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What does constellation mean

Constellation is when few stars create a shape in the Night Sky. The definition is simple, however, there are few clarifications:

The constellations only consist of stars. Since planets are changing their locations constantly, and constellations are permanent in the Night Sky, the constellations can only contain stars.

Despite the false impression that all the stars in one constellation are close to each other, we know that sometimes they can actually be really far away. The reason why they seem to “sit” on the same plain, is thanks to the fact that some of the farther stars can grow really big.

Since stars in constellations have no physical or essential relation to each other, the only thing that made us call them “constellations” is the stories and myths behind them, and that’s what we are going to discuss today.

stories of constellations

The legend about Orion and Scorpius

From all the mythologies that we have about stars constellations, this story is the most famous. One of the reasons is that both Orion and Scorpius are amongst the biggest and most impressive constellations in the Night Sky!

The legend:

Orion used to be a very talented hunter but also happened to be quite arrogant. He managed to make Hera, Zeus’s wife lose her temper after he claimed to be the greatest hunter in the world. Hera decided to kill Orion, but since she was a great god, she sent Scorpius to do the job instead of killing Orion By herself. 

Orion has also managed to anger Zeus, but Zeus was compassionate and he decides to place Orion in the sky, for his memory. Hera didn’t like Zeus’s move and she decided to place Scorpius in the sky as well.

Zeus finally agreed, but with one condition – that Orion and Scorpius will never meet each other.

The legend:

Persues was the son the Zeus. He wanted to save Andromeda from the Sea monster so he came up with a very creative Idea. He heard about Medusa – A frightening monster that could turn anyone into a stone just by looking at her eyes. He decided to fight Medusa and then use her head to kill The sea monster and save Andromeda.

Now, the Greeks who came up with this story really trusted our imagination. However, they did pay attention to details. The second brightest star in Perseus (β) which is constantly changing its brightness, is representing Medusa’s glittering eyes.

The Big Dipper is the most famous constellation in the Night Sky. It’s bright, easy to find, and remains visible all year round (in the northern hemisphere). The Big Dipper is also pointing to the North Star and therefore has an important role in astronomy and navigation.

The legend:

As the Big Dipper is not foreign to any culture, there are many different stories and legends about her. Even in Greek mythology, we can find more than one story. However, the common legend suggests that the Big Dipper used to be a beautiful girl named “Callisto”. When Artemis, which was the goddess of wild animals and hunt, heard that Callisto has got pregnant with Zeus, she got mad and decided to turn Callisto into a bear, or “Ursa” in Latin.

about milky way

What Is Milky Way?

1.     Milky Way, in simple terms, is a collection of celestial bodies like stars, planets, asteroids, comets, and other objects in space. As 9 planets that revolve around the sun form a solar system, many such solar systems all together make a Milky Way.

2.     Milky Way is a Galaxy. Galaxies consist of millions of stars and millions of Galaxies from the Universe.

3.     Milky Way Galaxy appears like the dusty milky stretch of a belt in the clear sky. It also consists of particle-shaped stars, which, of course, are light-years far from the earth and are not clearly visible.

4.     No wonder many nations are yet fighting to reach mars; you might think that how we humans have so much information about galaxies. Well, the most interesting Milky Way facts for kids is every study is based on assumptions, it takes decades for a kid to learn that every discovery is based on the observation in the sky using a telescope and ultrasonic waves.

5.     The distance and the material on the surface of planets are discovered based on SONAR using ultrasonic Waves.

6.     The Shape of the Milky Way Galaxy is a Barred Spiral; the age is over 13 Billon years. The Milky way consists of 200 billion stars like the sun.

The five main differences between planets and stars are:

1.     Planets orbit around a star. Stars do not orbit planets.

The very definition of a planet states that for a planet to be classified as such, it must be found orbiting a star just like Earth orbits around the Sun.

 

Stars have a greater mass than planets. The gravity of all this mass is what “locks” planets into their orbits and makes them go around it when they are created.

2.     Planets are made of rock, ice, gas or water. Stars are made of plasma.

Plasma is the fourth fundamental state of matter after solid liquid and gas. Plasma can be hard to explain as it is not easy to visualize it and the definition can be confusing. Think of it like really hot gas that starts conducting electricity. A lightning bolt is an example of plasma.

 

The nuclear reactions happening in the core of stars make it so hot that most of it becomes plasma. On the other hand, planets can be made of many different elements. For example, Mars is made of rock and ice while Jupiter and Saturn are mostly made of gas and only a small rocky core.

3.     Stars emit their own light. Planets don’t.

Stars are bright and it is possible for them to emit light because of the nuclear reaction happening in them. Planets are made of much colder elements that for the most part do not generate light. The reason why we can see planets from Earth is the same reason why we can see the Moon. They are reflecting the light from the Sun. In the case of distant planets, they also reflect the light from their own stars.

4.     Planets are always colder than the stars in their system.

 

5.     Inside a star, nuclear fusion is constantly happening. This doesn’t happen on a planet.

Stars are mostly made of two elements: Hydrogen and Helium. Various other gases are found in very small proportions but those are the main ones. In the star’s core, the high temperatures create an effect called thermonuclear fusion that turns the hydrogen into helium, releasing the energy that is sent into the universe in the form of heat and light.