Constellation

Prepared by: John Anthony E. Beron

 Hope | Protection | Good Luck | Guidance
Inspiration | Spirituality | Aspirations | Divinity
Wishes | Dreams

Were there any words you found that

resonate particularly with you at this
moment in your life?
 Hope | Protection | Good Luck | Guidance
Inspiration | Spirituality | Aspirations | Divinity
Wishes | Dreams

Sometimes the most challenging words to find

are the ones that feel most abstract. Did it make
you think differently about how you search for
these things in life?
 Hope | Protection | Good Luck | Guidance
Inspiration | Spirituality | Aspirations | Divinity
Wishes | Dreams

Many of the words we found today have to do

with intangible things we hope for or believe in.
Did finding these words together spark any new
connections between these ideas for you?
 Hope | Protection | Good Luck | Guidance
Inspiration | Spirituality | Aspirations | Divinity
Wishes | Dreams

Star
Lesson Objectives
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to…
➢ describe a constellation and its origin;
➢ identify some constellations observed in the northern and southern
hemisphere;
➢ describe the position of a constellation in the course of night;
➢ explain why some constellations are not seen at certain months;
➢ identify constellations that may be observed at different times of the year in
the Philippine sky; and,
➢ discuss whether or not popular beliefs and practice with regard to
constellations and astrology have scientific basis.
 Here are some key questions for
you to ponder
1. Are stars the same in terms of size, color, and
brightness?
2. What is a constellation?
3. Why do some constellations appear once in a
year?
4. How different beliefs regarding constellations
affect our lives?
Zodiac Signs
The zodiac signs are
twelve 30-degree sectors
that divide the celestial
sphere along the ecliptic,
which is the apparent path
of the Sun around the
Earth over the course of a
year. In astrology, these
signs are associated with
certain personality traits
and influences.
STARS are giant, luminous balls of hot plasma that are
held together by their own gravity.
➢ They are the fundamental building blocks of galaxies,
and are scattered throughout the universe in
staggering numbers.
➢ Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is estimated to contain
hundreds of billions of stars, and there are billions of
galaxies in the observable universe!
➢ Do you know that a person can see
approximately 3,000 stars on the average?
➢ These stars differ in brightness, size,
and color.
➢ The colors of stars are blue, oranges,
red, white, and yellow.
➢ Each color indicates its approximate
surface temperature as shown in the
table next slide.
Here are some key characteristics of stars:

Brightness: Stars come in a

wide range of brightnesses,
intrinsically (how much
light they actually emit)
and as they appear to us on
Earth (how bright they
look from here).
Apparent magnitude:
➢ This is how bright a star appears from
Earth.
➢ It's influenced by a star's luminosity (true
brightness) and its distance from us.
➢ A dimmer star that's closer can appear
brighter than a very luminous star that's far
away.
Absolute magnitude:
➢ This is a measure of a star's true
brightness, or how much light it emits, if it
were all placed at the same standard
distance (10 parsecs, or 32.6 light-years).
➢ This allows for a more accurate
comparison of a star's luminosity because it
removes the factor of distance.
Absolute magnitude:
Here are some key characteristics of stars:
Color: The color of a star is directly related
to its surface temperature.
➢ Hotter stars emit more blue light, while
cooler stars emit more red light.
➢ This relationship between color and
temperature is described by a concept
called stellar classification, which
astronomers use to categorize stars.
Here are some key characteristics of stars:
Color: The color of a star is directly related
to its surface temperature.
➢ The hottest stars are blue or white, while
cooler stars range in color from yellow or
orange to red.
➢ Our sun is a yellow dwarf star.
Here are some key characteristics of stars:
Surface Temperature: A star's surface
temperature is a result of the balance between
the gravitational pressure pushing inwards
and the outward pressure generated by
nuclear fusion in the star's core.
➢ Stars range in temperature from a few
thousand degrees Kelvin for very cool stars
like red dwarfs, up to tens of thousands of
degrees Kelvin for extremely hot stars like
blue giants.
Here are some key characteristics of stars:
Size: Stars come in a wide range of
sizes, from neutron stars that are only
about 20 kilometers (12 miles) in
diameter, to supergiants that can be
thousands of times larger than the sun.
➢ A star's size is determined by its
mass and stage in its life cycle.
Here are some key characteristics of stars:
Mass: A star's mass is the most
important factor that determines its
entire life cycle and evolution.
➢ The mass of a star is determined by
the amount of material that goes
into its formation.
➢ Stars range in mass from less than a
tenth of the mass of the sun to over
100 times the mass of the sun.
I. Constellations
➢ Group of stars that appear to
form a pattern in the sky.

