Hello, Ms. Nufer's class, and welcome to your very own blog about science! Since you're learning about astronomy right now, I'll keep you updated on news from the astronomy field. If you have questions or comments, be sure to submit them and I'll get back to you on this site. Sound good? Let's get started!
This first posting is about constellations, or "pictures" in the sky. I'll start with a history lesson, then talk about some of the major constellations, and then put in a few pictures.People have been tracing pictures in the sky for thousands of years, not only to tell stories but to use as guides before we had Mapquest and Google Maps. In fact, pictures in a French cave of constellations are dated to about 17,300 years ago! In Ancient Greece, poets and scientists wrote about constellations in their stories. Throught the centuries, astronomers from places like Egypt, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany and France have added to the ancient knowledge, publishing maps of the night sky. Amerigo Vespucci, for whom America is named, was one of the people who contributed to our knowledge of constellations. Here's an example of a constellation map from 1835 by astronomer Elijah Hinsdale Burritt, author of Geography of the Heavens:
Finally, in 1919, a group of astronmers decided it was time to make things official and formed the International Astronomical Union, or IAU. (They're the ones who debated whether Pluto was a planet.) There are almost 90 constellations recognized by the IAU. Can you name any of them?
True or false? The Big Dipper is a constellation.
Answer: False. Although the Big Dipper is part of a constellation - Ursa Major - the pattern you can see is actually called an asterism. An asterism is a pattern people recognize in the sky but isn't officially a constellation.
At the bottom of this web page from the IAU is a table of major constellations. The maps might be a little bit advanced, but I bet you can do it. Ask your parents to take you to a park or a lake or somewhere dark, and give it your best shot!
