Constellations - CLOSED

Part 1

1. Where did the idea of constellations come from? From where did they originate? (5)
2. When is the constellation Ursa Minor best seen in the night sky? (1)
3. Name four stars that lie within the constellation of Draco (4)
4. What is another name for the constellation of Ursa Major? (1)
5. The Phoenix constellation was named by who? (2)
6. Describe the myth of the Orion constellation (4)
7. What is the translation of the constellation; Lupus? (1)
8. The constellation was originally part of another constellation. Which was it? (2)
9. Aquila was named after what? (1)
10. Name 4 constellations which are best seen in May (4)

Part 2

Choose one constellation and describe its history in as much detail as you can. Try to cover where and how it originated, any myths which surround it and its position within the sky. Add anything else you consider of importance, remember, the more detail, the more possible housepoints you may receive.

bonus

Bonus: Post a picture of the constellation discussed in part 2

Total available points for part 1: 25
Total available points for part 2: 20
Bonus points available: 10
Total available housepoints for whole lesson: 55


Remember to site your sources (websites used) and no copying and pasting!

Points awarded to each student will be given once this class closes and will be upon the end of this post.

Have fun!

Part 1

1. Where did the idea of constellations come from? From where did they originate? (5)
The star shows direrctions to people. People give the stars and constellation (star pictures) different names to recognize it. The are based on imaginary figures. The origin is 400 BC in the Euphrates Valley Civilization, which today is Iraq.

2. When is the constellation Ursa Minor best seen in the night sky? (1)
Best seen in June

3. Name four stars that lie within the constellation of Draco (4)
Thuban, Rastaban, Tyl, and Alsafi

4. What is another name for the constellation of Ursa Major? (1)
The Big Dipper

5. The Phoenix constellation was named by who? (2)
Johann Bayer

6. Describe the myth of the Orion constellation (4)
Orion, whose name was Aqhat, was a handsome and famous hunter. The Goddess of Battle named Anat fell in love with Aqhat. But when she asked for his bow, he refused vto give it to her. She then told another man to steal it. Yet when this man tried, he accidentally killed Aqhat and dropped his bow into the sea.

7. What is the translation of the constellation; Lupus? (1)
The Wolf

8. The constellation was originally part of another constellation. Which was it? (2)
Centaurus

9. Aquila was named after what? (1)
The eagle carrying away the youth.


10. Name 4 constellations which are best seen in May (4)
Corvus, Crux, Virgo, Musca

Part 2

The Virgo constellation is a constellation that is best seen in May. The translation is the maiden or the virgen. It is the second largest costellation. It is also known as the harvest star. The stars that are in this constellation is Spica, Zavijah, Porrima, Auva, Vindemiatrix, Heze, Zaniah, Syrma, and Rijl al Awwa. Some people believe that the Virgo constellation could have stood for Isis, who was the the Egyptian protector of the living and the dead. She was also the main mother goddess. Others believe that this constellation stood for Demeter. The goddess of harvest in Greek mythology. This constellation is the only constellation to have all the Bayer stars in it.

bonus



Source - http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/, http://www.dibonsmith.com/constel.htm

Part 1

1. Where did the idea of constellations come from? From where did they originate? (5)

People from the south of Greece, north of Egypt, (Babylonians and Sumerians) are believed to have recordedthe first constellation. It is determined that determine that the people responsible for the original constellations lived near a latitude of 36° north .


2. When is the constellation Ursa Minor best seen in the night sky? (1)

Best seen in June (at 9:00 PM)

3. Name four stars that lie within the constellation of Draco (4)

Gianfar, Ed Asich, Eltanin and Grumium


4. What is another name for the constellation of Ursa Major? (1)
The Great Bear or The Big Dipper

5. The Phoenix constellation was named by who? (2)
Johann Bayer ( 1572 – March 7 , 1625 )


6. Describe the myth of the Orion constellation (4)
Orion has more than one story in its credit.
Orion, one of the Titans of Greek mythology, provided the archetype of the primordial hunter in Greek culture. In modern interpretations Orion ("mountain man" if the name is truly Greek) exists on three mythic planes. On the Neolithic level he is a shaman, the "master of the animals," an Aegean counterpart to Enkidu, the wild companion of Sumerian/Babylonian Gilgamesh. On the Minoan level, he has been dedicated to the Great Goddess of Crete. On the Classical level, he has become a threat to the reformed and Olympian Artemis and must be destroyed. His myth survives only in fragmentary episodes and references, and its meanings were obscure to the patriarchal culture of classical Greece and need some explaining. Orion's journeys may be traced on a map.


