Caption: Première place au concours d'astrophotographie 2021 de l'UAI OAE, catégorie Champs d'étoiles étendus. Cette image montre l'un des astérismes les plus proéminents et les plus connus de l'hémisphère nord - la Grande Ourse ou la Charrue. Cet astérisme fait partie de la constellation de la mythologie grecque - Ursa Major (la Grande Ourse). La Grande Ourse comprend sept (huit) étoiles qui s'étendent du centre vers la droite de l'image. Les quatre étoiles qui forment la "coupe" de la Grande Ourse ont la forme d'un trapèze juste au-dessus de l'arbre le plus haut, vers la droite de l'image. Ces étoiles sont Dubhe (en haut à droite), Merak (en bas à droite), Megrez (en haut à gauche) et Phecda (en bas à droite). Les trois (quatre) étoiles qui forment l'anse se trouvent à gauche du trapèze (de droite à gauche : Alioth, Mizar et Alkaid). En regardant de près Mizar, il est possible de voir une étoile plus petite en haut à gauche accolée à Mizar. Il s'agit d'Alcor, qui forme avec Mizar un système d'étoiles doubles visible à l'œil nu. Cependant, des mesures très minutieuses ont prouvé que Mizar est en fait un système quadruple et qu'Alcor est un système binaire. Bien que les noms des étoiles soient dérivés des noms arabes des étoiles, différentes cultures ont leurs propres noms pour les étoiles. Dans diverses cultures du monde, cet astérisme est associé à différents objets et, en outre, certaines cultures indigènes associent des histoires à des étoiles individuelles. Les constellations, en plus d'incarner les histoires et les mythes de diverses cultures, sont d'importants "outils" de navigation. Les étoiles Dubhe et Merak peuvent être utilisées pour trouver l'étoile polaire - Polaris (non visible sur cette image). Compte tenu de sa relation avec l'hémisphère nord et du fait qu'il s'agit d'une constellation circumpolaire (qui ne se couche jamais sous l'horizon), la Grande Ourse et Polaris figurent sur le drapeau de l'Alaska. Il est important de noter que, bien que les étoiles des constellations (à l'exception des systèmes stellaires multiples de Mizar et Alcor) semblent être "proches" les unes des autres, elles se trouvent en réalité à des distances différentes de la Terre et les unes des autres.
Credit: Alex Conu/IAU OAE

Caption: Honourable mention in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   This photograph, taken in Udupi, India, in May 2021, shows the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major. This asterism was seen as a Wagon by the Babylonians, which probably led to the alternative interpretation of the Chariot in the didactic poem of the Greek poet Aratus. The normal Greek interpretation is the constellation of the Great She-Bear, which also includes many fainter stars in a much broader area of the sky. In ancient Egypt, these seven stars form the figure of the Bull’s Foreleg or the Bull’s Thigh. It is considered a part of the leg of the god Seth, who was considered the evil one of two brothers; the god Osiris (who is sometimes considered the first king of Egypt) was murdered by his brother Seth. Their loving sister put together the scattered pieces of the corpse and reanimated him. In order to prevent Seth from further evil deeds, this leg was attached to a dowel in the sky. These seven bright stars were considered The Northern Dipper, containing the asterism of the Judges by the nobility in Ancient China. In French and in Dutch, it is called a Saucepan, in German a Chariot and in British English a Plough. The commonly known term “Big Dipper” is American English. They are considered the male figure who is the father of all stars and humans in the North American Navajo saga, where he is said to be the husband of a mother goddess seen in Cassiopeia. Similarly, it is designated the Man’s Cart in Norse mythology with the Woman’s Cart in Ursa Minor. In some other northern cultures, the group is interpreted as an Elk, for instance for the Inuits and Siberians, while the Sami see the Bow and Arrow of Favdna here. In contrast, not all cultures in the southern hemisphere named it because it is always either close to the horizon or invisible. For instance, the Brazilian Tucano people called it the Large Anus of the Snake and in Samoa it forms part of the Heirloom Warclub. The Hawaiian people also used the asterism for navigation and called it The Seven, while the Macedonian tradition interpreted it as Seven Thieves. In Italian star lore, it is either called The Seven Oxen (Rome) or The Seven Brothers (Sardinia). Similarly, the Mongolian traditions speak of Seven Buddahs while the Indians call it the Seven Sages.
Credit: Arya Anthony/IAU OAE

