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Glossary term: Right Ascension (RA)

Description: Right ascension is one of two coordinates in the equatorial coordinate system (the other being declination), which astronomers use to define the positions of celestial objects in the sky. As seen from Earth, all the various positions in the sky together form what appears to be a distant sphere with Earth at its center. The points in the sky directly above Earth's equator form the celestial equator on that sphere. The point directly above Earth's geographic North Pole is the celestial North Pole, and that above Earth's South Pole, the celestial South Pole. Just like geographers define geographic longitude and latitude on Earth's surface, one can define longitude and latitude on the celestial sphere. If we were to choose a celestial object's longitude coordinate to be that of the location on Earth directly below, a star's coordinate value would change over time as the Earth turns. Instead, equatorial coordinates measure right ascension as a form of celestial longitude relative to a "meridian" in the sky that does not rotate with Earth, but instead is fixed relative to the fixed stars. That meridian, the analog of the Greenwich meridian on Earth, is defined by where it intersects the celestial equator: At the exact point where the Sun's apparent path crosses the celestial equator from the southern to the northern celestial hemisphere. This longitude is called right ascension. Its value increases towards the east. Look towards the celestial equator, and the longitude values will pass you by in the course of (roughly) 24 hours. That is why right ascension is typically stated as a time value, with 24 hours corresponding to the full 360 degrees. Declination, the second equatorial coordinate, corresponds to geographic latitude. A slight wobble in Earth's rotation axis known as precession makes the equatorial coordinate system, and with it the right ascension and declination of stars and other celestial objects, change over time, but only very slightly and very slowly.

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Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".

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Related Diagrams


The bright stars in Andromeda form a Y-shape. Pegasus to the lower right. In the center is M31, marked with a red ellipse.

Andromeda Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Andromeda showing the bright stars and surrounding constellations. Andromeda is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Cassiopeia, Lacerta, Pegasus, Pisces, Aries, Triangulum and Perseus. The brightest star in Andromeda (Alpheratz) is in the lower part of the constellation. Together with three stars in Pegasus it forms the asterism known as the "Great Square of Pegasus". The next two bright stars in the constellation (Mirach and Almach) form a line extending north-east from Alpheratz. Andromeda is a northern constellation and is most visible in the evenings in the Northern Hemisphere autumn. It is visible from all of the Northern Hemisphere and most temperate regions of the Southern Hemisphere but is not visible from Antarctic and Subantarctic regions. The most famous object in Andromeda, the Andromeda Galaxy is marked here with a red ellipse and its Messier catalog number M31. The yellow circle on the left marks the position of the open cluster NGC 752 and the green circle on the right marks NGC 7662 (the blue snowball nebula), a planetary nebula. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


The four bright stars of Crux form a kite shape with the long axis pointing vertically

Crux Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Crux (commonly known as the Southern Cross or Crux Australis) showing its bright stars and surrounding constellations. The Southern Cross is surrounding by (going clockwise from the top) Centaurus, Carina and Musca. The brightest star is alpha Crucis which appears at the bottom of the constellation's famous kite shape. The Southern Cross is visible from southern and equatorial regions of the world. In more southerly parts of the world it is circumpolar so is always above the horizon. In other parts of the southern hemisphere and in equatorial regions it is most visible in the evenings in the southern hemisphere autumn. The yellow circles show the locations of two open clusters, NGC 4755 (known as the Jewel Box) and NGC 4609. The line joining gamma and alpha Crucis (the third and first brightest stars in the Southern Cross) points in the approximate direction of the South Celestial Pole. This has led to the Southern Cross playing an important role in celestial navigation, allowing navigators from different astronomical traditions to find their bearings. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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.

