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The article is frustratingly vague about what constitutes a "proper" constellation. Does it just require being one of the 88 officially-enumerated ones, or is
by mattkrause 5y ago
The article is frustratingly vague about what constitutes a "proper" constellation.
Does it just require being one of the 88 officially-enumerated ones, or is there more to it?
- dylan604 5y agoThere are official constellations, and then there are other shapes/patterns known as asterisms. This article will be able to explain way better than I could in a reply here. https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/constellations-asterisms-what-difference/ https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/constellations-ast...
- mattkrause 5y agoReporting back.... It seems like the important thing about the 88 officially-enumerated constellations is that they divide the sky up into standardized sectors. Asterisms are just the stars themselves. In other words, the asterism "The Big Dipper" is exactly seven stars. Since these stars are prominent, they--and some others--define the constellation "Ursa Major" but the constellation is actually the region of space around them. Thus, you could say that you can see (e.g.,) a comet "in" Ursa Major, but not "in" the Big Dipper.