were invented around three thousand years ago.
Our sky is made up of 88 constellations in total. Depending on the earth's position, different stars are hidden from the earth’s view. Since the earth spins on its axis and rotates around the sun, we face different directions depending on the time of year.
Constellations helped astronomers figure out the earth’s rotation patterns.
Check out Stellarium Web Online Star Map and see if you recognize any of the constellations.
Use your mouse to click on stars to see how they connect. You can also scroll to zoom in and out to see how the sky changes.
Then, watch these videos to learn more about constellations!
Continue to the Got It? section to turn your ceiling into the night sky!
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