Читать книгу Simple Stargazing - Anton Vamplew - Страница 8

A word worth defining before we launch ourselves into space is constellation. It’s based on a word from Latin meaning ‘group of stars’. In total you’ll find 88 of them filling the entire sky, but thankfully you don’t need to know them all to enjoy the hours of darkness. Other starry terms that crop up throughout the book are written in bold and explained in the AstroGlossary in here.

The story of organising things up there in the darkness of the night began thousands of years ago with civilisations such as the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans (as well as many other cultures from around the world). They decided the starry skies could do with a bit of order and a tidy up. So they joined up many of the stars, just like a dot-to-dot picture, putting their myths and legends into the sky as they did so.

Don’t think that there was any rhyme or reason for making a particular pattern. For example, Cepheus, King of Ethiopia, and his wife, Queen Cassiopeia, both have constellations named after them, and yet these look like a house and a set of stairs respectively. Imagination is the key here, I feel. As far as these early civilisations were concerned, the gods and goddesses needed a place to reside in the starry vault, so it was probably a case of first come, first served, and pot luck as to which stars were assigned to which group.

We get our earliest knowledge of the constellations from Aratos, the first Greek astronomical poet, in his work Phaenomena (which was probably based on an earlier ‘lost’ work by another Greek, Eudoxus). Then in AD 150 Ptolemy, a Greek working at the great library of Alexandria in Egypt, recorded them in a book known by its Arabic name, Almagest, which means ‘the greatest’. Hundreds of years ago, other astronomers who wanted to be famous added extra groups (some more successfully than others) to give us our present fixed total of 88 constellations.

Constellation names are traditionally written in Latin. This is because Ptolemy’s book was brought from the Middle East to Italy, where it was translated – and Latin, for centuries, was the language of scholars. So, for example, we know the Great Bear as Ursa Major.

Here are all the 88 constellations of the starry skies. Details of those with interesting things to see are given in Parts 2 and 3.

Latin Name	English Name	Abbreviation	Order of Size(1 is the largest)
Andromeda	Andromeda	And	9
Antlia	Pump	Ant	62
Apus	Bee	Aps	67
Aquarius	Water Bearer	Aqr	10
Aquila	Eagle	Aql	22
Ara	Altar	Ara	63
Aries	Ram	Ari	39
Auriga	Charioteer	Aur	21
Boötes	Herdsman	Boo	13
Caelum	Sculptor’s Tool	Cae	81
Camelopardalis	Giraffe	Cam	18
Cancer	Crab	Cnc	31
Canes Venatici	Hunting Dogs	CVn	38
Canis Major	Great Dog	CMa	43
Canis Minor	Little Dog	CMi	71
Capricornus	Sea Goat	Cap	40
Carina	Keel	Car	34
Cassiopeia	Queen	Cas	25
Centaurus	Centaur	Cen	9
Cepheus	King	Cep	27
Cetus	Whale	Cet	4
Chameleon	Chameleon	Cha	79
Circinus	Drawing Compass	Cir	85
Columba	Dove	Col	54
Coma Berenices	Berenice’s Hair	Com	42
Corona Australis	Southern Crown	CrA	80
Corona Borealis	Northern Crown	CrB	73
Corvus	Crow	CrV	70
Crater	Cup	Crt	53
Crux	Cross	Cru	88
Cygnus	Swan	Cyg	16
Delphinus	Dolphin	Del	69
Dorado	Goldfish	Dor	72
Draco	Dragon	Dra	8
Equuleus	Little Horse	Equ	87
Eridanus	River	Eri	6
Fornax	Furnace	For	41
Gemini	Twins	Gem	30
Grus	Crane	Gru	45
Hercules	Hercules	Her	5
Horologium	Clock	Hor	58
Hydra	Water Snake	Hya	1
Hydrus	Little Snake	Hyi	61
Indus	Indian	Ind	49
Lacerta	Lizard	Lac	68
Leo	Lion	Leo	12
Leo Minor	Little Lion	Lmi	64
Lepus	Hare	Lep	51
Libra	Scales	Lib	29
Lupus	Wolf	Lup	46
Lynx	Lynx	Lyn	28
Lyra	Harp	Lyr	52
Mensa	Table	Men	75
Microscopium	Microscope	Mic	66
Monoceros	Unicorn	Mon	35
Musca	Fly	Mus	77
Norma	Level	Nor	74
Octans	Octant	Oct	50
Ophiuchus	Serpent Bearer	Oph	11
Orion	Hunter	Ori	26
Pavo	Peacock	Pav	44
Pegasus	Flying Horse	Peg	7
Perseus	Perseus	Per	24
Phoenix	Phoenix	Phe	37
Pictor	Painter	Pic	59
Pisces	Fish	Psc	14
Piscis Austrinus	Southern Fish	PsA	60
Puppis	Stern	Pup	20
Pyxis	Compass	Pyx	65
Reticulum	Net	Ret	82
Sagitta	Arrow	Sge	86
Sagittarius	Archer	Sgr	15
Scorpius	Scorpion	Sco	33
Sculptor	Sculptor	Scl	36
Scutum	Shield	Sct	84
Serpens	Serpent	Ser	23
Sextans	Sextant	Sex	47
Taurus	Bull	Tau	17
Telescopium	Telescope	Tel	57
Triangulum	Triangle	Tri	78
Triangulum Australe	Southern Triangle	TrA	83
Tucana	Toucan	Tuc	48
Ursa Major	Great Bear	UMa	3
Ursa Minor	Little Bear	UMi	56
Vela	Sails	Vel	32
Virgo	Maiden	Vir	2
Volans	Flying Fish	Vol	76
Vulpecula	Fox	Vul	55