A constellation is a group of stars that form an image in the sky. There are 88 officially recognized constellations in the world that were named by ancient Greeks and Babylonians over 6,000 years ago based on stories and figures. The document discusses facts about constellations like their movement and stories, the history of how they were established over centuries, and provides case studies of specific constellations like Draco the dragon, Grus the flamingo, Leo the lion, Ursa Major the big dipper, Indus, and Hydra the sea serpent.

1. By Sharan Bindroo
Asiya Khan
Jahnavi Verma
Class:VIII C

2. Index
 Defining Constellation
 Facts about constellations
History of constellations
Naming constellations
Few constellations: Case Study
Summary

3. What is a CONSTELLATION?
•A constellation is a group of stars that
form an image in the sky.
•Constellations are pictures that tell
stories that were made hundreds of
years ago.
•A constellations is a group of starts
that you can see in a particular area of
the night sky.
•The stories behind the constellations
were stories that poets, farmers and
astronomers have made up over the
past 6,000 years.

4. Facts…
o There are 88 total constellations in
the world
o Some constellations move over the
year
o One of the constellations has the
planet Mars in between them
o Every constellation has a story of how
they came to be and what they mean
or represent
oThey are named on big greek and
Babylonian rulers of the 15 CE

5. Facts continued
• If you are on the equator you can view
all of the constellations in a year.
• If you are on the North Pole, you can
only see part of the sky.
• Most stories that the constellations had
were about
hunters, warriors, queens, kings, birds, b
ears, horses and other figures
• The reason we can’t see some
constellations all the time is because
there are up in our sky enduring the day.

6. History of Constellations
• There are 88 officially recognized constellations in the sky, and
these astronomical patterns have a fascinating and long
history.
• Forty-eight of the constellations are known as ancient or
original, meaning they were talked about by the Greeks and
probably by the Babylonians and still earlier peoples. After
the 15th century, with the age of the great discoveries and
worldwide navigation, the southernmost parts of the sky
became known to man and had to be charted.
• Other 48 constellations were found by modern astronomers.
• Furthermore, across the entire sky were large gaps filled
chiefly with dim stars between them. In more recent times
people have invented the modern constellations to fill up
some of these spaces.

8. Draco – the
dragon
Draco the dragon
is one of the few
constellations that
really looks like
itself.
 His story is that
he used to guard
the golden apple
tree in Hesperides
garden.

9. Grus
Grus was
often referred
to as flamingo.
 The ancient
Egyptians used
the Crane as a
symbol of the
astronomer
because of high
flight.

10. Leo
Leo is the Nemean
Lion which was killed
by Hercules on one of
his great quests.
Legend says that the
lion had a hide that
could not punctured by
iron, bronze or stone.
Since he couldn't
reason with the
ferocious
beast, Hercules
strangled it to death
and the local people
were very grateful.

11. Ursa Major( Big Dipper)
This group of stars
contains those who
make up the big dipper
and small. It is also
known as the great
bear and it is in the
northern hemisphere.
 Ursa Major has seven
Messier
objects, including a
double start, a
planetary nebula, an
irregular galaxy, and
four spiral galaxies.

12. Indus
 Indus is a constellation in the
southern hemisphere.
 It was one of the 12 constellations
that were observed by the Dutch
navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser
and Frederick de Houtman, mapped
by the Dutch astronomer Petrus
Plancius.
 Indus was first depicted in Johann
Bayer's atlasUranometria in 1603.
 The name of the constellation means
"the Indian" and it is illustrated as a
man holding arrows, without a
bow, as though hunting.
 It is unclear whether Indus refers to a
native of the East Indies or the
Americas.

13. It is also known as
the Sea Serpent.
This constellation is
seen in the southern
hemisphere and you
can see it between
January and May.
It represents a giant
water snake.
 Hydra is the largest
constellation in the
sky.
It was a giant beast
with the body of a dog
and 100 snake like
heads.
Hydra

14. Summary
 A constellation is a group of stars that form an
image in the sky.
There are 88 total constellations in the world.
A constellations is a group of starts that you
can see in a particular area of the night sky.
The stories behind the constellations were
stories that poets, farmers and astronomers
have made up over the past 6,000 years.

15. Resources
http://www.space.com/15486-night-skyconstellations-names.html
http://www.comfychair.org/~cmbell/myth/my
th.html
www.cosmoquest.com
www.space.com
www.starregistry.co.uk
stars.astro.illinois.edu

16. We hope you
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slideshow!