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3. Patterns of Stars

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People have always looked at and wondered about the stars

Ancient people saw patterns in certain groups of stars

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The patterns looked like people, animals, and objects

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These groups of stars are called constellations

Vocabulary

constellations

A group of stars that form a pattern

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Throughout historypeople have used the position of these stars to guide them as they traveled on land and sea

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You may already know some of the 88 constellations

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Two stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris,

The North Star

Have you ever seen the Big Dipper?

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Wherever you are, when you look at Polaris, you are facing

north

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The Big Dipper is part of a large constellation called

Ursa Major

Ursa Major is a Latin name that means Great Bear

(Flag of Alaska)

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Polaris is part of Ursa MinorOr the Little Bear

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Every constellation has a Latin name

Many constellations are named after animals

Latin NameAnimal NameUrsa Major Big BearUrsa Minor Little BearPisces The Fishes

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Leo is a lion

Taurus is a bull

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Pisces represents two fish

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At the North Pole you can see only the constellations in the

northern part of the sky

Vocabulary

North Pole

The northern most point on Earth

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At the South Pole you can see only the constellations in the

southern part of the sky

Vocabulary

South Pole

The southern most point on Earth

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At the equator you can see all the constellations

Vocabulary:

equator

The imaginary line around the center of the

Earth

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Because Earth travels around the sun

The constellations appear in different parts of the sky at different times of the year

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Some constellations can be seen only during certain

seasons

Winter Constellations