Questions tagged [constellations]
Questions about patterns formed by group of prominent stars in the night sky.
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Star chart with no constellation lines, and no star names
I want to find an online star chart website with an option to disable constellation lines and disable star names. I want to make flashcards of the constellations without lines or star names so I can ...
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How did the ancients know the constellation in which the sun is located?
The zodiac constellations lie along the plane of the ecliptic. In Spring equinox, sun lies in Pisces constellations. So Pisces is not visible during the day (because the sun light) and not visible in ...
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How many of the zodiac constellations can we see during the summer solstice?
I've read on James Evans' excellent "The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy" that it is possible to see (at night) 6 zodiac constellations all year round, even during the summer ...
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Finding ones way around the sky
Thinking about this recent question Identify T-shaped constellation the first thing I have to say is that I applaud the poster for actually looking up and noticing the stars: something that becomes ...
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Why are IAU constellation boundaries not rectilinear?
According to https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/
Eugène Delporte of the Royal Observatory in Brussels presented
proposals for a clearly defined system of constellation boundaries
drawn ...
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Orion constellation shape
In textbook "Orion constellation the four bright stars appear to be arranged in the form of a quadrilateral" and I found in internet when I searched "Four stars Rigel, Betelgeuse, ...
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How did ancient people call this still a twin?
In the more modern images of the constellation Gemini it more looks like a twin:
But in the old images when ancient people mentioned it, it doesn't look like a twin at all. But it was still called ...
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It's 12 June 2023, almost 11 PM... location: Chitral, KPK, Pakistan. What constellations, celestial objects can you identify in this picture. Help
This picture is taken from Chitral District of KPK, Pakistan... Time: 12 June 2023, 11PM approximately ...I want you to tell me what constellations, celestial objects can you identify in it?
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Where are Modern Constellation lines defined?
In an astronomy app name SkyPortal you can see the constellation lines as Modern or Traditional lines.
The traditional ones rarely have a resemblance to what they are a symbol of. However, the modern ...
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Does the Sun belong to a constellation?
Each new star we find is generally considered to be part of the constellation it is nearest to.
Our Sun is obviously a star, just much closer. Is our Sun part of any constellation? If so, which ...
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Do all the planets travel along the same constellations?
If humans ever moved to another planet in this solar-system, what constellations would the sun meet from that perspective? What constellations would the sun look like it is meeting from the ...
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Why are sometimes the brightest star of a constellation not named alpha?
From the Wikipedia page of Alpha Ursae Majoris:
Alpha Ursae Majoris, Latinised from α Ursae Majoris, formally named Dubhe /ˈdʌbiː/, is, despite being designated "α" (alpha), the second-...
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Why do some images depict the same constellations differently?
For example, in some images of the constellation Gemini, it is depicted as some sort of strange-looking elongated rectangular sunfish (see Image 1), while in others, it looks like two distinct ...
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Why alpha Andromedae is also known as 21 Andromedae?
I'm revising the Hipparcos catalogue and I've found that alpha Andromeda and 21 Andromedae has the same HIP (677).
Why alpha Andromedae is also known as 21 Andromedae?
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Do the inner-Earth planets actually align with the constellations we see?
For example, because the Sun is the center of the solar system; when we think that the Sun is on the constellation of Aries, in actuality, isn't Earth lining up with the constellation opposite Aries: ...
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Small bright constellation on the photo
I did a photo of the night sky and wanted to find a constellation on it. I've suggestion that it is Delphinus constellation. Could you please help me figure it out. Also, I'm curios about good way to ...
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Identify T-shaped constellation
What is this T-shaped constellation? Never seen it before and it’s not on the map. The photo is made from south-west London facing west at 23-15 on 25.02.2023.
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What is this drawing about in "kitab al bulhan"?
Kitab al bulhan or "book of surprises" is medieval Persian manuscript written in Arabic.
According to Wikipedia:
The contents include subjects on astronomy, astrology and geomancy, ...
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How many constellations in the Zodiac?
The astronomical zodiac contains a bunch of constellations along the ecliptic.
Some sources say there are 13 constellations in the astronomical zodiac. Other sources claim there are 12.
According to ...
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Knowing what time to observe a constellation
Suppose you observe a particular constellation at 11 PM on a particular day at what time will you need to observe 2 months later to find the constellation in the same position as in the sky chart?
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Locate stars in sky from list of (x, y) co-ordinates
Imagine we have a photographic plate that clearly shows a few stars, but we do not know where in the sky these stars are located.
We can digitize the location of stars on this plate and now have a set ...
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The constellations in “Powers of Ten”
I watched a video called Powers of Ten made in the 70s. It starts from a view of an area in Chicago and moves the "camera" away from the ground towards the space. At 3m15s of the video, the ...
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Software to create star maps with custom asterism lines?
I would like to be able to create star maps and charts, but define my own sets of “constellation” lines.
I imagine I would need to provide an input file containing pairs of stars which would be ...
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What are the stars/constellations a beginner/enthusiast can easily identify?
I was just wondering what are some of the stars, constellations or any other things that one can just identify by looking up at the night sky.
For example, when ever i look up, I immediately see ...
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Identifying Constellations from Sky Maps
In Such sky maps How to identify constellation in those blocks?The just seems to me like Random figures.
Please suggest some good sources where I can study this?
