Jump to main content. Great question! The simple answer is "yes," but instead of just moving on, we'll offer an explanation. Constellations consist of stars that are many light years away. A light year, defined as the distance light travels through a vacuum in one year, is about 5. The closest star outside our solar system, Proxima Centauri, is about 4. Even the prominent stars can be hundreds or, in some cases, a few thousand light years away. Ask Astro : Does dark energy create the voids between galaxy clusters?
Looking for galaxies in all the wrong places. Capturing the cosmos: How to be an astrophotographer. Sky This Month : November Chiricahua Astronomy Complex: An observing mecca for amateurs.
Neutron stars: A cosmic gold mine. Ask Astro : Can a black hole form without a parent star? Cosmos: Origin and Fate of the Universe. Astronomy's Moon Globe. Galaxies by David Eicher. Astronomy Puzzles. Jon Lomberg Milky Way Posters. Astronomy for Kids. Want to leave a comment? Only registered members of Astronomy. Registration is FREE and only takes a couple minutes. Login or Register now. Most recent Oldest to newest. Strong aurorae dazzle astronauts on space station.
Cultures all over the world and throughout time — Native American, Asian, and African — have made pictures with those same stars. In some cases the constellations may have had ceremonial or religious significance. In other cases, the star groupings helped to mark the passage of time between planting and harvesting.
There are 38 modern constellations. In the International Astronomical Union officially listed 88 modern and ancient constellations one of the ancient constellations was divided into 3 parts and drew a boundary around each.
The boundary edges meet, dividing the imaginary sphere — the celestial sphere — surrounding Earth into 88 pieces. Astronomers consider any star within a constellation boundary to be part of that constellation, even if it is not part of the actual picture.
Are all stars part of a constellation? No, there are billions of stars, and only a fraction of them make up the shapes of our constellations — these are the stars that are easily seen with the unaided eye.
Ancient observers connected these stars into the star pictures. All stars, however, fall within the boundaries of one of the 88 constellation regions. As astronomers studied the night sky with modern telescopes, they were able to discern stars in the dark spaces around the constellations — stars that were not part of the original star pictures.
You can see some of these stars by observing the sky on a dark night. If you look at the sky with binoculars, you will see even more stars. If you have a telescope, you will see even more! All the stars you see belong to one special group of stars — the stars in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. How are stars and other objects in the sky named and located?
Hundreds of the brightest stars, those visible with the unaided eye, were given names in ancient times. Many of these stars have multiple names, having been observed by different cultures. Today stars are named by their coordinates on the celestial sphere.
This is an imaginary sphere surrounding Earth. Polaris marks the intersection of the extended north pole and the sphere.
All stars and objects in space, such as constellations, can be mapped relative to the poles and equator of the celestial sphere. There are numerous catalogs of stars, each with a different scheme for annotating position; this means that each star has even more names!
0コメント