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Constellations Guide the Way
 For thousands of years, stargazers have seen shapes in the
night sky. Some of these visions, like the mythological
creatures of the zodiac, are said even today to guide the
course of human destiny. While the predictions of astrology
may be dubious, star patterns can still be our guides. These
figures help us navigate our way across the night sky and
locate celestial objects.
Star patterns such as the hunter Orion and the winged horse
Pegasus are commonly called constellations. But the term
constellation in modern astronomy actually refers to a
particular region of the sky, like a country on a map. The
star figures first noticed in antiquity lie within these
regions.
A Ladle? Or A Bear?
Some constellations hold other identifiable shapes formed by
stars, called asterisms. Seven bright stars within the
constellation Ursa Major form what may be the most renowned
asterism through the ages. This shape has been noted by
poets from Homer to Tennyson, and known variously as the
Plough, the Wain, and the Wagon. Today, we call it the Big
Dipper.
 By connecting stars in the constellation Ursa Major in a
different way, you can see the rough shape of a bear. Ursa
Major means "Great Bear" in Latin, but many civilizations
have given this asterism their own name for bear. It was
"Arktos" to the ancient Greeks. (The word "arctic" today
relates to the connection between these circumpolar stars
and northern latitudes.) And some Native American tribes saw
three hunters in nearby stars chasing the bear around the
northern sky.
The shapes we draw may vary, but the borders of the
constellations are fixed. In 1930, astronomers divided the
sky into 88 constellations, giving each a Latin name. Before
this time, there was no one universally accepted sky map,
and quite a lot of confusion.
To see some of the constellations that are home to newly
discovered solar systems, go to
Find the Planets.
Ursa Major images courtesy
Sky and Telescope Magazine.
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