Re: How do the constellations get their names?

Paige,

When you look into the night sky, if you're like the average person, you may be able to identify a few constellations. Today astronomers recognize 88 constellations. These 88 constellations all have names, but what you call them depends on where you live. For instance, looking up into the Northern sky on any evening here in North America, you will find the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper isn't actually a constellation though, it's what we call an asterism, a peice of a constellation. The whole constellation is Ursa Major, the Great Sky Bear. Go over to England and ask someone to tell you the name of the same group of stars and they may say the Plowshare. It does look a lot like a plowshare. The names of the constellations come to us from many different cultures.

People have been able to see the groups of stars that make up constellations as long as there have been people. Early cave dwellers had no way to pass on their interpretations of what they saw. Eons later people in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, China and America did have ways to pass on their interpretations though and they gave us most of the names we use today. Several thousand years ago you couldn't sit down after a long hard day, turn on the Simpsons and relax. The night sky was a perfect object for contemplation. Astronomers, looking to discover the laws of nature - astrologers, looking to understand divine intervention - sailors, hoping to learn some way to navigate and maybe even people like you and me, looking to just entertain themselves began to assign names to the pictures they saw in the sky. We'll never know exactly who they were, but we can enjoy the legacy of their inspiration.

Hope this helps,

Mike Francis

http://www.gis.net/~mtf/sm.htm