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Orion appears as an hourglass-shaped pattern with two strings of stars extending northeast and northwest

Orion Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Orion along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Orion is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Taurus, Eridanus, Lepus, Monoceros and Gemini. Orion’s brightest stars Betelgeuse and Rigel appear at the northern (upper on this diagram) and southern (lower) end of the constellation respectively with the famous three star “belt” in the middle. Orion spans the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth. In the most arctic or antarctic regions of the world, some parts of the constellation may not be visible. Orion is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The blue line above Orion marks the ecliptic, the path the Sun appears to travel across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun never passes through Orion, but one can occasionally find the other planets of the Solar System and the Moon in Orion. Just south of Orion’s belt lie two Messier objects M42 (the Orion nebula) and M43, marked by green squares. These nebulae along with M78 (here the green square to the left of the belt) are part of the huge Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. This covers most of the constellation and includes regions where these molecular clouds are collapsing to form young starts. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 circle around Betelgeuse indicates that it is a variable star. 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Libra appears as a triangle pointing north (up) with two lines hanging down. It is bisected by the ecliptic running ESE-WNW

Libra Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Libra along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Libra is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Serpens Caput, Virgo, Hydra, Centaurus, Lupus, Scorpius and Ophiuchus. Libra 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 Libra from late October to late November. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Libra. Libra lies just south of the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in all but the most arctic regions. Libra is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere late spring/early summer and southern hemisphere late autumn/early winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Scorpius appears as a letter T joined to a letter J. The ecliptic runs ESE to WNW and clips one arm of the T

Scorpius Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Scorpius (often commonly called Scorpio) along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Scorpius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Ophiuchus, Serpens Caput, Libra, Lupus, Norma, Ara, Corona Australis and Sagittarius. Scorpius’s brightest star Antares appears in the heart of the constellation with the famous tail of Scoprius in the south-east (lower left). Scorpius 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 only spends a short amount of time in late November in Scorpius. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Scorpius. Scorpius lies south of the celestial equator. The whole constellation is not visible from the most arctic regions of the world with parts of Scorpius obscured for observers in northern parts of Asia, Europe and North America. Scorpius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The yellow circles mark the positions of the open clusters M6, M7 & NGC 6231 while the yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them mark the globular clusters M4 and M80. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 circle around Antares indicates that it is a variable star. 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. The blue line marks the ecliptic, the path the Sun appears to travel across the sky over the course of one year. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Sagittarius is shaped like a teapot pouring tea south west. The ecliptic runs WSW to ENE at the top of the constellation

Sagittarius Constellation Map

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 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Capricornus appears as a downward pointing isosceles triangle. The ecliptic runs through the center from WSW to ENE

Capricornus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Capricornus (commonly called Capricorn) including its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Capricornus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Aquarius, Aquila, Sagittarius, Microscopium and Piscis Austrinus. Capricornus 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 Capricornus from mid January to mid February. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Capricornus. Capricornus lies just south of the celestial equator and is visible to all observers south of the Arctic Circle. Capricornus is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. In the south east (lower left on this diagram) of the constellation one can find the globular cluster M30 (shown here as a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it). The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Aquarius appears as a sprawling series of connected lines. The ecliptic runs through its center from WSW to ENE.

Aquarius Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Aquarius along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aquarius is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Pegasus, Equuleus, Aquila, Capricornus, Piscis Austrinus, Sculptor, Cetus and Pisces. Aquarius 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 Aquarius from mid February to mid March. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Aquarius. Aquarius spans the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth. In the most arctic or antarctic regions of the world, some parts of the constellation may not be visible. Aquarius is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The yellow circles with plus symbols superimposed on them mark the globular clusters M2 and M72. The green circles superimposed on plus symbols mark the planetary nebulae NGC 7293 (the Helix Nebula) and NGC 7002 (the Saturn Nebula). M73 (marked with an x symbol) is a coincident grouping of stars previously erroneously classified as an open cluster. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Pisces appears as a SW-pointing v-shape with loops at the end of each line. The ecliptic runs WSW to ENE through Pisces.

