Constellations are regions of the sky divided into 88 groups by astronomers, but to many people, they are star patterns with cultural significance. The stars in constellations are often far apart, and some are too faint or distant to see. Many constellations have multiple names and myths associated with them.
To most people, a constellation is a group of stars that appear to form an image in the sky, assuming poetic license is used. To astronomers, however, a constellation is a specific region of the sky, with astronomers dividing the visible sky into 88 different constellations. Whether you’re a layman or an astronomer, constellations are a way to view the night sky and break down the information in the sky into usable chunks, rather than trying to understand the sky as a whole.
In a lay sense, constellations have been an important part of many cultures. People have historically spotted star clusters and imagined patterns surrounding them, from lions to ships, and many cultures have complex myths about constellations and their origins. Some cultures also have histories of “dark constellations,” areas of the night sky that are totally obscured. Astronomers refer to constellations in a layman’s sense as “asterisms,” with some people preferring “classical constellations.”
These classic constellations were adopted by astronomers when they started dividing the sky into constellations. The constellation Orion, for example, lies within the rectangle drawn by astronomers which has also been called Orion, after the closely associated layman’s constellation. This overlap can make things a little confusing for people.
Many asterisms have several names and are associated with several myths. Ursa Major, for example, passes through Ursa Major in North America and the Plow in England. Constellations often appear in creation myths, with a variety of explanations for their presence, from myths about people trapped in the sky in the form of constellations to legends of knocked over jewels. The diversity of myths involving the night sky seems to suggest that people have long been fascinated by the stars and the sky.
While the cluster of stars in a constellation may appear to be very close to each other from Earth, they are actually separated by considerable distances, and there are numerous stars between them that are too faint or too distant to be seen. In many cases, the light from distant stars simply hasn’t reached us yet, because those stars are too new. Conversely, some of the stars we’re familiar with from their place in asterisms may no longer exist, but it could take millions of years to find out, since the star’s light is traveling such an incredible distance.
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