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   This image was taken from Nagano, Japan, in December 2018, and shows three prominent constellations: Aquila (towards the lower-left of the image), Cygnus (in the upper part of the image) and Lyra (bottom-right). The brightest stars within these constellations (Altair, Deneb and Vega) form the three vertices of the asterism known as the Summer Triangle. The star Altair is the brightest star towards the bottom-left of the image, Deneb is the brightest star towards the top-right of the image, and Vega is the brightest star towards the bottom-right of the image. In Asian cultures the stars Vega and Altair represent a love story between the weaver girl and the herdsman, who are separated by the faint band of the Milky Way, but in July are allowed to cross the heavenly river (the Milky Way) to be together. The Boorong people of Northeast Victoria, Australia, associate the reappearance of Vega — after its yearly disappearance from view — with the time when the Mallee fowls build nests. The Boorong also associate their indigenous constellation Neilloan with the goddess Mallee-hen (Vega), mother of Totyarguil (Altair), the hero who created the Murray River. In Wardaman traditions, the star Vega acts as a gateway to the Milky Way for spirits of the deceased. The star name Altair is abbreviated from the Arabic “Al-Nasr Al-Ta’ir” (meaning “The Flying Eagle”) proving that the constellation of the Eagle (Aquila) is one of the most stable ones in history. Originating from the Babylonian epoch (carrying a king towards the sky), it was taken over by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabs. The star name Deneb comes from the Arabic word “dhanab”, meaning “tail”, and refers to the Greek constellation of The Bird that is interpreted in the Roman tradition as a Swan (Cygnus), and as a Hen in the Arabic world. The third star name, Vega, comes from the Arabic “Al-Nasr Al-Waqi”, meaning “The Swooping Eagle'', because the indigenous (pre-Islamic) Arabic culture had a second eagle in the area of the Greek constellation Lyra. In the Early Modern Age, some Christian astronomers, inspired by the Arabic tradition, depicted this constellation as an eagle or vulture holding a lyre. The image also shows a range of other constellations, including Delphinus, Sagitta, and Vulpecula. According to Greek mythology, Sagitta, The Arrow, carried the god of light and the goddess of fertility. In winter they set in the evening but in spring they rise again in the east, and are present for longer and longer in order to make the land fruitful and agriculture successful.
Credit: Kouij Ohnishi/IAU OAO

Caption: Honourable mention in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   Taken in November 2019 from the Doi Inthanon National Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand, this image captures the notable northern constellation Cassiopeia, in the shape of the letter M. Although the official constellation name is the Latinised version of the name of queen “Kasseipeia” from Greek mythology, these five bright stars were considered a constellation in many cultures around the world and they are associated with diverse stories. In Thailand, for example, the constellation represents a Bat, while in Hawaiian culture it is called 'Iwa Keli'i, the chief frigate bird. For the Navajo in North America, the bright stars are the central part of the celestial mother (of all stars and humans) revolving around the celestial pole together with her husband, the celestial father (of all stars and humans) seen in the constellation of Ursa Major. For the Maya it was part of the huge constellation of the Hole-Backed Caiman, and for the Inuit a Lamp Stand and a Blubber Container. In ancient China, the bottom-left star was associated with the mythological general Wangliang who drove four horses, represented by the two bright and two fainter stars of the M’s next stroke (from upper-left to lower-middle). The remaining two bright stars and a couple of the other fainter ones are considered a Flying Corridor, a sort of highway, next to the Emperor’s Forbidden Palace that is located at the northern polar region. On the island of Tonga in the South Pacific, this asterism is considered the Wing of Tafahi and it is not clear if this refers to the shape of the island of Tafahi, or if it is based on an error and originally referred to a wing of the Polynesian hero Tafaki. The various colours of the stars indicate their temperatures, with redder stars being relatively cooler on their surface than blue and white stars.
Credit: Thanakrit Santikunaporn/IAU OAE