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Standardized "constellation" regions?
The current system of constellations is historical and has kind of arbitrary boundaries.
This has a number of obvious downsides:
Difficult to define boundaries need complex tables to express
Each ...
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Why are there 12 zodiac signs?
My friend and I are arguing whether it is because there are 12 months or there are 12 constellations along this path. It makes more sense to me that, since there are 12 months, they divided the path ...
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On other planets, does the sun appear to pass through the same zodiac constellations?
Seen from Earth, the sun travels on a year-long orbit across the celestial sphere, passing through the twelve zodiac constellations.
As I understand it, this path depends on our orbital plane---if our ...
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Is this star group a constellation recognized by the IAU?
Below is an arrangement of stars I've found in a TV series. As an amateur astronomer I cannot identify if this is a constellation, after having looked through what is recognized by the IAU. Is this ...
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Constellation search from April 22 2007 [duplicate]
I need help. I am trying to find the night sky on April 22, 2007, over Memphis, TN. I know that there has to be some way to find it, and I am at a loss.
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What is use of Greek Letters in Astronomy? [closed]
We see letters such as $\epsilon$ or $\alpha$ or $\beta$ or $\eta$ etc... (possibly all Greek letters)
Can Somebody state the use of all Greek letters in astronomy?
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How are constellations intact if the stars are rotating around galactic nuclei?
From what I understood, the Milky Way (or stars in the Milky Way) doesn't rotate like a collection of points in a disc due to the presence of some invisible matter. In theory, the angular velocities ...
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Are there any galaxies visible in the night sky around the Orion constellation?
I'm writing a story for NaNoWriMo, and in it there is an extraterrestrial race whose home galaxy is visible from Earth. This home galaxy is visible (or even partially visible or barely visible) in the ...
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How do I find out when a constellation reached its zenith?
I found this website to look at the sky at the specific time and location: http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Yoursky - you can insert latitude and longitude and time to see how the skies looked at any ...
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Constellation a celestial body is in
Given its right ascension and declination, find out the constellation a celestial body is in.
Does anyone know of an algorithm (C#, js) for that?
It would read the constellation boundaries (e.g. ...
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Has this image of the Draco Constellation been altered
Have the stars in this photo of the Draco Constellation been magnified so as to help me see the Draco or not?
Also I really like [this image][2] of Orion; if someone knows of a site with a lot of ...
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What Constellation Is This? (Photo Included)
Observed on 9th of Jan 2021 in Newcastle Upon Tyne (UK) looking WSW at a little after Midnight.
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Does this photo show the "Little Dipper" and "Big Dipper"?
There are two clusters of stars that I always thought were the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. But after looking at images of the Little Dipper and Big Dipper online, I am not too sure if that's what ...
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What is this constellation?
Every night I see this constellation from my window but I can't identify it. What is this constellation called? Also, it would be helpful if you could clarify on the other stars as well.
Actual photo:
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Why isn't the constellation of that month's zodiac prominent or even visible during that month?
For instance, the month of October is called the month of Leo, but you will mainly see Aries, Taurus and the Southern skies during October, Leo isn't very prominent. So how is the zodiac decided?
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How can planet (WD 1856b) revolve around its smaller mass WD 1856?
WD 1856 has smaller mass than WD 1856b. So how WD1856 making
WD 1856b revolve in the orbit? Its clear violating space-time curvature.
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Can someone help me to identify this section of the night sky?
I have this image from a treasure hunt, I'm fairily certain it's a real piece of the sky, but I've been unable to identify it, can anyone help?
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Searching dataset for Constellation detection
I need to develop an Machine Learning (ML) model for predicting constellation seen in a picture taken from a mobile. This I need to develop from scratch. Firstly, I need help finding a database which ...
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When the sun "enters" a constellation, doesn't it make it impossible to see that constellation?
I was reading on NASA's website about how the Babylonians came up with dividing the sky into different slices and picked a pattern of stars in each slice to represent it. This ties in to astrological ...
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Unable to detect stars and constellations in simulation of stars from the Hipparcos catalogue
I am creating a planetarium program using Unity3D and C# to plot out stars from the Hipparcos catalogue. Using the Plx, _RA.icrs and _DE.icrs columns of the dataset, I have managed to work the ...
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Stars in constellation patterns by catalogue number?
I need a resource that can tell me the stars that make up a constellation (pattern), preferably by Henry Draper or some catalogue number? All i can find is lists of every star in a constellation (area)...
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Are the stars in constellation located in a plane or they are in different distances
Are the stars in constellation located in a plane or they are in different distances from each other and when we observe them from the Earth we think they are all in a plane?
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Does the average person in China know the constellations by the traditional Chinese system or Hellenic designation
As discussed in the International Dunhuang Project website, in traditional Chinese astronomy "the Chinese sky was divided into five great regions or palaces called gong 宫," and "Chinese astronomers ...
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Finding Quintuple Planetary Alignments with SkyField
I am working on a python script that will use the SkyField and SciPy libraries to find quintuple planetary conjunctions and their corresponding constellation location. Specifically I am looking for ...
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Overhead (galactic North) view of the stars in and around the Vela Constellation with distance
I am working on a project and would like to have a star map--seen from "above" (Galactic North?) that calls out the stars in the Vela constellation and shows their distance from sol / earth.
I ...
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