Pisces Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Pisces along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pisces is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Andromeda, Pegasus, Aquarius, Cetus, Aries and Triangulum. Pisces 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 Pisces from mid March to mid April. Thus the Sun is in Pisces at the March equinox. At this point the ecliptic crosses the celestial equator. The Sun’s location at the spring equinox is used to set the zero point of the Right Ascension positional coordinate. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Pisces. Pisces spans the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth. In the most arctic or antarctic regions of the world, some parts of the constellation may not be visible. Pisces is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring The grand design spiral galaxy M74 is marked on this diagram with a small red circle. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Aries is mostly stars with only a few bright stars in the constellation’s north joined by a curved line. The ecliptic runs WSW to ENE

Aries Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Aries along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aries is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Triangulum, Pisces, Cetus, Taurus and Perseus. Aries 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 Aries from mid April to mid May. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Aries. Aries lies just north of the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth except for the most antarctic regions of the world. Aries is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Taurus appears as a y shape with the open end pointing NE. The ecliptic passes WSW to ENE in Taurus’s northern half

Taurus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Taurus along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Taurus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top) Perseus, Aries, Cetus, Eridanus, Orion, Gemini and Auriga. Taurus’s brightest star Aldebaran appears in the middle of the constellation. Taurus 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 Taurus from mid May to late June. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Taurus. Taurus lies mostly north of the celestial equator with a small part in the celestial southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to whole planet except for the Antarctic and a small region around the North Pole. Taurus is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. In the eastern part of Taurus we can find the supernova remnant M1 (commonly known as the Crab Nebula), marked here with a green square. In Taurus’s north-east find one of the sky’s most famous open stars clusters M45 (the Pleiades), marked here with a yellow circle. Many of the stars near Aldebaran (but not) Aldebaran are members of another star cluster, the Hyades. However this cluster is close to the solar system so is too dispersed on the sky to have a Messier object designation like the Pleiades has. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Gemini resembles two stick figures, heads pointing North-East & with arms joined. The ecliptic passes W to E through Gemini

Gemini Constellation Map

Caption: The zodiac constellation Gemini and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Auriga, Taurus, Lynx, Orion, Monoceros, Canis Minor and Cancer. The brightest stars in Gemini, Castor and Pollux appear in the upper lefthand corner (north-east) of the diagram. In Greek mythology, the stars in this constellation are thought to resemble twins with their arms wrapped around each other, with Castor and Pollux indicating their heads. Gemini 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 Gemini from late June to late July. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Gemini. Gemini lies north of the celestial equator and is visible in all but the antarctic regions of the world. Gemini is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. Just to the right of the foot of the Castor twin is an open cluster of stars (labelled as a yellow circle with a dotted line border), Messier 35, also known as the Shoe-Buckle Cluster. This cluster is spread out over an area roughly the size of the full moon. In addition to this cluster of stars, there is a planetary nebula (labelled as a green circle with four radial spikes) – NGC 2392 – near the celestial equator and just to the left of the Pollux twin. Two variable stars (Mekbuda and Propus; labelled as two concentric circles) can be found in the “legs” of each twin, but are so faint that an observer would need dark skies to see them. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 labelled 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Cancer appears as an inverted “Y” on the sky, with its vertex almost exactly on the ecliptic which runs ESE to WNW

Cancer Constellation Map

Caption: The zodiac constellation Cancer and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Lynx, Gemini, Canis Minor, Hydra, Leo and Leo Minor. The ecliptic (shown here as a blue line) passes almost exactly through the middle of the constellation, this is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Cancer from late July to mid August. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Cancer. Cancer lies just north of the celestial equator and is thus visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth except for the most antarctic regions of the world. Cancer is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. Two star clusters are visible in Cancer: M44, an open cluster often called the Beehive Cluster, and M46, a denser open cluster with about four times more stars than M44. These clusters are indicated by yellow circles with a dotted border on the map. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 labelled 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


Leo resembles a lion standing on the ecliptic (which runs ESE to WNW) with its nose pointed northwest.

Leo Constellation Map

Caption: The zodiac constellation Leo and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Leo Minor, Cancer, Sextans, Hydra, Crater, Virgo and Ursa Major. The brightest star in Leo, Regulus, lies almost exactly on the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line): the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun spends the period from mid August to mid September in Leo. The other planets in the Solar System can often be found in Leo. Leo spans the celestial equator and is thus part of it is visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth with some of the constellation obscured for the most arctic and antarctic regions of the world. Leo is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. Several objects can be seen in Leo, including M65 and M66 – two galaxies in the Leo Triplet, a trio of galaxies including NGC 3628, not listed here. In addition, M96, a spiral galaxy, can be seen as a fuzzy object using a small telescope, and Messier 105, an elliptical galaxy. Each of these objects are labelled on the map as red ellipses. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 labelled 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


The constellation Virgo appears as a person lying with their back roughly against the diagonal ecliptic, arms outstretched, and feet pointed east.