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns. This image composition is amazing. In the far background of the landscape we see a chain of mountains that seems to mirror the structure of the Milky Way in the sky above. The strong daylight-like colours of the landscape are caused by the Moon, the bright light at the top of the image. Taken in Kinabalu, Malaysia, in February 2019, this image shows the alignment of planets and the Moon, conveying the idea of the ecliptic as the central line of the Zodiac, the plane within which all planets orbit the Sun. The ecliptic is the central line of the Zodiac, so the region of about five to 10 degrees either side of the ecliptic is where the constellations of the Zodiac are located. Starting from the horizon towards the bottom left of the image we can see the planets Venus, Saturn and Jupiter. The planets have different cultural significance for people around the world, and are deeply embedded in social, religious and practical aspects of life. For example, Wardaman traditions of Indigenous Australians associate the planets with ancestor spirits who traverse the Celestial Road (ecliptic). The appearance and disappearance of planets in the sky are associated with various ceremonies. For example, when Venus starts being the “Morning star” after having been the “Evening star”, this marks the Banumbirr ceremony for the Yolnu people of Arnhem Land, in Australia. The image also shows the constellations Scorpius, Aquila, Lupus and Triangulum Australe, the asterism of the Teapot, and the two pointer stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. The constellations, asterisms and individual stars within them have significance in many different cultures. Malaysia, being close to the equator, has had connections to the north as well as to the south and almost the whole sky is visible over the course of the year. The star Antares is seen by the Kokatha people of the Western Desert as Kogolongo, the red tailed black cockatoo, while the Boorong refer to it as Djuit, the red-rumped parrot. The two stars which form the stinger of Scorpius (Shaula and Lesath), are called Karik Karik, the Australian Kestrel.
Credit: Likai Lin/IAU OAE

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   This image, which shows the majestic band of the Milky Way and a range of culturally significant patterns, was taken in May 2022 at a very high altitude from the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma, from which one can see the clouds below. Some prominent star patterns include Scorpius, Sagittarius, Lyra, Cygnus, Aquila, the Summer Triangle asterism, and the Teapot asterism. As the Canary Islands used to be a starting point for European sailors to explore the world, we use this place to point to the many indigenous cultures they encountered. Most notably it is the dark patterns within the band of the Milky Way that hold significance for many Indigenous cultures around the world. The dark patterns are in fact dense, cool clouds of gas and dust that block the light from stars. Indigenous people see caves, waterways and various patterns associated with the dark regions of the Milky Way. The constellations and patterns hold different cultural significance and interpretations for different people. For example, the constellation Scorpius is referred to by Polynesian people as the demigod Maui’s Fishhook. The Yolnu people of Arnhem Land associate Scorpius with a crocodile called Ingalpir. Some Indigenous Australian groups associate stories with individual stars within Scorpius, most notably Antares, the orange-red star in the top right of the image above the band of the Milky Way. Next to the Scorpion and above the bright centre of the Milky Way, there is a prominent dark cloud that is called the Pipe Nebula by modern astrophotographers. The smoke of this pipe goes up to rho Ophiuchi. This and all the other dark clouds in the Milky Way together form the backbone of heaven for some tribes, and an animal with black-and-white skin for South African Zulu people. The nomenclature of bright stars also has cross-cultural roots. For example, Vega (the bright blue star towards the top of the image) comes from the Arabic waqi, from al-nasr al-waqi, the Eagle who throws himself down (in order to hunt). This contrasts with the Flying Eagle, Altair, also derived from Arabic. Antares is a Greek word meaning “the one similar to Mars”, referring to its colour. The star name Shaula in the stinger of the Scorpion is a modern version of the Babylonian or even Sumerian star name.
Credit: Amirreza Kamkar/IAU OAE

