A constellation is a grouping of stars that appears to form a pattern or picture.

™Constellation is an
ancient word that comes from the Latin language. ™“Con” means “with” and “stella” means “star.” So a
constellation is a picture made "with stars.” ™There are 88 “official” constellations. Each constellation is
a collection of stars that are distributed three-dimensionally in space. ™Most of the constellations were
named before recorded history. People of different cultures identified groupings of stars in the sky with
gods, goddesses, animals, and objects of their stories. ™There are billions of stars, and only a fraction of
them make up the shapes of our constellations — these are the stars that are easily seen with the
unaided eye. ™Constellations are used to define pieces of the celestial sphere. ™All stars within a
constellation boundary, whether part of the actual constellation or not, are assigned to that
constellation. ™All the stars you see belong to one special group of stars — the stars in the Milky Way
galaxy and fall within the boundaries of one of the 88 constellation regions. ™Our closest star is Proxima
Centauri, 4.2 light years away, located in the constellation of Centaurus, the Centaur. ™The Big Dipper is
not a constellation! It is part of Ursa Major, the Big Bear. ™The Big Dipper is an asterism, a recognized,
but not official, grouping of stars. ™Some asterisms fall within a single constellation, others cross
constellations.

A constellation is essentially a specific area of the celestial sphere, though the term is
more often associated with a chance grouping of stars in the night sky. Technically, star
groupings are known as asterisms, and the practice of locating and assigning names to
them is known as asterism. This practice goes back thousands of years, possibly even
to the Upper Paleolithic. In fact, archaeological studies have identified markings in the
famous cave paintings at Lascaux in southern France (ca. 17,300 years old) that could
be depictions of the Pleiades cluster and Orion’s Belt.

There are currently 88 officially recognized constellations in total, which together cover
the entire sky. Hence, any given point in a celestial coordinate system can
unambiguously be assigned to a constellation. It is also a common practice in modern
astronomy, when locating objects in the sky, to indicate which constellation their
coordinates place them in proximity to, thus conveying a rough idea of where they can
be found.

The word constellation has its roots in the Late Latin term constellatio, which can be
translated as “set of stars”. A more functional definition would be a recognizable pattern
of stars whose appearance is associated with mythical characters, creatures, or certain
characteristics. It’s also important to note that colloquial usage of the word
“constellation” does not generally differentiate between an asterism and the area
surrounding one.