Amanda


 * __Constellation:__**

Stars are big balls of gas that burn for billions of years. Stars make up pictures in the sky. These pictures are call [|constellation]. There are over 88 constellations. The way the Earth rotates, some of the constellations are never visible, but if you travel up more (or down) you see different constellations.

These constellations above us are each individually named from a story or a myth that happened in Greek times a long time ago. Some constellations are hard to pick out, but if you look hard enough you can see them. If you lived in the north, you would see half of the constellation, and if you lived in the south you would see the other half. Most common constellations for us would be the big and little dippers. Also common is Orion’s belt. They are strategies to finding each and every constellation. You would probably look for the north star, find the big and little dipper; and from looking north, south, east and west finding more.

[|Parallax] is the way they determine how far away a star is. The astronomers look at the stars at two different locations, and ‘draws’ lines connecting to figure out the answer. But the closes star is about 4.3 light years away.



I personally love constellations; when you’re lying down watching that stars. See all the beautiful pictures made out of stars. Constellations are a great part of our earth and our solar system. They tell stories and myths about our past. And will keep telling stories, until they die out. But for now they are beautiful.