Drawing Constellations

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• As early as 5000 years ago, people became
  fascinated with the star-studded skies and began
  to name the patterns they saw.
• These patterns of stars, called constellations,
  were named in honor of mythological characters or
  great heroes.
• Today, 88 constellations are recognized.
• They are used to divide the sky into units. Every
  star in the sky is in, but is not necessarily
  part of, one of these constellations.

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Clusters The little specks in the sky that we
see may really be one or more stars clustered
together. Why dont star patterns
change? Because they are so far away from us!
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• Astronomers label stars within a constellation
  based on apparent magnitude, brightest alpha,
  second brightest beta, etc.
• Some of the brightest stars have actual names,
  like Rigel Betelgeuse (both in the
  constellation Orion)

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Ursa Major

•  Ursa Major, the Great Bear, is visible in the
  Northern Hemisphere all year long.
• Ursa Major is the best known of the
  constellation and it appears in every reference
  known.
• The story behind it
• Callisto was changed to a bear because of Zeus's
  jealousy and transferred her to the sky. This is
  improbable, as the constellation was already well
  established before this time. The drawings all
  show a bear with a long tail, again not likely
  correct since bears have no tails. The most
  likely explanation for the bears is the fact that
  Native Americans called the constellations the
  bear, but instead of the tail they depict the
  bear being chased around the pole by seven
  braves.

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Ursa Major
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Ursa MajorCircumpolar Constellation
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How to find the Big Dipper
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Ursa Minor

• Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, is visible in the
  Northern Hemisphere all year long.
• Ursa Minor is mostly known for Polaris, the
  North Star which may be found at the end of the
  handle.
• The story behind it
• Ursa Minor does not have any mythology attached
  to it, it was created in the 6th century B.C. as
  a navigational aid for sailors out of a long
  forgotten constellation called the Dragon's wing.
  

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Ursa MinorCircumpolar Constellation
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Cepheus

• The story behind it
• Cepheus was the King of Ethiopia. He married
  Cassiopeia and they had a daughter Andromeda.
  Cassiopeia was incredibly beautiful but immensely
  vain. She was also proud of her daughter's
  beauty. In fact she continually boasted that the
  two of them were more beautiful than any of the
  fifty sea nymphs who attended Poseidon's court.
• These nymphs (the Nereids) complained to
  Poseidon, who felt he had to defend his own
  reputation. So he sent a flood to devastate
  Cepheus' kingdom. The oracles told Cepheus that
  in order to save his people he must sacrifice his
  daughter to a great sea monster Andromeda was
  tied to a rock along the coastline, dressed only
  in her jewelry. The monster would be along in due
  time to take his prize.
• At that moment Perseus came flying by. He had
  just killed the Gorgon Medusa and was carrying
  the severed head back to Athene. To make a long
  story short, he saved her then turned everyone
  into stone by showing them the severed head.
• Poseidon then put the stone frozen Cepheus and
  Cassiopeia into the heavens, but with a twist he
  made the vain Cassiopeia spin around on her
  chair, spending half the year upside down. As for
  Cepheus, Poseidon gave him a number of medium
  sized stars that go to make his square face with
  a pointed crown.

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CepheusCircumpolar Constellation
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Cassiopeia

• This constellation is at the edge of the Milky
  Way galaxy and has the shape of a "W".
• The story behind it
• Cassiopeia had been the wife of Cepheus. Because
  she thought herself more beautiful than the
  daughters of Nereus, a god of the sea, she
  angered the god Poseidon. To punish her, her
  daughter was chained to a rock of the coast as a
  sacrifice for a sea monster. Andromeda was saved
  from death by Perseus. To learn humility
  Cassiopeia was banned to the sky hanging half of
  the time head downward.

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CassiopeiaCircumpolar Constellation
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Draco

• Draco, the Dragon, used to hold special
  significance as the location of the pole star,
  but due to the Earth's precession, the pole has
  shifted to Polaris in Ursa Minor.
• The story behind it
• The dragon is Ladon, the guardian of the 'golden
  apples' of immortality which grew in the garden
  of Hesperides, beyond the River of Time, in the
  land of death. It is Ladon which Hercules kills
  in his 11th labor to get the golden apples.