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   This spectacular image shows a range of prominent constellations visible in the night sky over the desert of inner Mongolia, taken in August 2019. The yellowish star in the bottom left side is Arcturus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky, and the brightest in the constellation Boötes. The handle of the Big Dipper points towards this bright star and the Dipper is also visible above Boötes. The Northern Dipper (Bei Dou) is a traditional Chinese constellation. It is considered a chariot in which the Judges for Nobility are sitting. Arcturus is considered a single-star asterism, named the Horn, which forms part of the Chinese super-constellation for the spring, the Azure Dragon of the East. The front of the Northern Dipper points towards the star at the top of the photograph which is now called Polaris, the northern Pole Star. In ancient China, there was no bright star at the pole, so the stars in the nearest vicinity of the pole were considered to belong to the emperor and his family in the constellation the Purple Forbidden Palace. At least as early as mediaeval times, Polaris was considered part of the constellation of the Great Emperor of Heaven. Corona Borealis is also visible in the top right corner of this image, although not in its completeness. It is called the Coiled Thong in China. With its characteristic semi-circular shape, this is one of the smaller constellations of the 88 modern ones, but also can be traced back at least three or four millennia through the Roman “Crown”, the Greek wedding “Wreath”, and the Babylonian “Asterism of Dignity”. The modern name literally means “Northern Crown” in Latin. At the upper-right edge of the image, we find the part of the modern constellation Cassiopeia that is considered the Flying Corridor and an Auxiliary Road in ancient China. The W-shape of Cassiopeia is cut off by the edge of the photograph but the constellations to its south and southeast, Andromeda and Perseus, are clearly recognisable. Prominently we see the Andromeda galaxy, the most distant object that is visible to the unaided eye. It is located at the outermost outliers of the band of the Milky Way, which could explain why it has not been mentioned explicitly in ancient star catalogues, as it was mistakenly thought to be part of the Milky Way. The photograph also shows clearly reddish parts of the Milky Way that don’t appear bright to the naked eye, and also open clusters that are formed from the same molecular cloud, i.e., groups of stars with similar ages. This region is part of many big and small asterisms in traditional Chinese uranology.
Credit: Likai Lin/IAU OAE

Caption: Winner in the 2022 IAU OAE Astrophotography Contest, category Still images of celestial patterns.   Taken in Romania in August 2012, this image shows two of the most recognisable constellations in the sky, Orion and Taurus. Orion, the Hunter, is found near the horizon. The most prominent star visible in this image is Betelgeuse, while the asterism of Orion’s belt is formed by three aligned bright stars. Just above Orion we can find Taurus, one of the constellations of the Zodiac. As the Zodiac is inherited from Babylon, The Bull of Heaven represents a mighty but dangerous creature that was defeated by King Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu. They cut the Bull in half and sacrificed the animal to the gods in order to protect their people. Taurus is also home to the star cluster Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. Two planets are visible: Venus, the bright spot near the fence, and Jupiter, the bright spot at the top, next to the Bull’s face. Different cultures have included the stars of these constellations in their own mythology. The Romanians, for instance, after Christianisation identified four other constellations using some of the stars of Orion and others surrounding it. One such constellation is called Trisfetitele (the Three Saints), which is associated with the three stars comprising Orion's Belt, representing the Three Hierarchs Basil, Gregory and John. This same asterism is also called Three Wise Men, Kings from the East or just Three Kings — all of these names being rooted in the Christian religion. The agricultural calendar, in contrast, led farmers to define two other constellations, the Little Plough and the Sickle. Both are seen in the southern half of the Orion rectangle; the Little Plough is drawn by connecting the southern quadrilateral with Orion’s left shoulder, and the Sickle is formed by connecting Orion’s left foot (Rigel) with the belt stars, forming an arch and completing the form of a hoe. In the cultural calendar, these constellations were used to announce the harvest of wheat/grain. Finally, the fourth Romanian constellation is the Great Auger, where Orion’s belt represents the handle of the auger, and Betelgeuse is the tip, facing towards Pollux in Gemini. This constellation is associated with treasure, as Romanian peasants believe that the Auger points to the treasure when they approach the end of the world. Most of the official star names in Orion are Arabic; Mintaka (meaning “belt”) is at the waist; Alnitak (meaning “girdle”) and Alnilam (meaning “string”) are at the belt; and Rigel (meaning foot) is at the left foot. The star on the left shoulder is named Bellatrix, the Latin term for a female warrior. The star at the right leg is called Saiph, for the sword or sabre of the Arabic Orion.
Credit: Alex Conu/IAU OAE

