Constellations

Jolie McLaine

Constellations• 88 constellations that cover

the sky• 12 out of the 88 are zodiacs• Since there are so many stars

in the sky the bright ones are the ones usually found in constellations.

• The brightest stars usually have Greek letters. A is the brightest.

• Every star is in one, only one, constellation.

• A constellation is a group of stars or an area of the sky that is associated with a name

• Located near each other to form a pattern

• We know that stars are hot balls of hydrogen and helium, with nuclear fusion at their core

Naming

• Modern day names are usually just numbers and letters.

• Some scientists are renaming the stars that way it is easier to keep track of which star is which.

• Most constellation names came from old Greek Myths.

• The names most often came from a hero or a god/godess but they also came from enemies/evil.

Myths

• Definition: a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event

• Myths are "stories about divine beings, generally arranged in a coherent system; they are revered as true and sacred; and closely linked to religion. Once this link is broken, and the actors in the story are not regarded as gods but as human heroes, giants or fairies, it is no longer a myth but a folktale. Where the central actor is divine but the story is trivial ... the result is religious legend, not myth."

Medusa

Myths continued• The most commonly known

constellations are the zodiacs: Cancer, Aquarius, Gemini, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo, Pisces, Libra, Leo, Capricorn, Aries, and Scorpio

• Not only people/gods/goddesses are in the sky, there are also creatures.

• According to the Greek, the only reason there are constellations is to remind the viewers of what that constellation did in their lifetime.

OrionFather Hyrieus Orion was the son of a poor shepherd

called Hyrieus. Once, Zeus, Hermes, and Poseidon stopped by Hyrieus'house. Hyrieus was so generous with his guests that he killed the only animal he had-an ox. Hyrieus was not aware that his guests were gods. The gods wanted to reward Hyrieus‘ generosity by granting him a wish. Hyrieus' biggest desire was to have a child. The gods told him to bury the hide of the bull he had sacrificed to them and to pee on it. After nine months, a boy was born in that place. The child became a very handsome and strong man.

Father Neptune the sea-godMother Queen Euryale a great huntress

Orion inherited her talent, and became the greatest hunter in the world. Unfortunately for him, with his immense strength came an immense ego, and he boasted that he could best any animal on earth. In response to his vanity, a single small scorpion stung him and killed him.

Cassiopeia According to a Greek legend, the sea

god placed the figure of Cassiopeia among the stars. It is said that Cassiopeia has a ridiculous upside-down position to punish her for having been pretentious. Cassiopeia was very proud of her beauty. She claimed that she and her daughter Andromeda were more beautiful than the sea-nymphs. The nymphs complained to the sea god, who threatened to send a sea monster and flood to destroy Cassiopeia's land. In despair, the king consulted an oracle to prevent the destruction of his reign. The oracle predicted that

only the sacrifice of Andromeda to the monster could appease the wrath of the sea god. The king chained Andromeda to a sea cliff. Fortunately, at this same moment, Perseus, was traveling along the coast. Perseus noticed the beautiful woman and fell in love with her. Learning of Andromeda's story, he offered to rescue her if her parents agreed to let him marry their daughter. With the help of some magical sandals that allowed Perseus to fly, and a magical sword given to him by the god Hermes, Perseus killed the monster and married Andromeda.

Hercules The goddess Hera, determined to

make trouble for Hercules, she made him lose his mind. In a confused and angry state, he killed his own wife and children. When he awakened from his "temporary insanity," Hercules was shocked and upset by what he'd done. He prayed to the god Apollo for guidance, and the god's oracle told him he would have to serve Eurystheus, the king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, in punishment for the murders. As part of his sentence, Hercules had to perform twelve Labors, feats so difficult that they seemed impossible.

1. Kill the Nemean lion and bring back its skin

2. Destroy the Lernean hydra3. Capture alive the Erymanthian boar4. Capture alive the Ceryneian stag5. Kill the Stymphalian birds6. Clean the Augean stables7. Bring the Cretan bull alive into

Peloponnesus8. Obtain the horses of Diomedes9. Steal the girdle of Hippolyta10. Herd the cattle of Geryon11. Obtain the apples of Hesperides. 12. Capture Cerberus

Pegasus Pegasus was a winged horse that

came out of Medusa when she was be-headed. The Gorgon Medusa was once a beautiful Lybian princess but she was turned into a monster with hair of serpents and anyone who looked at her face was turned to stone. After his birth, Pegasus lived on the Mount Helicon. One day, an ancient Greek hero believed that he could fly with Pegasus to Olympus, where the gods lived. To prevent him from doing that, Zeus sent a horsefly to bite Pegasus. The hero lost control of his horse and fell back to Earth.

Pegasus continued to fly alone and reached Olympus, where Zeus received him . Since then, he transports thunderbolts for Zeus, who placed his figure in the night sky in the constellation of the winged horse.

History

• Thousands of years ago when people looked up at the sky they saw little pinpoints of lights

• They noticed that they seemed to rotate around the Earth

• Scientist also noticed the movement of the other plants, moon, and sun across the sky in a different way than the stars

• Can live millions even billions of years

Quadrant

More History

• Constellations where once just curved lines

• Lines outlined the picture that the constellation represented

• In 1928 scientists changed the curved lines to straight ones so that each constellation had lines that ran north to south and east to west

• The zodiacs can only be seen from the Northern and Southern hemispheres

• Within the zodiac constellation Sagittarius lies the center of the Milky Way

Facts

• 1584 Giordana Bruno suggested that the stars were just like our sun, just a lot farther away

• Astronomers started measuring luminosity and motion of nearby stars

• First measurement was made by Friedrich Bessell in 1838 using a technique called parallax

• 20th century astronomers finally started using photography to take pictures of the stars

• Techniques were developed to measure the spectra of light coming off of them

• Advances in physics helped explain the different colors of stars and how this matched their luminosity and temperature

More Facts

• We know that the Milky Way contains 200 to 400 billon stars

• Could be as many as 500 billion galaxies with just as many stars

• Individual stars are most often seen in our galaxy but they have been images as far as 100 million light-years away

Location

• As time goes by the the constellations seem to move

Ex. Orion is only visible part of the year

• Some of the constellations we won’t be able to see due to their location

Ex. Constellation Crux is not visible above the 30 degrees latitude

• Viewing constellations of April

Video

Orion Nebula

Importance

• Played a part in some religious ceremonies

• Navigate over land and sea

• Used to track the movement of the sun and planets

• The motions of the stars over the course of a full year helped build the first accurate calendars, to know when to plant fields and when to harvest

Keep Looking up!

~Jack Horkheimer