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Circumpolar Constellations
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Circumpolar Constellations
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Circumpolar Constellations
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Circumpolar Constellations
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Circumpolar Constellations
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Circumpolar Constellations
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Orion

• Orion is the master of the winter skies. He lords
  over the heavens from late fall to early spring,
  with his hunting dog Sirius trailing at his feet.
  
• The story behind it (Orion holding a bow)
• Orion was a handsome and famous hunter. The
  Battle-Goddess Anat fell in love with him, but
  when he refused to lend her his bow, she sent
  another man to steal it. This chap bungled the
  job, and wound up killing Orion and dropping the
  bow into the sea. This is said to explain the
  astronomical fact that Orion and the Bow (an
  older version of the constellation) drops below
  the horizon for two months every spring.
• Another story behind it (Orion holding an
  animal)
• Orion was known as the "dweller of the mountain",
  and was famous for his prowess both as a hunter
  and as a lover. But when he boasted that he would
  eventually rid the earth of all the wild animals,
  his doom may have been sealed. The Earth Goddess
  sent the deadly scorpion to Orion to kill him.
  Orion engaged the scorpion in battle but quickly
  realized its amour was impervious to any mortal's
  attack. Orion then jumped into the sea and died.
  In his eternal hunting, Orion is careful to keep
  well ahead of the scorpion. Orion has disappears
  over the horizon by the time Scorpio rises in the
  east, as it becomes his turn to rule the evening
  sky.

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Orion Not a circumpolar constellation, but a
seasonal constellationBetelgeuse, the right arm
of Orion (or "armpit" as the name suggests),
glows with a dull red. Rigel, in the opposite
corner of the constellation, is much brighter.
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• Orion

• On the left The Hunter - Orion
• In the middle Name The Bull - Taurus
• On the right Name The Greater Dog - Canis Major
  

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• On the left The Lion - Leo
• There is a record of the Lion in an astronomical
  poem from Greece in the 3rd or 4th century B.C.
• In the middle The Herdsman - Böötes
• On the right The Virgin - Virgo
• At first, this constellation was recognized as
  the figure of a stalk of wheat, and then was
  introduced to the Greeks and become the figure of
  a virgin who holds a stalk of wheat, linking it
  with Greek mythology and legend.

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Summer

• On the left The Crab - Cancer
• Its name is Cancer in Latin, which is the same
  name as the disease, cancer. This disease was
  named after the shell of the crab, which is
  similar to the shape of breast cancer.
• In the middle The Scorpion - Scorpio
• The Scorpion has existed since the oldest of
  times. After sunset, around the 7th of July, you
  can see it in the shape of a large S above the
  southern horizon where the milky way is streaming
  down. The figure of this constellation was
  originally the figure of a scorpion with
  scissors. Later the scissors were separated to
  become the Balance.
• On the right The Archer - Sagittarius
• The Archer has been recognized since the
  Babylonian era. At that time it was the figure of
  a man with a bow in his hand, not the present
  figure of the half man half horse which is
  recognized in Greek mythology.

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• On the left and in the middle Andromeda
• The Andromeda constellation is famous for
  containing the Andromeda Nebula, the closest
  galaxy to our Milky Way. Andromeda was chained up
  for a sea monster to devour her.
• Andromeda is also the daughter of Cassiopeia
  Cepheus
• On the right The Fishes, Pisces
• In ancient Babylon, this constellation was viewed
  as the figure of a mermaid tied together with a
  swallow with a fish tail. The present figure
  appeared in a 3rd or 4th century B.C. Greek poem.
  

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Signs Of The Zodiac
From our perspective on earth, the sun takes a
path through the sky (known as the ecliptic). It
passes through these constellations.
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Ecliptic Constellations Zodiac Signs

• A band of 12 constellations around the sky
  entered on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun
  on the earth as the earth revolves around it).
• Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, Taurus, Virgo,
  Capricorn, Gemini, Libra, Aquarius, Cancer,
  Scorpio, and Pisces.

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Ecliptic Constellations
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