THE STARS

AND
CONSTELLATIONS
BY:
MA. LIZA F. MONSERATE
 The Constellations
• 88 constellations in the sky. Those in the northern celestial
hemisphere named by the Greeks. Constellations in the extreme
southern sky were named in modern times.

• Subsets of constellations are called asterisms. For example,

the “Big Dipper” is an asterism of the constellation Ursa
Major (the big bear).
• While constellations were named by the Greeks, Arabic names
have been mostly adopted for individual stars. Stars within a
constellation are assigned Greek letters in accordance with
their brightest. For example, the brightest star in Orion has the
Arabic name Betelgeuse, but it is also known as  Orionis.
Orion’s second brightest star, Rigel, is also called  Orionis.

• The twelve constellations lying along the projection of the

Earth’s orbit onto the sky (the ecliptic) comprise the zodiac.
Winter Sky – Facing North
Winter Sky – Facing South
Spring Sky – Facing North
Spring Sky – Facing South
Big Dipper Ursa Major (The Great Bear)
Little Dipper Ursa Minor (The Lessor Bear)
Leo The Lion
Orion The Hunter
Cygnus The Swan (The Northern Cross)
Cassiopeia The Lady in The Chair
Draco The Dragon
Bootes The Herdsman
Cepheus The King (Cassiopeia’s Husband)
Corona Borealis The Northern Crown
BIG DIPPER AND
COMPANIONS
URSA MAJOR INFORMATION
• Ursa Major is the best known of the constellation and it
appears in every reference known.
• Calisto 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 and one which I find intriguing
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.
• Ursa Minor is a cub of the mother bear, all of this I find
fascinating as it is the same story in Asia, could it be that
the stories are similar because of common ancestry or
contact between the two races?
ORION: THE MIGHTY
HUNTER
ORION INFORMATION
• Orion the Giant Hunter or Warrior, he was a giant so
tall that he could wade through any sea, His first
marriage ended when the boastfulness of his first
wife got her banished to the underworld. He was
blinded by a jealous father when he fell in love with a
Greek princess, but regained his sight when an oracle
told him to look into the sun at dawn.
• When he saw Aurora the goddess of dawn, they fell
in love. All was well until Orion was stung by a
Scorpion, he fell sick and died. In order to honor him
and protect him from his enemy he rises in the east
as his enemy, the Scorpion sets in the West. Orion is
never seen at the same time as the Scorpion.
• Orion was used to predict the seasons, a midnight
rising of Orion meant that the grapes were ready to
harvest, a morning rising meant that Summer was
beginning, and an evening rising that winter is here
THE ORION NEBULA

