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ViviIn astronomy, however, a constellation is an area of the sky, and contains all the stars and other celestial objects within that area. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) divides the sky into 88 official constellations with exact boundaries, so that every direction or place in the sky belongs within one constellation. Most of these constellations are centred on the traditional constellations of Western culture.
The International Astronomical Union has designated 88 "official" constellations in the sky.
In addition, there are a number of "asterisms", which are star patterns or groupings that may overlap the official ones, or include fewer stars. For example, the "Big Dipper" is not a constellation; it is an asterism, which includes several stars from the constellation Ursa Major.
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Why are the constellations seen as in the summer sky different than those in the winter sky?
The winter night sky is the opposite direction from the summer night sky. The constellations you see in winter are on the other side of the sun in summer, so you would only see them in summer during a total solar eclipse.
Is there anymore hidden zodiac constellation?
There is one zodiac constellation that is not included in the traditional zodiac calendar. That constellation is Ophiuchus, and it lies between Scorpius and Sagittarius. This means there are 13 zodiac constellations. Constellations cannot be "hidden," so to speak. They are a fabrication of the human mind and would not exist elsewhere in the universe as we see them on Earth. Currently, we have 88 constellations (some of which are Northern hemisphere constellations, others of which are Southern hemisphere constellations) and their boundaries (constellations are not just the stars that make up a shape, but every celestial object in a defined region in the sky) fill the entire sky.
Gemini Leo and canis major are examples of a what?
Gemini, Leo, and Canis Major are all examples of constellations in the night sky. Constellations are groups of stars that form recognizable patterns as seen from Earth. They have been used for navigation, storytelling, and scientific study for centuries.
What are the only constellations visible all year long?
The region of the sky visible all year round is called "circumpolar". What stars and constellations are included there depends on your geographical location. For example, for somebody living 30 degrees south of the equator, a region around the south pole of the sky, with a radius of 30 degrees, would be circumpolar.
How would the sky be with no constellations?
It would be slightly harder to describe the position of things in the sky. Other than that, nothing at all.Using constellations to describe positions really only helps if you know the sky pretty well anyway; so it's safe to say the average person wouldn't even notice if the totally random patterns (okay, that's an exaggeration, they're not totally random ... there are more stars near the plane of the galactic disk, for one thing) didn't have names.