Caption: Gagnant du concours d'astrophotographie 2022 de l'IAU OAE, catégorie Images fixes de motifs célestes. La Terre se déplaçant autour du Soleil, la position des étoiles dans le ciel nocturne semble changer au cours de l'année. Ce phénomène est bien illustré par cette mosaïque, dont les images ont été prises au cours des quatre saisons de l'année 2020 dans la région de la Vénétie, en Italie, et qui montre le mouvement apparent des constellations Ursa Minor et Ursa Major. Ursa Minor, la Petite Ourse, est une constellation de l'hémisphère nord. Elle contient le pôle céleste nord, marqué à notre époque par une étoile brillante appelée Polaris ou Étoile Polaire. Pendant des siècles, Polaris a été utilisée pour la navigation dans l'hémisphère nord, car elle se trouve presque à la position exacte du pôle depuis environ 200 ans. Au Moyen Âge et dans l'Antiquité, il n'y avait pas d'étoile polaire ; le pôle nord céleste se trouvait dans une région sombre et les Grecs considéraient la "Petite Ourse" comme une compagne de la "Grande Ourse", qui est plus facilement reconnaissable. Les étoiles les plus brillantes de ces constellations étaient également considérées comme des chars par les Grecs, comme l'indique le célèbre poème didactique d'Aratus datant du IIIe siècle avant l'ère commune. L'astérisme le plus célèbre de la Grande Ourse, composé de sept étoiles, porte différents noms dans le monde (nordique). Alors que les Grecs le considéraient comme un char, il est appelé "L'Ourse du Nord" en Chine et "Les Sept Bœufs" par les anciens Romains. Pour les Grecs, voyager dans la direction de l'horizon au-dessus duquel apparaît Ursa Major signifiait se diriger vers le pays des ours (l'Europe du Nord). Un animal est clairement reconnaissable si l'on tient compte de toutes les étoiles plus faibles qui se trouvent à proximité des sept étoiles brillantes. Ils ont considéré qu'il s'agissait d'une ourse femelle car la mythologie grecque associe cet animal à la nymphe Callisto, dont l'histoire décrit les rituels d'initiation des femmes. En haut à gauche, nous voyons une image prise un soir de printemps, tandis que l'image ci-dessous montre la même portion du ciel un soir d'été. Dans le sens inverse des aiguilles d'une montre, nous voyons le ciel en automne dans l'image en bas à droite, tandis que l'image en haut à droite montre finalement cette portion du ciel en hiver. Notez que les positions relatives d'Ursa Minor et de la Grande Ourse ne changent pas, mais que toutes les étoiles semblent être déplacées dans un cercle autour de Polaris. Cette étoile pointant plein nord se trouve au point d'intersection de l'axe de rotation de la Terre et de la sphère céleste. Le déplacement des constellations au cours de l'année constitue donc une horloge ou un calendrier planétaire, utilisé par les civilisations anciennes pour mesurer l'année et prédire les changements de saison. Il permet de déterminer, par exemple, le meilleur moment pour semer et naviguer, car les vents changent avec les saisons.
Credit: Giorgia Hofer/IAU OAE

Caption: The constellation Sagittarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Sagittarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquila, Scutum, Serpens Cauda, Ophiuchus, Scorpius, Corona Australis, Telescopium, Microscopium and Capricornus. The brighter stars in Sagittarius form a distinctive teapot shape. Sagittarius lies on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line), this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Sagittarius from mid December to mid January. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Sagittarius. Sagittarius lies south of the celestial equator. The famous teapot asterism is visible for all but the most arctic regions of the world but the most southerly parts of the constellation are not visible in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Sagittarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* which lies at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is sits on the western (here right-hand) edge of Sagittarius. Due to it covering an area at the center of our Galaxy, Sagittarius is home to many star clusters including open clusters (marked here with yellow circles) and globular clusters (marked here with yellow circles with + signs superimposed on them). Three nebulae are also marked here with green squares. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination and with north as up and the x-axis is in hours of right ascension with east to the left. The sizes of the stars marked here relate to the star's apparent magnitude, a measure of its apparent brightness. The larger dots represent brighter stars. The Greek letters mark the brightest stars in the constellation. These are ranked by brightness with the brightest star being labeled alpha, the second brightest beta, etc., although this ordering is not always followed exactly. The dotted boundary lines mark the IAU's boundaries of the constellations and the solid green lines mark one of the common forms used to represent the figures of the constellations. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by IAU/Sky & Telescope