Video Transcript
Constellations
Oh hey guys! It's just gotten dark here so we're spending a little time before bed looking
at the night sky, and sometimes we like to look up at the stars and make up funny
stories about the things that we see. Have you ever looked up at the clouds during the
day and thought about what they looked like? A duck and alligator, a shark or even a
bear? Well, people do the same thing with the stars and they've done so for thousands
of years. I'm sure you've noticed on a nice, clear night how there are so many stars in
the sky, more than you can probably count.
Some stars look brighter to us than others and the darker it is where you live, like if
you're really far from the lights of a city, the more stars you can see. And for a long time,
people have seen pictures among certain groups of stars just like connect-the-dots.
These groups of stars are sometimes called constellations and scientists still use the
names of these constellations to describe different parts of the night sky.
Probably the most famous group of stars that's easiest to find is the Big Dipper. If you
live in the Northern Hemisphere, you can spot it pretty easily in the northern part of the
sky. It's made of seven bright stars and if you connect the dots of those stars, you'll see
a big, squarish bowl with a really long handle sticking out of it. In the United States,
some people thought the stars looked like a big ladle or spoon so they called it the Big
Dipper. But just like the fluffy clouds we're talking about, groups of stars can look
different to different people.
In Great Britain, for example, the same seven stars are called the Plough because they
were thought to look like a farmer's plough, and people in Germany thought it looked
like a wagon. And those same stars also reminded lots of ancient people of a giant
bear. Scientists today consider the Big Dipper to be part of a bigger constellation that
they call Ursa
Major for “Great Bear”.
The Big Dipper is easiest to find in the summer when it's higher in the sky, but in the
winter, you should look for another famous constellation: Orion. The first part that you'll
probably see are the three bright stars in a row. In ancient Greece, stargazers thought
that they looked like the belt of a great hunter. They thought the two bright stars above it
would be where his shoulders were, and the two stars below it, his legs. The more
people looked, the more other things they saw, and if you use your imagination and
follow the stars from one of his shoulders, you can see another group of stars like he's
holding onto something -- like a shield. And what are those fuzzy lights hanging from his
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belt? Kind of looks like a sword. There's a lot more to Orion than just a few stars. That's
why when astronomers talk about constellations, they don't just mean the few stars that
might look like something, they also mean all of the other stuff in that part of the night
sky. So part of what gives Orion’s sword its fuzzy brightness is a distant cloud of gas
and dust called the Orion Nebula. That's part of the Orion constellation, too.
So what if you live in the Southern Hemisphere? Then keep your eyes open for the
Crux, the smallest of the constellations. It's still pretty easy to find, especially in the
winter, because of the four bright stars that make a cross, which is what its name
means. The Southern Hemisphere is also a great place to find Sagittarius, a
constellation that reminded ancient Greeks of a creature that was part-man part-horse
shooting an arrow. For most people, the easiest way to find it is to look for the eight
stars that make this shape. To me it looks more like a teapot. But that's why it's fun to
make up stories!
So the next time that you're outside and it's dark, look up and see if you can find any of
these constellations or other groups of stars, or you could just make up your own. Okay
Squeaks, let's find something that looks like a rat. See you next time on Sci-show kids!
Answer Key
While watching
1. B
2. A
3. B
4. A
5. C
6. B
7. B
8. C
9. A
10. C
11. A
After watching
Zodiac signs from left to right:
Row 1:
Capricorn, Pisces, Gemini, Sagittarius
Row 2:
Scorpio, Leo, Cancer, Aries
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Row 3:
Libra, Taurus, Virgo, Aquarius
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