Constellations

Starlab: http://www.starlab.com/starlab_cylinders.html

Brief Introduction

¢ Early astronomers studied the sky for a variety of reasons: Navigation, primitive calendars, planting and harvesting, and astrology3

¢ The earliest mention of constellations was in the Homer's Iliad, around the 7th century BCE.

¢ About 3000 stars are visible from each side of the Earth without using telescopes or other instruments

¢ A natural tendency is to see or try to see patterns

¢ People long ago grouped certain stars into configurations called constellations

¢ Ancients named them after mythological beings, heroes, and animals

¢ The patterns have a strong cultural bias - those used in China different from those used by ancient Greeks, Romans, etc.

¢ Interestingly, however, different cultures used the same groupings - just gave them different names

¢ For example, the group of 7 stars usually referred to in N America as the Dipper, is known as the Wagon or the Plough in western Europe.

The Ancient Greeks regarded these same stars as the tail of the Great Bear, etc.

Greek Mythology - Constellations

¢ The cylinder (commentary from the above link)

A combination of traditional artwork and folklore for 45 classical Greek constellations is featured on a background of 3000 stars, making this cylinder an excellent introductory tool for locating constellations. A convenient identification key includes folk legends about each constellation. For astronomy, mythology, art, literature, social studies and ancient history for all grade levels.