•
 INFORMATION ABOUT THE ORION
NEBULA
The Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
• Orion is also home to one of the most beautiful objects in the
night sky, the Orion Nebula. The third "star" down in Orion's
sword is not a star at all, but the Orion nebula. If you get a pair of
binoculars and look closely at this "star", you will see not one, but
many stars.
• This is a sight that is easy for anyone to see, even without a
telescope. If you have a telescope, you will be able to make out
some of the giant cloud of gas that makes up this nebula.
• This nebula is also one of the very few places in the sky where the
Hubble Space Telescope has been able to spot disks of dust
around some the the young stars. Stars with these disks may be
forming their own solar systems.
• A
TAURUS: THE BULL
 TAURUS INFORMATION
• Taurus is another of the earliest known constellations,
and so also probably orginated from the Babylonians.
• To the Greeks, Taurus was one of the two bulls with
brazen feet that were tamed by Jason of the Argonauts.
• In Taurean myth, Zeus swam out to Crete as a bull and
seduced Eurpopa who bore a son, Minos, father of
Minotaur, a half man and half bull monster. Minotaur
was locked in a Labyrinth and ate human flesh. Minotaur
was killed by Theseus when he was helped by Adiadne's
ball of thread.
• Taurus was also referred to as being rich in maidens
(the Hyades and the Pleiades, all daughters of Atlas).
THE CRAB NEBULA
INFORMATION ABOUT THE CRAB
NEBULA
• In 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers wrote down that a
"guest star" had suddenly appeared in their night skies.
At the same time, Native Americans made drawings in
at least two places that appear to record the same
event.
• What was somewhat casually noted as a guest star was
in fact a giant star that had violently exploded at the end
of its life. An explosion of this type is called a
supernova. The explosion was so large and so bright
that it was visible in broad daylight for at least twenty-
three days.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE
CRAB NEBULA
• It must have been amazing! You can still see the remnants of
this explosion in Taurus. It is called the Crab Nebula.
• The Crab Nebula is one of the most intensely studied and
frequently photographed objects in the night sky. Almost
every telescope has taken pictures of it because of its
beauty. You can also see it with almost any telescope or
good pair of binoculars, but don't expect the colors to be as
brilliant as the ones in the picture we show.
• It's still worth seeing, though. Although this explosion
happened almost a thousand years ago, the gasesare still
spreading out in space at a speed of thousands of miles per
hour.
CYGNUS: THE SWAN
 THE SUMMER TRIANGLE
• The Summer Triangle is another sign that lets us
know that Summer is in full swing here in the
Northern Hemisphere. On any clear summer evening,
the distinctive triangle formed by Deneb, Altair and
Vega gives us another good reason to go outside and
enjoy the beauty of the night sky.
• The last star in Cygnus' tail is Deneb, which is one
corner of the Summer Triangle. After you have found
Deneb, which should be easy to do, take a minute to
appreciate this giant star. This is another of the
supermassive stars that dwarf our small Sun.
THE SUMMER TRIANGLE
• Deneb is more than a hundred times larger than our
Sun and much, much brighter although its great
distance keeps us from seeing just how bright it is.
After you have found Deneb, use our chart to locate
Vega and Altair, which form the other two corners of
the Summer Triangle.
• Vega is one of the very brightest stars on the sky, so it
should be very easy to find whether you live in the city
or the country. Vega was also a star in the movie
"Contact", which was based on the novel by Carl
Sagan. In the fiction movie, Vega was the star that was
the source of radio signals detected here on Earth.
CANIS MAJOR: THE GREAT
HUNTING DOG
INFORMATION ABOUT CANIS
MAJOR
• Every hunter needs hunting dogs as companions and the
Great Hunter Orion is no exception. Orion has two dogs as
companions, Canis Major (the Great Dog) and Canis Minor
(the lesser dog). Both of these faithful companions sit at the
feet of Orion waiting for their next expedition.
• In addition to being one of the companions of Orion, Canis
Major is also the stellar home of Sirius, which is the
brightest star in the night sky. When Canis Major is visible,
the brilliant white light of Sirius shines like a searchlight in
the sky.
• Although Sirius is not a very large star, being only about one
and one-half times as large as our own Sun, its young age
and relatively close distanceombine to make it so bright.
GEMINI: THE TWINS
INFORMATION ABOUT GEMINI
• Gemini is one of the larger constellations in our sky and
also has, along with most of the other constellations, very
interesting mythology. Although the Gemini is called "The
Twins" and actually resembles a set of twins in the sky,
these twins actually had different fathers.
• The twins in this case are Pollux and Castor, which are the
stars that represent the heads of the twins. The twins'
mother was Leda, Castor's father was Tyndareus, who
was the mortal king of the ancient Greek city of Sparta.
