Constellation family
Designated common star constellations / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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This article is about western constellations. For East Asian and Chinese constellation groupings, see Chinese constellations.
Constellation families are collections of constellations sharing some defining characteristic, such as proximity on the celestial sphere, common historical origin, or common mythological theme. In the Western tradition, most of the northern constellations stem from Ptolemy's list in the Almagest (which in turn has roots that go back to Mesopotamian astronomy), and most of the far southern constellations were introduced by sailors and astronomers who traveled to the south in the 16th to 18th centuries. Separate traditions arose in India and China.
The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. (July 2012) |