➢ 88 recognized by
International Astronomy
Union
A. Zodiac
➢ Band of 12 constellations
along the ecliptic.
B. Ecliptic
➢ The plane of the Earth’s orbit around
the sun

➢ The apparent path that the sun (and

planets) appear to move along against
the star background.
Ecliptic
C. Circumpolar Constellations
➢ Can be seen all year long
➢ Never fully set below the horizon
➢ Appear to move counterclockwise
around Polaris
➢ Caused by Earth’s Rotation
Circumpolar Constellations
Star Trails
Examples of Circumpolar Constellations
➢ Ursa Major – The Big Bear
➢ Ursa Minor – The Little Bear
➢ Cassiopeia – Queen on Her Throne
➢ Draco- The Dragon
➢ Cepheus- The King
C. Circumpolar Constellations
➢ # of stars seen as circumpolar depends
on the observer's latitude
➢ Further North the observer lives, the
more stars will appear circumpolar
➢ Earth turns west to east
➢ Sky appears to turn east to west
D. Ursa Major
➢ Best known
constellation
➢ Common name is Big
Dipper
➢ Pointer stars- front 2
stars of the Big Dipper
which point to Polaris
(North Star)
II. Seasonal Changes in Constellations
➢ Big Dipper
▪ In Fall: Low over northern horizon
▪ Spring: High overhead
➢ Cassiopeia
▪ In Fall: Straight overhead
▪ Spring: Low over northern horizon
II. Seasonal Changes in Constellations
➢ Seasonal
Change &
Nightly
change of
the
Dippers
III. Summer Constellations
1st 3 bright stars that rise form the Summer
Triangle
➢ Vega- in Lyra the Harp
➢ Altair- in Aquilla the Eagle
➢ Deneb – in Cygnus the Swan (Northern
Cross)
IV. Most Famous Winter Constellation
Orion Contains:
➢ Betelgeuse (Bet el jooz) a
bright red super giant star
found forming Orion’s right
shoulder
➢ Rigel – a blue super giant:
7th brightest star in the
nighttime sky
IV. Most Famous Winter Constellation
3 Stars of Orion’s Belt
Can be used to find 2 other
constellations & a star cluster

1. Canis Major- (Big Dog) follow

the line made by the 3 stars of
Orion’s belt down to the left
–Sirius- the brightest star in the nighttime sky is
found in Canis Major
IV. Most Famous Winter Constellation
2. Taurus (the Bull) - Follow the line made by Orion’s
belt up & to the right.

–Aldebaran- Red star that is the eye of the bull is

the 13th brightest in the nighttime sky
IV. Most Famous Winter Constellation
3. Pleiades Star Cluster (7 sisters) - Follow the line
made by Orion’s belt up to the right, go through Taurus
to a clump of stars to the right.
Called Subaru in Japan – means “Unite”
 V. Kinds of Stars
A.Red Giant - large
red star at least 10x
diameter of the sun
• Old Stars
• Ex. Aldebaran
• The sun will
swell into a Red
Giant when it is
old
B. Super Giant
•Largest of all stars 100x
more luminous
•Explode as a Super Nova
•Can form Black Holes
•Ex. Betelgeuse, Rigel,
Polaris
C. Dwarf Stars
1. Less luminous
2. Very dense, mostly carbon
3. Tightly packed nuclei
4. Remains of a red giant that ran out of fuel
5. 1 cup full of star =20 tons or 5 elephants.
6. Most are red/orange/yellow
7. White dwarf is the exception to the color
8. Sun is a yellow dwarf
Size Comparison
of Various Stars
 VI. Variable Stars
➢Change in brightness over regular
periods of time

