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Did You Know?
Did You Know?
There are 88 recognized constellations in our night sky
Most of these are from Roman/Greek origins --> there are hundreds or thousands more recognized from other cultures around the world!
Constellations are stars that have been "grouped" together by humans into a shape or picture, often to tell a story.
These stars are not actually next to each other. They can be light years away from one another!
These stars are not actually next to each other. They can be light years away from one another!
Take ORION for example.
In this constellation, the stars visible to the naked eye (without a telescope) range from 26 light years away to several thousand light years away from Earth!
What's a light year, you ask?
What's a light year, you ask?
A light year is a unit of distance recognized by the International Astronomical Union (ie. the space science people). Essentially, one light year is equal to the distance that light would travel in one Julian Year (which is 365.25 days) in a vacuum (space is a vacuum)
Light travels at 299 792 458 meters per second (wow, that's speedy...)
So... if a star is one light year away, that is equal to about 9.46 trillion kilometres.
Even Buzz Lightyear couldn't fly that far!
Check out some cool constellations!
Check out some cool constellations!
EXPLORE SOME STAR GAMES + COOL STUFF
EXPLORE SOME STAR GAMES + COOL STUFF
Did you know that stars move in our night sky? Because of the Earth's rotation, we can watch a time lapse to see the stars "rotate" around one particular star that lives lightyears above our North Pole.
Did you know that stars move in our night sky? Because of the Earth's rotation, we can watch a time lapse to see the stars "rotate" around one particular star that lives lightyears above our North Pole.
That star is called, POLARIS!
That star is called, POLARIS!
Watch this to learn more about how the Earth's revolution around the Sun controls which constellations we see at certain parts of the year (or not at all!)
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