What's up tonight | Constellations | Our Neighbours What are Constellations? Constellations are associations of stars and other stellar objects in the sky which form figures that people imagine to be. However, the irony is that few constellations look like what their name implies. Many of the various constellations that we see have names which date from the ancient times such as from Roman and Greek mythology (eg. Hercules, Andromeda and Perseus) and have Arab names (eg. Alderbaran or Acharnar). Here are some constellations: The constellation of Ursa Major, the big bear. Pictured here is an asterism known as the “Plough” or “Big Dipper” consisting of a group of 7 stars. The bright star Vega (26 light years away)in the constellation Lyra, the harp. The Southern constellations of Crux and Centaurus. Crux is the vertical cross shape at the bottom right of this image. Later, other constellations were added by Astronomers to fill in the 'loose gaps' of stars between the constellations. There are a total of 88 constellations in the night sky, but from Singapore skies we can only see about 40 to 55. Each constellation consists of several stars, the brightest being called "alpha", the next brightest "beta", followed by "gamma", "delta" etc. For example, the brightest star closest to our solar system, is found in the constellation Centaurus, hence its name being Alpha Centauri. Use these Star Maps to find your way around the Singapore Sky: What's up tonight | Constellations | Our Neighbours
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