How are constellations formed?

Constellations are formed of bright stars which appear close to each other on the sky, but are really far apart in space. The shapes you see all depend on your point of view. Many societies saw patterns among the stars with gods and goddesses or stories from their culture. read more

Constellations can be a useful way to help identify positions of stars in the sky. Constellations have imaginary boundaries formed by "connecting the dots" and all the stars within those boundaries are labeled with the name of that constellation. read more

Soconstellations are in effect formed through the imagination ofpeople. We look up at all the stars in the sky and through our ownimagination they look like things, so we name that group as aconstellation. Orion and the other constellations were created inthat way. read more

The constellations, which reflect mankind's earliest efforts to attach representative significance to what was seen in the night sky, were physically formed at the same time as the billions of other stars, but began to be named according to the patterns seen in their respective groupings around 2000 B.C. Scorpio the scorpion and Leo the lion are two of the earliest known names given to star groups. read more