Transcript Constellations - Jolie McLaine`s Senior Project

Constellations
Jolie McLaine
Constellations
• A constellation is a group of stars
or an area of the sky that is
associated with a name
• Located near each other to form
a pattern
• We know that stars are hot balls
of hydrogen and helium, with
nuclear fusion at their core
• 88 constellations that cover
the sky
• 12 out of the 88 are zodiacs
• Since there are so many stars
in the sky the bright ones are
the ones usually found in
constellations.
• The brightest stars usually
have Greek letters. A is the
brightest.
• Every star is in one, only one,
constellation.
Naming
• Most constellation
names came from old
Greek Myths.
• The names most often
came from a hero or a
god/godess but they
also came from
enemies/evil.
• Modern day names are
usually just numbers
and letters.
• Some scientists are
renaming the stars that
way it is easier to keep
track of which star is
which.
Myths
• Definition: a traditional or
legendary story, usually
concerning some being or
hero or event
Medusa
• Myths are "stories about divine
beings, generally arranged in a
coherent system; they are
revered as true and sacred; and
closely linked to religion. Once
this link is broken, and the actors
in the story are not regarded as
gods but as human heroes, giants
or fairies, it is no longer a myth
but a folktale. Where the central
actor is divine but the story is
trivial ... the result is religious
legend, not myth."
Myths continued
• The most commonly known
constellations are the
zodiacs: Cancer, Aquarius,
Gemini, Sagittarius, Taurus,
Virgo, Pisces, Libra, Leo,
Capricorn, Aries, and
Scorpio
• Not only
people/gods/goddesses are
in the sky, there are also
creatures.
• According to the Greek, the
only reason there are
constellations is to remind
the viewers of what that
constellation did in their
lifetime.
Orion
Father Hyrieus
Orion was the son of a poor
shepherd called Hyrieus. Once, Zeus,
Hermes, and Poseidon stopped by
Hyrieus'house. Hyrieus was so
generous with his guests that he
killed the only animal he had-an ox.
Hyrieus was not aware that his guests
were gods. The gods wanted to
reward Hyrieus‘ generosity by
granting him a wish. Hyrieus' biggest
desire was to have a child. The gods
told him to bury the hide of the bull
he had sacrificed to them and to pee
on it. After nine months, a boy was
born in that place. The child became
a very handsome and strong man.
Father Neptune the sea-god
Mother Queen Euryale a great huntress
Orion inherited her talent, and
became the greatest hunter in the
world. Unfortunately for him, with his
immense strength came an immense
ego, and he boasted that he could
best any animal on earth. In response
to his vanity, a single small scorpion
stung him and killed him.
Cassiopeia
According to a Greek legend, the sea
god placed the figure of Cassiopeia
among the stars. It is said that
Cassiopeia has a ridiculous upsidedown position to punish her for
having been pretentious. Cassiopeia
was very proud of her beauty. She
claimed that she and her daughter
Andromeda were more beautiful
than the sea-nymphs. The nymphs
complained to the sea god, who
threatened to send a sea monster
and flood to destroy Cassiopeia's
land. In despair, the king consulted an
oracle to prevent the destruction of
his reign. The oracle predicted that
only the sacrifice of Andromeda to
the monster could appease the wrath
of the sea god. The king chained
Andromeda to a sea cliff. Fortunately,
at this same moment, Perseus, was
traveling along the coast. Perseus
noticed the beautiful woman and fell
in love with her. Learning of
Andromeda's story, he offered to
rescue her if her parents agreed to
let him marry their daughter. With
the help of some magical sandals that
allowed Perseus to fly, and a magical
sword given to him by the god
Hermes, Perseus killed the monster
and married Andromeda.
Hercules
The goddess Hera, determined to
make trouble for Hercules, she made
him lose his mind. In a confused and
angry state, he killed his own wife
and children. When he awakened
from his "temporary insanity,"
Hercules was shocked and upset by
what he'd done. He prayed to the
god Apollo for guidance, and the
god's oracle told him he would have
to serve Eurystheus, the king of
Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years,
in punishment for the murders. As
part of his sentence, Hercules had to
perform twelve Labors, feats so
difficult that they seemed impossible.
1. Kill the Nemean lion and bring back
its skin
2. Destroy the Lernean hydra
3. Capture alive the Erymanthian boar
4. Capture alive the Ceryneian stag
5. Kill the Stymphalian birds
6. Clean the Augean stables
7. Bring the Cretan bull alive into
Peloponnesus
8. Obtain the horses of Diomedes
9. Steal the girdle of Hippolyta
10. Herd the cattle of Geryon
11. Obtain the apples of Hesperides.
12. Capture Cerberus
Pegasus
Pegasus was a winged horse that
came out of Medusa when she was
be-headed. The Gorgon Medusa was
once a beautiful Lybian princess but
she was turned into a monster with
hair of serpents and anyone who
looked at her face was turned to
stone. After his birth, Pegasus lived
on the Mount Helicon. One day, an
ancient Greek hero believed that he
could fly with Pegasus to Olympus,
where the gods lived. To prevent him
from doing that, Zeus sent a horsefly
to bite Pegasus. The hero lost control
of his horse and fell back to Earth.
Pegasus continued to fly alone and
reached Olympus, where Zeus
received him . Since then, he
transports thunderbolts for Zeus,
who placed his figure in the night sky
in the constellation of the winged
horse.
History
• Thousands of years ago
when people looked up at
the sky they saw little
pinpoints of lights
• They noticed that they
seemed to rotate around
the Earth
• Scientist also noticed the
movement of the other
plants, moon, and sun
across the sky in a different
way than the stars
• Can live millions even
billions of years
Quadrant
More History
• Constellations where once
just curved lines
• Lines outlined the picture
that the constellation
represented
• In 1928 scientists changed
the curved lines to straight
ones so that each
constellation had lines that
ran north to south and east
to west
• The zodiacs can only be
seen from the Northern and
Southern hemispheres
• Within the zodiac
constellation Sagittarius lies
the center of the Milky Way
Facts
• 1584 Giordana Bruno
suggested that the stars
were just like our sun, just a
lot farther away
• Astronomers started
measuring luminosity and
motion of nearby stars
• First measurement was
made by Friedrich Bessell in
1838 using a technique
called parallax
• 20th century astronomers
finally started using
photography to take
pictures of the stars
• Techniques were developed
to measure the spectra of
light coming off of them
• Advances in physics helped
explain the different colors
of stars and how this
matched their luminosity
and temperature
More Facts
• We know that the Milky
Way contains 200 to 400
billon stars
• Could be as many as 500
billion galaxies with just
as many stars
• Individual stars are most
often seen in our galaxy
but they have been
images as far as 100
million light-years away
Location
• As time goes by the the
constellations seem to
move
Ex. Orion is only visible
part of the year
• Some of the constellations
we won’t be able to see due
to their location
Ex. Constellation Crux is
not visible above the 30
degrees latitude
• Viewing constellations
of April
Video
Orion Nebula
Importance
• Played a part in
some religious
ceremonies
• Navigate over land
and sea
• Used to track the
movement of the
sun and planets
• The motions of the
stars over the course
of a full year helped
build the first
accurate calendars,
to know when to
plant fields and
when to harvest