Basically, a constellation comprises several visible stars, which humans visualize as a meaningful pattern or shape.

The ever-innovative human mind has always found something exciting in nature. The glittering objects make the night sky more attractive. Some set of stars often makes patterns of animals, men, women, or any objects. These patterns helped ancient people in finding the right direction, agricultural timings, understand the weather, and many more. So, they were used as a compass to predict many necessary things. In this article, we will let you know some exciting facts about the constellation.

The number of constellations and star maps:

Since 1922, the entire sky was divided into 88 separate constellations, which comprise 48 ancient constellations recorded by the famous Greek astronomer Ptolemy along with 40 newly described constellations. These constellations ultimately form the star maps, comprising the brightest stars along with their patterns.

Who used the constellation system first?

You might be thinking that scientists discovered these constellation systems and eventually generated the broad field of astronomy or astrophysics. Can you guess who first used it? The answer is farmers. The farmers observed that changes in the position of some stars led to weather and climate change. They noted those things for years and started agriculture based on these constellations and their positions. Eventually, they cracked the right time to harvest.

For how many years, have people known about these constellations?

This is a long-standing question. According to some recent historical findings, people knew about constellations since 4000 BC, indicating that Mesopotamian people were well aware of these systems. Even constellations are mentioned in Odyssey.

Who named those constellations:

The history of mankind is incomplete without the contribution of the Greek people. They also named these constellations after their famous mythological characters and legends.

How does constellation help in navigation?

Way before the use of fancy navigational equipment, bright stars were used to understand the direction and locations. Polaris or The North Star along with Ursa Minor or Little Dipper constellation were frequently used to locate the latitude. How high the Polaris was located in the sky gave an idea about the north and south directions.

The biggest and smallest constellation systems:

Area-wise, Hydra is regarded as the largest constellation comprising around 3.16% of the night sky. On the flipside, Crux named constellation comprises only 0.17% of the night sky, making it the smallest known constellation. Based on the number, Centaurus is congested with the highest number of stars (101).

So, from now, when you look at the night sky, invest some time to observe those constellations. It may sound like a memory tactic, but observing and finding constellations are truly fascinating experiences.