7. What is the translation of the constellation; Lupus? (1)
The Wolf

8. The constellation was originally part of another constellation. Which was it? (2)
Puppis

9. Aquila was named after what? (1)
The eagle which carried the thunderbolts of Zeus and was sent by him to carry the shepherd boy Ganymede

10. Name 4 constellations which are best seen in May (4)
Ursa Major,Centaurus, Virgo and Crux

Part 2

Ursa Major

Ursa Major (Ursa Maior in Latin) is a constellation visible throughout the year in the northern hemisphere. Its name means Great Bear in Latin, and is associated with the legend of Callisto.
Best seen in April (at 9:00 PM)


Several bright galaxies are found in Ursa Major, including the pair M81 (one of the brightest galaxies in the sky) and M82 above the bear's head, and M101, a beautiful spiral northwest of η Ursae Majoris. Other galaxies in Ursa Major that appear in the Messier catalogue are M108 and M109, both spiral galaxies. All told, the constellation contains about 50 galaxies observable through telescopes available to the amateur astronomer, most of which are below 10th magnitude. The bright planetary nebula M97, also known as the "Owl Nebula" for its appearance in photographs, can be found along the bottom of the bowl of the Big Dipper. Of note as a curiosity more than an interesting deep sky object is M40, a double star that Messier nonetheless included in his catalogue.

Referances

Ursa Major was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy. It is one of the most widely-known constellations, having been mentioned by such poets as Homer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Tennyson and Bertrand Cantat. The Finnish epic Kalevala mentions them, and Vincent Van Gogh painted them in his Starry Night Over the Rhone.

History
In earlier times, Greek mythology did not consider Ursa Major a bear, and instead its 3 bright stars (situated in the tail) were seen as apples growing on a tree (sometimes represented by the fainter stars in the remainder of the constellation). At the same time, the stars of Ursa Minor were associated with the Hesperides. These two groups of stars, together with Libra, Boötes and Draco, may have inspired the myth of the apples of the Hesperides, one of The Twelve Labours of Hercules.

Picture





Sources : http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/asp/constellation.faq.html#who
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(constellation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor
www.answers.com/topic/johann-bayer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28mythology%29
http://www.seasky.org/pictures/sky7b03.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquila_(constellation)
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Part One:
1.) Constellations were part of historical records of Mesopotamia from times as early as 4000 BC . Nine of the now familiar constellations were mentioned by Homer in the 9th century, in the Odyssey. Five hunrded years later Eudoxus of Cnidus wrote about the constellations that survived until today. Many of our present day constellations can be found in a book called Almagest, written by Ptolemy around 150 AD

2.) The Ursa Minor, or Lesser Bear is best seen in June at 9 PM

3.) four named stars of the Draco are: Thuban, Etamin, Tyl, and Kuma

4.) the Ursa Major is commonly called the Great Bear or the Big Dipper

5.) The Phoenix constellation was introduced by the Dutch Navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, and was popularized by Johan Bayer’s “Uranometria” in 1603

6.) Greek mythology holds this myth: Artemis, the godess of Hunting and the Moon fell in love with Orion and because of that neglected her job of enlightening the sky at night. Her brother, Apollon, noticed this and one night when Orion was swimming in the sea, dared Artemis to shoot Orion, who appeared to be no more than a dark pot on the waves. Of course Artemis hit the spot and killed Orion. When she found out what she had done she placed his body on the stars.

7.) Lupus is the latin word for Wolf

8.) Lupus used to be a part of the Centaurus constellation and was believed to be some random animal that was about to be killed by or for Centaurus

9.) Aquila is named for the eagle that is said to carry away Ganymede, who Zeus had decided should replace Hede, who had given up her post as the goddess of youth after marrying Heracles

10.) four constellations best seen in May are: Centaurus, Virgo, Corvus, Crux

Part Two:
The Leo (Lion) is one of the 13 constellations of the Zodiac. It is best seen in April at 9pm. One of its named stard is “Regulus”. According to the myth, Leo is the Lion Hercules killed in one of his 12 quests. The Lion’s skin could not be penetrated by iron, bronze or stone and so Hercules strangled the beast to death, because he wasn’t able to reason with it. In the past the appearance of Leo came together with the sun solstice, which is no longer the case today. The Nile flodded around the same time and therefore the ancient Egyptians worshipped the Lion. To find the Leo you must search for the sickle, that starts with Regulus, and then follow the backwards questionmark. To find Regulus the Big Dipper can be used. In the late 1600’s Johannes Heveliius added the constellation Leo Minor. The Leo lies between the Cancer to the west and the Virgo to the east.


