88 Officially Recognized Constellations. Latin Name English Name or Description; Andromeda: Princess of ...

Constellations have imaginary boundaries formed by "connecting the dots" and all the stars within those boundaries are labeled with the name of that constellation. However, keep in mind that constellations are not real objects; they are just patterns …

Pythagoras reasoned that if the Moon was round, then the Earth must be round as well. After that, sometime between 500 B.C. and 430 B.C., a fellow called Anaxagoras determined the true cause of solar and lunar eclipses - and then the shape of the Earth's shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse was also used as evidence that the Earth was round.

But in the year 3000 B.C., the North Star was a star called Thuban (also known as Alpha Draconis), and in about 13,000 years from now the precession of the rotation axis will mean that the bright star Vega will be the North Star. Don't feel bad for Polaris, however, because in 26,000 more years it will once again be the Pole Star!

"You have spoken well," said Indra. "Come in, and bring your dog with you." So Yudistira and Svana ascended into paradise. In recognition of their devotion to one another, Indra set in the sky the constellation of the Great Dog whose star Sirius is the brightest of them all.

That means it is shaped like an egg. The Sun is in the center of the solar system. Our solar system is always in motion. Eight known planets and their moons, along with comets, asteroids, and other space objects orbit the Sun. The Sun is the biggest object in our solar system. It contains more than 99% of the solar system's mass.

StarChild Question of the Month for June 2002 Question: What does it mean for Mercury to be in retrograde? Answer:

He was among the first to determine that life could have existed on Mars. In 1968, Dr. Sagan became a professor at Cornell University where he was also director of the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He was well-known as a pioneer in the field of exobiology, the study of the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

Astronomers derive distances to the nearest stars (closer than about 100 light-years) by a method called stellar parallax. This method that relies on no assumptions other than the geometry of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. You are probably familiar with …

2. Read several short examples of myths explaining constellations. There are several short myths on-line in the Universe activity section of StarChild. For a longer, more in-depth introduction, read a book such as Quillworker: A Cheyenne Legend by Terri Cohlene. 3. Show picture examples of constellations. Materials: • 8.5 by 11 white paper