Constellations are groups of stars that form shapes in the sky. People hundreds of years ago saw these constellations and named them. Most of the constellations in the Northern Hemisphere were named by people in Egypt and Mesopotamia, but some, and the most commonly known, were named by ancient Greeks and Romans. There are 88 constellations that have been officially recognized by the international astronomical union. Some people use constellations as a natural sky map, like the two stars in the big dipper that point to the north star which tells you which direction your going in.

Ursa Major, also known as the Big Dipper or the great bear is one of the most recognizable constellations in the sky. In fact the Big Dipper isn’t the whole constellation or even a constellation its self, it’s actually part of Ursa Major.

Ursa Minor, like Ursa Major is known by a couple of names, little dipper, little bear, or of course ursa Minor. The last star in the handle or tail (I know bears don’t have tails!) is the North Star, Polaris.

Orin the great hunter, everyone can recognize his famous belt of three bright stars shining in the sky. He also carries a club a shield, and a sword hanging from his belt. Orin has many bright stars, the brightest are his shoulder, Betelgeuse, and his foot, Rigel.

Cassiopia was believed to be the queen of Ethiopia. This W shaped constellation is not hard to find because it is right between Ursa Major and Orin.

There are 12 constallations in the zodiac calander, which people use to predict the future by horiscopes. Some of these are Leo, Cancer, Aries, Taurus,and Gemini.The 12 zodiac constellations are sometimes used to tell horiscopes.