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Article: Constellations.
- Article from:
- Science Weekly
- Article date:
- December 12, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Science Weekly, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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For thousands of years, people have looked at the night sky. Gazing at the stars above, they saw many patterns. Connecting the stars with imaginary lines, they formed special shapes. We call these shapes constellations.
There are 88 different constellations recognized by astronomers all over the world. Constellations got their names from very old legends. Some constellations were also named after animals and objects found on Earth.
During the year, the constellations seem to be moving through the sky. It is really the Earth that is moving--on its long trip around the Sun. This is why we are not able to see every star all of the time. Some stars can be ...