Virgo Constellation Map

Caption: The zodiac constellation Virgo and its surrounding constellations. Starting from the top of the diagram and going clockwise, these are Coma Berenices, Leo, Crater, Corvus, Libra, and Bootes. The brightest star in Virgo, Spica, lies just below the ecliptic (shown here as a blue line) in the middle of the map. One way of locating this star in the night sky is to follow the handle of the Big Dipper to the star Arcturus in Bootes and go along a line straight down to Spica (“arc to Arcturus and spike to Spica”). This star lies just below the ecliptic. The ecliptic is the path the Sun appears to take across the sky over the course of a year. The Sun is in Virgo from mid September to late October. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Virgo. Virgo spans the celestial equator and is thus part of it is visible at some time in the year from all of planet Earth with some of the constellation obscured for the most arctic and antarctic regions of the world. Virgo is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The constellation Virgo appears as a person lying with their back roughly against the ecliptic, arms outstretched, and feet pointed east. Several deep-sky objects are visible in Virgo, including NGC4697, M49, M87, M86, M84, and M60, all of which are labelled as red ellipses on the map. These are all spiral and elliptical galaxies located several millions of lightyears from Earth. Most notably, M87 is host to the supermassive black hole (Pōwehi) that was imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope in 2019. All of these galaxies are members of the Virgo Cluster, the nearest cluster of galaxies to the Milky Way. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 labelled 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

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Cetus appears as two ellipses, the smaller one north-east of the larger one, connected by a line.

Cetus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Cetus along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Cetus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Pisces, Aquarius, Sculptor, Fornax, Eridanus, Taurus and Aries. Cetus lies just south of 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. While the Sun does not pass through Cetus, the other planets of the solar system and the Moon can sometimes be found in Cetus. The star Omicron Ceti or Mira is a famous variable star. This red giant varies in brightness by a factor of 600 over the course of its eleven month period. Cetus spans the celestial equator, thus some part of the constellation is visible from all the the Earth at some point in the year. The full constellation is visible from equatorial and temperate regions of both hemispheres. Cetus is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere late autumn and the southern hemisphere late spring. The barred spiral galaxy M77 lies in Cetus as does the spiral galaxy NGC 247 and the dwarf irregular galaxy IC 1613. All three are marked here with red ellipses. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. Mira is marked with an open circle as it is a variable star not always visible to the naked eye. 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

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Ophiuchus appears as a headless stick figure

Ophiuchus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Ophiuchus along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Ophiuchus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hercules, Serpens Caput, Scorpius, Sagittarius and Serpens Cauda. Ophiuchus is not part of the traditional twelve zodiac constellations but it 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 Ophiuchus from late November to mid December. The other planets of the Solar System can often be found in Ophiuchus. Ophiuchus spans the celestial equator and thus part of the constellation is visible across the whole of the earth at some point in the year. However during the time it is most visible in the evenings (the southern hemisphere winter and northern hemisphere summer) much of the arctic is in perpetual daylight making the stars in the constellation impossible to see. The whole constellation is visible from equatorial and temperate regions of both hemispheres. As Ophiuchus lies close to the galactic center it contains many globular clusters such as M9, M10, M12, M14, M19, M62, and M107. These are marked as yellow circles with plus symbols superimposed. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, 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

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Octans appears as an elongated triangle

Octans Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Octans along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Octans is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hydrus, Indus, Pavo, Apus, Chameleon and Mensa. Octans is a relatively faint constellation that is notable as it lies at the south celestial pole. While the northern pole star is the relatively bright Polaris, sigma Octans, the southern pole star, is barely visible with the naked eye. Octans lies at the south celestial pole and is thus visible from the whole southern hemisphere with some of the constellation visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is circumpolar for most of the southern hemisphere. It is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines (in hours) are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. The solid circle around the pole marks a line of -80° declination with the larger, incomplete circle to the right marking -70° declination. 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

