Star pictures
On a clear night, you may see thousands of twinkling stars. They seem to
be scattered helter-skelter all over the sky. But if you look carefully,
you will see that groups of stars seem to form shapes.
Long ago, people found that, with a little imagination, each of these
star groups looked like a picture of something. One group of stars
seemed to look like a hunter with a club, holding the body of an animal
he had killed. Another group of stars made a picture that was like a
flying swan, with its long neck stretched out and its wings spread.
Other star groups were like pictures of a crab, a bull’s head, a dragon,
a man shooting a bow, and many other creatures and objects.
The star pictures were named after the things they looked like. By
knowing the shape of each star picture, and its position in the sky,
sailors of long ago could find their way across the sea. If a ship were
blown off course by a storm, the captain had only to look at the star
pictures to find the right direction again. Today, amateur astronomers
still use these star pictures, called constellations, to locate the
stars they want to study.
Planets, Stars, and Galaxies 269
the constellation of Orion
Long ago, people thought that groups of stars looked like pictures of
creatures or objects. Each star group was named after the thing it
seemed to look like. These star groups are called constellations. This
constellation is Orion the Hunter.