Sources: http://www.fillingthesky.com/id8.html
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Draco.html
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Ursa_Minor.html
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Ursa_Major.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(constellation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)#Mythology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupus_(constellation)
http://www.dibonsmith.com/aql_con.htm
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Leo.html

bonus:

Part 1:
1.The constellations came from farmers -in places where it was hard to tell one season from the other farmers created the constellations to tell what season what what. Since there were different sets of stars that could only be seen certain times of the year; the farmers used this to plant their crops by.

2.The Ursa Minor is best seen at 9pm in the month of June.
3.In the constellation of Draco the stars are:Thuden,Rastaban,Etamin,Noduc Sucendus.
4.Ursa Major- Big Dipper
5. Johon Bayer
6.Orion was the son of Neptune. He was a giant and also a hunter. Diana was his favorite hunter and he was going to marry her.When Orion was in the water one day, Apollo came to Diana and claimed she counldn't hit the dark spot in the water. She proved him wrong as she hit it perfectly. Orion; being that dark spot in the water; was killed.Diana was devastated and cast Orion to the stars where he would stay.

7.The wolf
8.Before Lupus became its own constellation, it was a part of the Centarus constellation.
9.Aquila- bird of prey such as an eagle or hawk. In mythology it carried the thunderbolts to Zeus.
10.Centarus, Crux, Virgos, and Corvus.

Part 2::
PEGASUS:
The constellation Pegasus-Pegasus was born from Medusa and Posideon. Pegasus was a winged horse that was a good flyer.The constellation was inspired by the myth of Bellerophon. Bellerophen was given a bridle by Athena to capture and be able to ride Pegasus. And he did so. He was a hero at first but soon got to arrogant and tried to ride Pegasus to Mount Olmpus where Zeus struck him down. Pegasus was able to carry Zeus his lightning bolts.

Here is the Pegasus Constellation::






(sources: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/extra/constellations.html,http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Ursa_Minor.html,http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations/Draco.html,http://www.winshop.com.au/annew/Phoenix.html,http://www.onlinemythology.com/orion/,http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/lupus.html,http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/bellerophon.htmlhttp://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/GG/creature.html#PPegasus)

1. Constellations arose through ancient peoples playing ‘join the dots’ when gazing up at the night sky. First references to constellations originate from about 2000 BC from the Sumerians and Babylonians.

2. Ursa Minor is best seen at around 9pm in June.

3. Thuban, Rastaban, Etamin, Nodus Secundus.

4. The Great Bear (i.e. translate the Latin into English!)

5. Johann Bayer 1603

6. Orion boasted that he was such a great hunter that he could kill all animals on Earth. The Earth goddess Gaea decided that Orion had to be killed so she sent a scorpion to do the deadly dead. The scorpion bit Orion in the heel and he died. The scorpion and Orion were given places of honour in the heavens, but situated at opposite sides to stop them from fighting again.

Another version of the story is that Artemis fell in love with Orion – but her brother Apollo didn’t like the match. One day when Orion was swimming in the sea, Apollo challenged Artemis to hit a target bobbing in the sea. She shot her arrow and hit the target, which turned out to be Orion’s head. She put his body in her moon chariot and carried him up into the sky.

7. Lupus is Latin for wolf.

8. It was originally part of Centaurus inasmuch as the Centaur was depicted as having a dead wolf impaled in its spear.

9. Aquila is Latin for eagle.

10. Centaurus, Crux, Corvus, Virgo


Part 2

Ursa Major: Can be found at RA 11 hours, declination 50 degrees. Best seen in April at 9pm. It consists of 16 named starts and 7 Messier Objects (ones outside the Milky Way).

Ursa Major is interesting as it contains a sub constellation (technically an ‘asterism’) which is usually referred to as the Big Dipper, one of the more easily distinguished ‘star shapes’ in the night sky. The two stars that form the far end of the ladle of the dipper are the indicator starts that point the way to Polaris, the North Star, which is of particular consequence to navigators.

The Big Dipper, which was the first group of stars identified by people in the northern hemisphere. There are a number of other ‘firsts’ associated with this constellation: the star Mizar was the first double star to be identified using a telescope (1662), the first star to be actually photographed (1857) and the first star to be identified as a spectroscopic binary (1889). Also, the star Xi UMa was the first binary star to have its orbit defined by calculation (1828).
Most cultures have a mythological explanation for the existence of this constellation.
The Greek version concerns Jupiter, who, on catching sight of one of Diana’s huntresses, Callisto, desired her and, to cut a long story short, raped her. She eventually bore him a son, Arcas… Jupiter’s wife, Juno, got really jealous and turned Callisto into a bear. Arcas was out hunting and found the bear. Not knowing it was his mother, he was about to kill it, but Jupiter stopped him. He turned Arcas into a lesser bear and set them both into the heavens – Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.

