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A constellation It is a group of stars that, when drawing a line that joins them in an imaginary way, forms a figure in the sky. In this way figures of people, objects or animals are formed. This type of figures in the sky was useful for navigation in ancient times, since, through these constellations, ships could guide themselves and know where they were.
As we have said above the union between the points that form a certain constellation has been (and is) arbitrary. In other words, they do not respond to a specific astronomical question but rather to a human criterion and not to the stars that make up those constellations.
However, these constellations have been written down and have become part of the astronomical communication of ancient civilizations. Although the stars that make up the same constellation seem to be at a short distance, the truth is that they can be found millions of kilometers from each other.
First discoveries
The ancient peoples who have observed the sky and who began to make the first annotations on the constellations, were the civilizations of Middle East and those of Mediterranean. However, and as already mentioned, since they were arbitrary in nature, many of them could correspond to constellations of a given civilization while another civilization might not recognize it as such.
Constellation observations
Constellations can be observed directly by looking at the night sky. However, for a better observation it is necessary to make an observation from the night sky in the field, since in the city, as a result of the lights and environmental pollution, the luminosity of the night sky dims, avoiding seeing all the available stars in the sky.
It is also useful to obtain, previously, a map of the night sky, to locate the constellations in it. It is customary to divide the constellations into two large groups. Both are divided by their location in the sky in relation to the equator:
- Northern constellations. They are located north of the Equator line.
- Southern constellations. They are located south of the equatorial line
The navegation
These creations have been very useful, particularly for night navigation in ancient times where the lack of technology greatly limited the orientation of sailors (with the exception of the use of a compass).
In this way the navigators could (by observing the stars and these constellations) know where they should go based on knowing the destination point and the route they had to follow in order not to deviate.
Examples of constellations
- Chinese constellations. Examples of these are:
Chinese name | Name in Spanish | |
1 | Jiao | The two horns |
2 | Kang | The neck |
The Dragon | ||
3 | Gave | The Root or |
The foundation | ||
4 | Fang | The Square or |
5 | The room | |
6 | Xin | The heart |
The Great Fire | ||
7 | Wei | The Dragon's Tail |
8 | Hee | The sieve or |
The strainer | ||
9 | Dou | The Ladle |
The Bizco | ||
10 | Niu | The ox |
11 | Wildebeest | The woman |
12 | Xu | The vacuum |
The chaos | ||
13 | Wei | The precipice |
14 | Shi | Home |
15 | Bi | Western wall |
16 | Kui | The horseman |
The Stride | ||
17 | Lou | The mound |
18 | Wei | The belly |
19 | Mao | Pleiades |
20 | Bi | The Steak or Red |
21 | Zi | Peak |
22 | Shen | Orion |
23 | Jing | The goodness |
The hole | ||
24 | Gui | Ghost |
25 | Liu | The Willow Branch |
26 | The bird | |
27 | Zhang | The Bow |
28 | Yi | The wings |
29 | Zhen | The carriage |
- Hindu constellations. Examples of these are:
- Ketu (lunar south node)
- Shukra (Venus)
- Ravi or Suria (Sun)
- Chandra (Moon)
- Mangala (Mars)
- Rahu (lunar north node)
- Guru or Bríjaspati (Jupiter)
- Shani (Saturn)
- Budha (Mercury)
- Pre-Columbian constellations. Examples of these are:
- Citlaltianquiztli (The Market)
- Citlalxonecuilli ("Crooked foot")
- Citlalcólotl or Colotlixáyac (El Alacrán)
- Citlallachtli (The court of the ball game “tlachtli”)
- Citlalmamalhuaztli (Los Palos Saca-fuego)
- Citlalocélotl (The Jaguar)
- Citlalozomatli (The Monkey)
- Citlalcóatl (The Serpent)
- Zodiacal constellations. Examples of these are:
- Aries
- Taurus
- Gemini
- Cancer
- Leo
- Virgo
- Libra
- Scorpio
- Sagittarius
- Capricorn
- Aquarium
- Pisces
- Ptolemy constellations. Examples of these are:
- Aquarius constellation
- Andromeda constellation
- Aquila constellation
- Ara constellation
- Constellation Aries
- Constellation Auriga
- Bootes constellation
- Cancer constellation
- Canis Maior constellation
- Constellation Canis Minor
- Capricorn constellation
- Cassiopeia constellation
- Constellation Cepheus
- Centaurus constellation
- Constellation Cetus
- Constellation Corona Australis
- Constellation Corona Borealis
- Corvus constellation
- Crater constellation
- Crux constellation
- Cygnus constellation
- Delphinus constellation
- Draco constellation
- Equuleus constellation
- Eridanus constellation
- Constellation gemini
- Hercules constellation
- Constellation hydra
- Leo constellation
- Lepus constellation
- Libra constellation
- Lupus constellation
- Lyra constellation
- Ophiuchus constellation
- Orion constellation
- Constellation Ursa Major
- Constellation Ursa Minor
- Pegasus constellation
- Perseus constellation
- Constellation pisces
- Constellation Piscis Austrinus
- Sagittarius constellation
- Sagitta constellation
- Scorpius constellation
- Serpens constellation
- Taurus constellation
- Triangulum constellation
- Virgo constellation
- Modern constellations. Examples of these are:
- Apus, the bird of Paradise
- Camelopardalis, the giraffe
- Chamaeleon, the chameleon
- Crux, the cross
- Dorado, the fish
- Grus, the crane. He was known as Phoenicopterus, which means "flamenco". This name was given in England during the seventeenth century
- Hydrus, the male hydra
- Indus, the American Indian
- Jordanus, the Jordan River
- Monoceros, the unicorn
- Musca, the fly
- Peacock
- Phoenix, the phoenix
- Tigris, the Tigris River
- Triangulum Australe, the southern triangle
- Tucana, the toucan
- Volans, the flying fish