Constellations

This passage is about how different people viewed and named the constellations.

Lexile Level: 380L

Categories: History Science & Technology

When you look up at the night sky, what do you see? There are millions of stars. For ages, people have seen patterns in them. These are called constellations. The patterns suggest the shapes of things. People give them names. Many constellations we know are named for Greek myths. Orion, the hunter, is familiar. He is a large rectangle in the sky. A trio of stars in his middle looks like a belt. Aries, the god of war, is nearby. The winged horse, Pegasus, is also in the sky. Chinese constellations are different. They are ancient. They are also much larger. An entire section of the sky is named. They saw tigers, dragons, birds, and turtles. Aries is the tiger's stomach. The tiger's legs and head are other entire constellations. Stories go with each constellation. A dim area of the sky is also named. It is the Purple Forbidden Enclosure.