The Irish called Ursa Major King David’s Chariot, in France it was just called ‘The Chariot’, Native Americans called both bear constellations by bear names (before European intervention) - Okuri and Paukunawa. In England, Ursa Major was originally called King Arthur’s Chariot.

http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/asp/constellation.faq.html#who
http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/phoenix.html
http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/orion.html
http://www.heavens-above.com/myth.asp?con=Lup
http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations.html
http://www.wsanford.com/~wsanford/exo/may_com_prn.html
http://www.comfychair.org/~cmbell/myth/ursa_major.html

Ursa Major

1. Where did the idea of constellations come from? From where did they originate? (5)

The idea was said to originate from farmers who had a problem telling the difference between the seasons in order to plant their crops

2. When is the constellation Ursa Minor best seen in the night sky? (1)

It is best seen within the northern hemisphere in June around 9.00pm

3. Name four stars that lie within the constellation of Draco (4)

Thuban (dragons tail), Rastaban (head), Eltanin (head),

4. What is another name for the constellation of Ursa Major? (1)

The big dipper

5. The Phoenix constellation was named by who? (2)

Johann Bayer

6. Describe the myth of the Orion constellation (4)

Orion was know to ancient Greeks as the warrior. He was th son of Poseidon, the god of the seas. Gaea, Goddess of Earth sent a giant scorpian to kill Orion in case he over took the world.

7. What is the translation of the constellation; Lupus? (1)

The latin Lupus means Wolf when translated to English

8. The constellation was originally part of another constellation. Which was it? (2)

Centaurus constellation

9. Aquila was named after what? (1)

An Eagle

10. Name 4 constellations which are best seen in May (4)

Virgo, Centaurus, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices

Part 2

Choose one constellation and describe its history in as much detail as you can. Try to cover where and how it originated, any myths which surround it and its position within the sky. Add anything else you consider of importance, remember, the more detail, the more possible housepoints you may receive.

[b]Draco
Draco is a constellation visible all night from northern latitudes. The constellation winds around the little dipper. Its' stars are not very bright, containing only three stars above magnitude 3.0. At one time Draco was quite a bit larger when the ancient Mesopotamians gave the dragon large wings which wound around Ursa Major. The Greek philosopher Thales lopped off the wings in the sixth century BC.
During the time that Draco's star Thuban was the pole star, it would have appeared to ancient sky watchers that the Earth revolved around Draco. Dragons and other similar creatures often played a role in creation myths. In these stories the gods would often battle such creatures for control of the Earth. When defeated, the dragons were flung up into the skies.

bonus

Bonus: Post a picture of the constellation discussed in part 2



sources:

http://www.wheelchair-user.info/constellations.html
http://www.seasky.org/pictures/sky7b06.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draco_(constellation)
[url]http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/ constellations/Phoenix.html [/url]
http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium/myth/orion.html
My own knowledge as well!!

1. Constellations are ways of pin-pointing stars in the sky that farmers, sea-farers, poets and astronomers have come up with over the past thousands of years. Constellations are simply mnemonics for different positions of stars. Farmers used them to tell which season it was.

2. In June at 9.00 pm.

3. Rastaban, Arrakis, Kuma, Alsafi.

4. Ursa Major – The great bear – The Big Dipper

5. Johann Bayer named “Phoenix”

6. According to mythology, Orion, the hunter, was once in love with Merope (Wow!) but she wanted nothing to do with him. He died when he stepped on a scorpion but all the mythological gods pitied him so they made him a constellation with Scorpio on the other side of the sky so it couldn’t hurt Orion again.

7. Translation: The wolf.

8. Lupus Major?

9. Aquila is named after Zeus’ eagle.

10. Virgo, Crux, Musca, Corvus

Part 2.

I choose Pegasus.

Pegasus, in Greek Mythology, was a winged horse whose parents were Poseidon and Medusa.

When Medusa’s head was cut off, a horse jumped out of her body and went on to cause a well to appear on a mountain – Helicon.

While Pegasus was drinking from the well, he was captured by a Corinthian with a golden bridle – a present from Athena. The gods gave Pegasus to the hero who killed the Chimera (Wow again!) but the hero was thrown off his back when he tried to mount Pegasus.

Pegasus flew into the sky where he became a constellation.

In some stories, Pegasus was Hercules’ first birthday present and firm companion – like in the Cartoon on Disney Channel!

Sources: http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/constellations.html

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/pegasus.html

Picture Bonus from google search: