Astronomy Facts of the Day

Astronomy Fact of the Day

*duuuuuuh duh duh duh duh duh duuuuuuuuh*

1. Some common constellations are the Big Dipper which is actually part of a larger constellation called Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and the Little Dipper, part of Ursa Minor.  Ursa Major is among the largest of the constellations.  The smallest constellation is the Crux.  The patterns made up of the stars and other objects forming the constellations are supposed to look like objects, but most often they don't.  It required imagination and familiarity with myths and legends to see things in the sky when imaginary lines were used to play connect the dots.
 
2. Constellations are used to specify certain regions of the sky.  On modern star charts the entire sky is divided into 88 constellations. The constellations appear to have changed position since they were first identified by the Greeks some 2500 years ago. That is, for the time of year, the constellations that we see are not exactly in the same place as they were for ancient people.  This shift raises interesting questions in Astrology, because the signs (certain constellations) are not in the same places in the sky as they used to be.  Therefore, if you place any superstitious faith in the pseudo science of astrology, you would either have to be ignorant of the shift in constellation positions, or you would have to pretend real hard that there was no change in position.