Pollux's father, on the other hand, was the Greek god
Zeus.
• This resulted in the very unusual situation where Castor
was mortal and Pollux, being the son of a mythological
god, was immortal.
LEO: THE LION
LEO INFORMATION
• Leo is another companion to Orion in our night sky. You
can easily find Leo any time that Orion is visible by
looking East of the Great Hunter.
• Although Leo is not as large as Orion, its distinctive
shape makes it very easy to pick out.
• You will notice that the outline of the lion's head and the
triangle formed by the stars in the lion's hindquarters are
two very distinctive shapes that make this constellation
very easy to spot.
REGULUS: THE HEART OF THE
LION
• The largest and brightest star in Leo is Regulus.
• This large blue star shines brightly as the heart of the
lion. Although not a giant star, Regulus is still over five
times as large as our Sun.
• A small telescope will show you that Regulus is part of
what is called a "binary system". Binary stars are stars
that have one or more companions that orbit around
the largest star in the group, much like the planets orbit
around our Sun.
DRACO: THE DRAGON
THE STORY OF DRACO
• The Dragon is usually associated with guardian's
of the temples and treasures. Draco was important
as it was the guardian of the star that never
moves, the celestial pole.
• The celestial pole in ancient times was the
doorway between the mortal world and the
eternity. In Greek mythology 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.
URSA MINOR: THE LITTLE
BEAR
IMPORTANCE OF URSA MINOR
• Ursa Minor is mostly known for Polaris, the
North Star which may be found at the end of
the asterism, the Little Dipper.
• 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.
CASSIOPEIA: THE QUEEN
CASSIOPEIA INFORMATION
• Cassiopeia is known as the Celestial W
when below the pole and the Celestia M
when above it.
• Cassiopeia is bound to her chair and
forever circles the pole with her head
downward. A fitting punishment by the
Nereids (Sea Nymphys) for her boast of
being more beautiful than all the
Nereids.
• Cassiopeia was the wife of Cepheus and
mother of Andromeda
HERCULES: THE SON OF ZEUS
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
ABOUT HERCULES
• Hercules, the Son of Zeus, is best seen in the
summer in the Northern Hemisphere. You can find
him by looking between Draco and Ophiuchus.
Hercules is visible in the Southern Hemisphere from
May until August.
• Hercules is another of the oldest constellations, but
he was not known to the first Greek astronomers by
that name (early Greeks called him the Kneeling
One). Hercules is best known for his twelve labors,
because he killed his children in a fit of anger. The
twelve labors are thought to represent the Sun's
passing through the twelve zodiacal constellations.
SCORPIUS: THE DEADLY
KILLER
INFORMATION ABOUT SCORPIUS
• Scorpius is one of the real highlights of the summer sky.
Unfortunately, you can only see the entire constellation
during the months of July, August and September. The
head of Scorpio starts to peek above the southern
horizon in June, and, after September, you will just see its
tail as it dips below our horizon until the following
summer. At the same time, the appearance of Scorpio in
the southern sky means that summer is in full swing once
again.
• The mythology is very interesting because in the legend,
Scorpio spent a great deal of time trying to kill the great
hunter Orion, but they are on opposite sides of the sky.
According to varying legends, Scorpio either was or was
not finally successful in killing the mighty hunter.
INFORMATION ABOUT SCORPIUS
• Scorpius is the slayer of Orion. Sent by a jealous
Artemis, Orion was stung by the Scorpion and
caused his death. Orion could not be saved even by
Asclepius, the god of healing.
• Scorpius was also responsible for the runaway
horses of Phoebus Apollo when Phaethon tried to
drive the Chariot of the Sun, he caused great havoc
as he careened around the skies, drying up rivers
and scorching the earth.
PERSEUS
THE RESCUER OF ANDROMEDA
• His quest was to bring back the head of Medusa, not
knowing her whereabouts he went to the three sisters of
Polydectes, who were blind and shared a glass eye. They
refused to help him until he stole the eye and would not
return it until they told him where to find Medusa.
• Using a shield given to him by Minerva, he avoided
looking directly at Medusa and beheaded her. Pegasus
sprang out of the Medusa's blood and he rode him back
to Artos, where he found Andromeda chained to the
rocks as a sacrifice to Cetus, using the Gorgons head,
Cetus turned to stone. Perseus and Andromeda fell in
love, both were placed among the stars.
ANDROMEDA: THE PRINCESS
 THE STORY OF ANDROMEDA
• Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and
Cassiopeia, the king and queen of Ethiopia. She was
chained to a rock as a sacrifice to Cetus,the sea
monster as punishment for her mother's boast that
she was more beautiful than all the Nereids (sea
nymphs).
• Andromeda was saved by Perseus when he turned
Cetus to stone by using the dismembered head of
Medusa. The constellation's creation is credited to
the Greeks, but it is likely that they borrowed it and
the story from the Babylonians