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Cassiopeia appears as a double-u shape tilted up at the left end by about 45 degrees

Cassiopeia Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Cassiopeia along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Cassiopeia is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top):Cepheus, Andromeda, Perseus and Camelopardalis. Cassiopeia is a northern constellation that is visible from all of the northern hemisphere and equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. It is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere late autumn and southern hemisphere late spring. The open star clusters M52, M103, NGC 457 and NGC 663 all lie in this constellation. These are marked with yellow circles. Two dwarf elliptical galaxies NGC 147 and NGC 185 lie in the southern part of the constellation. These are marked with red ellipses and are gravitationally bound to the larger Andromeda galaxy which lies to the south in the constellation of Andromeda. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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

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Ursa Minor appears as a small ladle with the end of the handle, the location of Polaris, at the north pole

Ursa Minor Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Ursa Minor along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Ursa Minor is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cephus, Camelopardalis and Draco. Ursa Minor is notable as its brightest star, Polaris is the northern pole star. Ursa Minor is visible from the entire northern hemisphere with some parts of the constellation being visible from equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. It is also circumpolar for temperate and arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. Polaris, lying very close the north celestial pole is circumpolar for the whole of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. This diagram maps an area around the north celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values (in hours) of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination (in degrees) are marked on the y-axis. 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

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Ursa Major appears as a ladle with the handle to the east & the cup to the west. Lines of fainter stars extend to the south

Ursa Major Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Ursa Major along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Ursa Major is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Draco, Camelopardalis, Lynx, Leo Minor, Leo, Coma Berenices, Canes Venatici and Boötes. Ursa Major is famous for the prominent asterism often known in English as the Big Dipper or the Plough. This prominent northern asterism has a wide variety of names from cultures across the world. While most constellations and asterisms are made up of unrelated stars that randomly appear close together on the sky, five of the stars in the Big Dipper are part of the Ursa Major Moving Group, a group of stars moving through space together that likely formed in the same location 300 million years ago. The two stars on the right-hand end of the Big Dipper on this diagram form a pair of pointer stars that can be used to locate Polaris, the northern pole star which lies in the constellation of Ursa Minor. Ursa Major is a northern constellation and is visible from northern and equatorial regions. Parts of the constellation are visible from all but the most antarctic parts of the southern hemisphere but not all temperate regions of the southern hemisphere can see all of the Big Dipper. Conversely the Big Dipper and much of the rest of the constellation are circumpolar in arctic and many temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Ursa Major is most visible in the evening in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. Two prominent galaxies appear in the northern part of this constellation, the spiral galaxy M81 and M82, a possible spiral galaxy whose structure is difficult to observe from the Earth as it appears edge-on. Both are shown here as red ellipses. The planetary nebula M97 (the Owl Nebula) lies in the middle of the constellation and is marked by a green circle superimposed on a plus symbol. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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

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Canis Major is shaped like a stick figure drawing of a dog tilted up by 45 degrees. Sirius lies at the dog’s shoulder

Canis Major Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Canis Major along with its bright stars and its surrounding constellations. Canis Major is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Monoceros, Lepus, Columba and Puppis. The constellation is dominated by Sirius, the star which appears brightest in the night sky, which far outshines all of the other stars in the constellation. Canis Major lies just south of the celestial equator and is visible from all of the southern hemisphere as well as equatorial and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Sirius is visible from all but the most arctic regions. Canis Major is most visible in the evenings in late winter in the northern hemisphere and late summer in the southern hemisphere. The open star clusters M41, NGC 2360 and NGC 2362 lie in the constellation. These are marked with yellow circles. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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

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Antlia appears as a line with a corner in the middle pointing up

Antlia Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Antlia along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Antlia is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hydra, Pyxis, Vela and Centaurus. Antlia is a southern constellation that is visible at some point in the year from the whole southern hemisphere as well as equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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

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Apus has an northward-pointing isosceles triangle on the east end of an east-west line.

