This is a picture of what ancient people thought the constellation Leo
looked like.
Click on image for full size
Image: (c)1995 Visual Language, All Rights Reserved
Constellations
Constellations are pictures made up
of bright stars which appear close to each other on the sky. Like a
game of connect the dots, if you use your imagination when you look at
the stars, you may see a dog or a cat or some other interesting figure.
People long ago, like the ancient Greeks, did the same thing, although
they saw the stars as pictures of
gods and goddesses or of
stories from their culture.
Many peoples noticed that the
planets, the
moon, and
comets moved through the sky in a
different way than the stars.
The motion of the Earth and the motion of the Sun in our sky
affect the stars and the constellations that we see in spring,
summer, fall, and winter. Some constellations never rise or set, and
they are called circumpolar. All the other constellations can only
be seen during certain seasons.
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