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3.Patterns of Stars 2

3 People have always looked at and wondered about the stars Ancient people saw patterns in certain groups of stars

4 The patterns looked like people, animals, and objects

5 These groups of stars are called constellations Vocabulary constellations A group of stars that form a pattern

6 Throughout history people have used the position of these stars to guide them as they traveled on land and sea

7 You may already know some of the 88 constellations

8 Two stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, The North Star Have you ever seen the Big Dipper?

9 Wherever you are, when you look at Polaris, you are facing north

10 The Big Dipper is part of a large constellation called Ursa Major Ursa Major is a Latin name that means Great Bear (Flag of Alaska)

11 Polaris is part of Ursa Minor Or the Little Bear

12 Every constellation has a Latin name Many constellations are named after animals Latin NameAnimal Name Ursa MajorBig Bear Ursa MinorLittle Bear PiscesThe Fishes

13 Leo is a lion Taurus is a bull

14 Pisces represents two fish

15 At the North Pole you can see only the constellations in the northern part of the sky Vocabulary North Pole The northern most point on Earth

16 At the South Pole you can see only the constellations in the southern part of the sky Vocabulary South Pole The southern most point on Earth

17 At the equator you can see all the constellations Vocabulary: equator The imaginary line around the center of the Earth

18 Because Earth travels around the sun The constellations appear in different parts of the sky at different times of the year

19 Some constellations can be seen only during certain seasons Winter Constellations