Apus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Apus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Apus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Triangulum Australe, Circinus, Musca, Chamaeleon, Octans, Pavo and Ara. Apus is a southern constellation lying close to the south celestial pole. As such it is visible at some point in the year from the entire southern hemisphere but is only visible from the most equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. Apus is circumpolar for all temperate and antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. It is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere autumn. The globular cluster NGC 6101 can be found in Apus. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus symbol superimposed on it. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values (in hours) of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Lines of constant declination (in degrees) are marked on the y-axis. 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

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Aquila looks like a simplified arrow shape with the head pointing to the lower right (the south west). Altair is in the tail

Aquila Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Aquila with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Aquila is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Sagitta, Hercules, Ophiuchus, Serpens Cauda, Scutum, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius and Delphinus. Aquila is most notable for its brightest star Altair. This forms one vertex of the prominent Summer Triangle asterism that is visible in northern hemisphere summer evenings. Aquila spans the celestial equator and thus some part of it is visible from all of the Earth at some point in the year. It is most visible in the evenings in the late northern hemisphere summer and late southern hemisphere winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line in the lower right of the diagram is the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, 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

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Ara appears as a quadrilateral in portrait with the right side shorter than the left

Ara Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Ara along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Ara is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Scorpius, Norma, Triangulum Australe, Apus, Pavo, Telescopium and Corona Australis. Ara is a southern constellation that is visible from the entire southern hemisphere at some point in the year and is visible from equatorial with parts of the constellation visible from some temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. It is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular clusters NGC 6352 and NGC 6397 lie in Ara. These are marked here with yellow circles with plus symbols superimposed on them. The open cluster NGC 6193 also lies in Ara, this is marked here with a yellow circle that is partially obscured by the dot marking the brightest member of the cluster which is visible to the naked eye under good conditions. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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

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Auriga looks like a head with a pointed hat on. The ecliptic runs East to West below Auriga

Auriga Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Auriga with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Auriga is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Camelopardalis, Perseus, Taurus, Gemini and Lynx. Capella, the brightest star in Auriga, is the sixth brightest star in the night sky. As a northern constellation, Auriga is visible from the whole of the northern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole of the constellation is visible to equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of it visible to temperate southern regions. The whole constellation is circumpolar from arctic regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere winter and late southern hemisphere summer. Auriga lies in the plane of the Milky Way and thus hosts a number of open clusters. Of these M36, M37 and M38 are marked on this diagram with yellow circles. IC 405, also known as the flaming star nebula, is marked here with a green square. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Boötes appears as a kite shape tilted anticlockwise 45 degrees from the vertical/ Arcturus is at the base of the kite

Boötes Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Boötes with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Boötes is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Draco, Ursa Major, Canes Venatici, Coma Berenices, Virgo, Serpens Caput, Corona Borealis and Hercules. It is notable for its brightest star Arcturus which is the fourth brightest star in the night sky. Boötes is a northern constellation and the whole constellation is visible to the entire northern hemisphere at some point in the year. Parts of the constellation are visible from all but the most antarctic parts of the southern hemisphere but the whole constellation is only visible from equatorial and some temperate parts of that hemisphere. Boötes is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Caelum is a small thin constellation with few bright stars

Caelum Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Caelum with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Caelum is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Eridanus, Horologium, Dorado, Pictor, Columba and Lepus. Caelum is a relatively small and faint constellation. Caelum is a southern constellation and the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole southern hemisphere and from equatorial parts of the northern hemisphere. Parts of the constellation are visible from temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is most visible in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Camelopardalis has no very bright stars and no well-defined shape

Camelopardalis Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Camelopardalis with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Camelopardalis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cepheus, Cassiopea, Perseus, Auriga, Lynx, Ursa Major, Draco and Ursa Minor. Camelopardalis is a large constellation but contains relatively few bright stars. Camelopardalis is a northern constellation and as such the whole constellation is visible for the whole northern hemisphere at some point in the year. It is also visible from equatorial parts of the southern hemisphere with some parts visible to temperate southern regions. The whole constellation is circumpolar for all arctic and more northerly temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Camelopardalis is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere winter and late southern hemisphere summer. The spiral galaxies NGC 2403 and IC 342 lie in Camelopardalis and are marked here with red ellipses. This diagram maps an area around the north celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination are marked on the y-axis. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Canes Venatici is shown as a line going south east to north west joining its two brightest stars

