Famous Constellations

AQUILA

• Latin for ‘eagle’
• best viewed in late summer, September
• lies in the Milky Way band
• its most prominent star is Altair, which is one of the closest naked eye stars to the Earth

AQUARIUS

• Latin for ‘water carrier’
• best viewed in October
• one of the biggest, most famous and oldest named constellations

CANIS MAJOR

• Latin for ‘greater dog’
• best viewed in February
• contains the brightest star in the sky – Sirius

ARIES

• Latin for ‘ram’
• best viewed in December
• formed by just 4 (sometimes 5) stars
• Hamal is the largest and most visible star and is classified as an orange giant

CASSIOPEIA

• the name of a queen in Greek mythology
• best viewed in November
• one of the most easily recognised constellations

GEMINI

• Latin for ‘twins’
• best viewed in February
• Castor and Pollux (the twins names) are also the names of the two brightest stars in the constellation
• the twins sit next to Orion, making them fairly easy to find in winter

CYGNUS

• also known as the Northern Cross
• Latinized Greek for ‘swan’
• best viewed in September
• Deneb (the swan’s tail) is one of the brightest stars in the night sky
• can be found within the Milky Way

LEO

• Latin for ‘lion’
• best viewed in April
• it’s the easiest constellation in the zodiac to find
• Regulus is its brightest star

LYRA

• Latin for ‘lyre’
• best viewed in August
• its brightest star is Vega, which is also one of the brightest stars in the night sky

ORION

• named after the mythological Greek hunter
• best viewed in January
• one of the largest and most recognizable constellations
• one of the most famous constellations → mentioned by Homer, Virgil or the Bible
• the brightest stars are Rigel and Betelgeuse

PISCES

• Latin for ‘fish’ (plural)
• best viewed in November
• none of its individual stars is particularly bright

SCORPIUS

• Latin for ‘scorpion’
• best viewed in July
• fairly easy to find due to many bright stars
• Antares, its brightest star, is said to be the heart of the scorpion → it’s the easiest star to find but sometimes confused with Mars because of its red-orange colouring

URSA MAJOR

• Latin for ‘larger bear’
• best viewed in April
• the Big Dipper is an asterism within the constellation

TAURUS

• Latin for ‘bull’
• best viewed in January
• it’s fairly easy to find as its most recognizable asterism forms a very prominent ‘V’
• the brightest star is Aldebaran, which forms the bull’s right eye

URSA MINOR

• Latin for ‘smaller bear’
• best viewed in June
• it contains Polaris, the North Star
• better known as the Little Dipper