CONSTELLATIONS!!

Hi guys! Today me and my mom found some fun facts about our new adventure, constellations! A constellation is where a patch of stars are connected by imaginary lines that create a picture which can have links to a story, or they will have a meaning connected to creation theory. The meaningful patterns are representing animals, mythological people or gods. Our Western theory on Constellations began with the Greeks. They created constellation stories because they believed that constellations were their gods way of telling them stories. This is called the ZODIAC. The zodiac dates back into prehistory around 400BCE with the Babylonians.
We are in the Northern Hemisphere, and above me and mom's shared deck there is a constellation called the "BIG DIPPER". It's where there is a hot tub, so at night I go out there and check out the skies.

Photo by Adrian Pelletier / Unsplash

THE BIG DIPPER CONSTELLATION
Here is a couple of jaw dropping facts about the big dipper constellation, otherwise maybe known everywhere as Ursa Major. Sometimes called "The Bear", or "The Plough", depending on where you live. That's a big surprise! The big dipper is comprised of the seven stars: ALKAID, MIZAR, ALIOTH, MEGREZ, PHECDA, DUBHE AND MERAK. Also, in 50,000 years the big dipper will change and face the opposite way. Dudes and Dudettes! I won't be around to see that!

Well, that was a big surprise to me and my mom that the big dipper is called so many things depending on your location and your culture, and that the orientation can change. Our lifetimes are too small to see the movements I guess. My mom said, "You learn something everyday no matter how old you get".

SHIPS ARE SAILED & I LOVE MOANA
One of my fave movies is MOANA. In that movie there's a clip where Maui has to teach Moana to sail (at her persistence!!). Moana puts her hand up to the stars to eyeball the distance between them. Maui mocks her, and this is why.
According to a Navigation website for Public Schools,
"Celestial navigation requires the sailor to use an instrument, like a sextant, to find the angle between a star/planet and the horizon. The angle will tell the sailor his latitude. The first compass was used in China about a thousand years ago, and in Europe about 300 years later."
This has nothing to do with the zodiac, but it's interesting how reliable the star formations are. The stars are how ships were sailed for 1000s of years before GPS ever happened. Every new world was explored relying on the stars. Even Hawaii by the Tahitians and Polynesians. The stars don't need batteries! They are just great balls of fire leading the way, and we can trust that they are there everyday.

Photo by Kyle Gregory Devaras / Unsplash

ORION
On my mom's back deck when I want to see the moon pass by, there is a different constellation...and the same as The Big Dipper, always there on a clear night. This one is Orion, or THE HUNTER in Greek Mythology where Zeus placed a great huntsman in the stars. A fun fact here is Orion is visible all over the world, and due to it's brightness it is very easy to spot! Two of the brightest stars in the night sky make up Orion's outline, called BETELGEUSE and RIGEL. These two hot stars burn hot like the sun, and Betelgeuse is the red hot one at 300 times the diameter of the sun, 20 times as massive, and burns 10,000 more energy....literally billions of degrees What! That's a hot ball of gas! Thankfully, Orion is a LOT farther then our Sun in the wide wide galaxy of stars. Many many more light years away.

CANIS MAJOR

Following quick behind Orion the Huntsman is his reliable Hunting dog, Canis Major, the greater dog. This constellation really does look like a dog! This constellation has the brightest star in the night sky...Sirius, also known as the dog star. I plan on looking for that one tonight...I haven't spotted it yet! There may just be too many big trees in my back yard!

-My mom traveled to Thailand, she would go to the fire dancing at night on the beach, and when she was there she was in the Southern Hemisphere, and she said looking up at the sky was completely different to her...made her miss home. I wasn't born yet, I'll just have to believe in that story! Well, we hope you enjoyed reading about some awesome stars in the galaxy, and as always LIVE, LOVE, LEARN LIFE!!!!:)