➢Ex. Cepheid Variables/Pulsating

Stars Binary Stars & Eclipsing Binary
Stars
A. Cepheid Variables/ Pulsating Stars
➢Change in brightness as
they expand & contract
➢Unequal balance
between gravity &
nuclear fusion
➢Ex. Polaris, Betelgeuse
B. Binary Star Systems
➢ Two stars of
unequal brightness
revolving around a
center point
➢ Ex. Algol & its
companion star in
Perseus
C. Eclipsing Binary Stars
➢ Two close stars that appear to be a single
star varying in brightness.
➢ The variation in brightness is due to one star
moving in front of or behind the other star.

Occurs because we
see the system on
edge instead of from
above or below
VII. Pulsars or Neutron stars
A. Discovered in 1967 (LGM)
B. A distant heavenly object that emits rapid
pulses of light & radio waves
C. Formed when a Super Giant collapses;
Protons & Electrons are forced so close
together that they fuse and form only
neutrons.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

"Twinkling Stars"
are due to Earth's
atmosphere
VIII. Life Cycle of a Medium Mass Star
1. Nebula
2. Protostar
3. New/Stable State Star
4. Red Giant
5. Planetary Nebula
6. White Dwarf
7. Black Dwarf
1. Nebulae (Plural of Nebula)
•Space gas seen as faint glowing clouds
•Mostly hydrogen
•Star dust is extremely small, smaller than a
particle of smoke & widely separated, with
more than 300 ft. between individual particles.
•Nebulae still hinder star gazing because they
absorb light which passes through them.
 Types of Nebulae
• Diffuse Nebula - gases glow from stars w/in them

Ex. Nebula
found in
Sagittarius
 Types of Nebulae

•Dark Nebula - nebula

not near a bright star

•Ex. Horse Head Nebula

in Orion
2. Protostar
•Shrinking gas balls, caused by a swirl of
gas forming dense areas.
•The gravity of the dense swirl in turn
attracts nearby gases so a ball forms.
•Nuclear fusion occurs & Helium is formed
from Hydrogen
•A new star is born in our galaxy every 18
days
3. Stable State Star
•Star that releases energy in enough
force to counter balance gravity
•Star stops contracting
•Also known as a main sequence star
•Ex. Sun
4. Planetary Nebula
•The outer layers of the Red Giant
puff out more and more.
•The star loses gravitational hold on
its outer layers and they get pushed
away by the pressure exerted from
solar winds
Planetary
Nebula
5. White Dwarf
•Fuel is used up
•No nuclear fusion
occurring
•Remaining heat
radiates into space
 IX. Life Cycle of a Massive Star

1. 1st three steps are similar

2. Super Giant
3. Super Nova
4. Neutron Star / Pulsar
5. Black Hole
1. Super Giant
•Rare stars, largest of all
•100x more luminous
•Only stars with a lot of mass can become
super giants
•Some are almost as large as our entire solar
system
•Ex. Betelgeuse & Rigel
2. Super Nova
•Explosion from a massive Super Giant
•Outer layer blasts away at end of Life
Cycle
•Emits light, heat, X-rays, & neutrinos

•Leaves behind a neutron

star or black hole
3. Neutron Star/ Pulsar
•The remains of a super nova
•Very small, super-dense star which is
composed mostly of tightly-packed neutrons
•Rapidly spinning leftovers of a star
•Emits energy in pulses
 4. Black Hole
• Occurs when a star’s remaining
mass is
greater than three times the mass
of the Sun
• Star contracts tremendously
• Incredibly dense with a gravitational
field so strong that even light cannot
escape.
Life Cycle of a Massive Star