Canes Venatici Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Canes Venatici with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Canes Venatici is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Ursa Major, Coma Berenices and Boötes. Canes Venatici is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole of the northern hemisphere. The whole of the constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of it visible from temperate southern regions. The constellation is best viewed in the northern hemisphere late spring and southern hemisphere late autumn. The famous spiral galaxy commonly known as the Whirlpool Galaxy (M51) lies in Canes Venatici and is marked here with a red ellipse. Other notable spiral galaxies in the cluster include M63, M94, M106 and NGC 4631. All are marked here with red ellipses. The globular cluster M3 is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus symbol superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Canis Minor appears as a straight line extending north west from Procyon which lies in the center of the constellation

Canis Minor Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Canis Minor with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Canis Minor is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Gemini, Monoceros, Hydra and Cancer. Canis Minor has relatively few bright stars but its brightest star Procyon is the eight brightest star in the sky. Canis Minor spans the celestial equator and thus part of the constellation is visible from the whole Earth at some point during the year. The whole constellation is visible to all but the most arctic and antarctic regions. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line in the top right of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Carina appears as the hull of a line drawing of a ship which faces left (east). Canopus is on its right (west) edge

Carina Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Carina along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Carina is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Vela, Puppis, Pictor, Volans, Chamaeleon, Musca and Centaurus. Carina is notable for Canopus, the second brightest star in the night sky and for the famous variable star Eta Carinae. This latter object is a binary star system of two young very massive stars. Its brightness has varied greatly over the past few centuries. At one point it outshone Canopus before dimming by a factor of four thousand to become invisible to the naked eye. In recent years it has brightened enough to again be visible without the aid of a telescope. Carina is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to the entire southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from northern temperate regions. The open clusters NGC 2516, NGC 3532 and IC 2602 lie in Carina. These are marked here by yellow circles. The Carina Nebula, also known as NGC 3372, lies in the constellation. This large nebula contains many massive young stars, including Eta Carinae. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination are marked on the y-axis. 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. Carina was previously part of the larger Argo Navis constellation along with Vela and Puppis. As the letter designations for stars were created before this division took place, Greek letter designations are now divided between the three constellations with Carina having stars designated alpha and beta but no gamma or delta. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Centaurus appears as a centaur with four legs and two arms facing to the left (east). Alpha Centauri is in the lower left/SE

Centaurus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Centaurus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Centaurus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hydra, Antlia, Vela, Carina, Musca, Crux, Circinus, Lupus and Libra. Centaurus is a large constellation most notable for its brightest star Alpha Centauri. Alpha Centauri is a triple star system and is the nearest star system to the Solar System. When viewed with the naked eye, the two brightest components of Alpha Centauri appear as one star. The combined light from these two stars makes Alpha Centauri appear as the third brightest star in the night sky. The third component of the Alpha Centauri system Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun, is too faint to be viewed with the naked eye. Centaurus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible from the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from temperate northern regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere spring and late southern hemisphere autumn. The globular cluster Omega Centauri, also known as NGC 5319, lies in Centaurus. Bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, this cluster was initially given a designation as a star in the constellation before its true nature was realised. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. As is the globular cluster NGC 5286. The open cluster NGC 3766 is marked here with a yellow circle. NGC 5128, also known as Centaurus A, is the closest active galaxy to Earth. The supermassive black hole at the heart of this galaxy has launched two huge jets of matter which emit in many different wavelengths including x-ray and radio emission. NGC 5128 is marked with a red ellipse here, as is the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4945. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line in the top left is the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Cepheus appears as a head wearing a pointy hat tilted anticlockwise by 45 degrees

Cepheus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Cepheus along with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Cepheus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Camelopardalis, Ursa Minor, Draco, Cygnus, Lacerta and Cassiopeia. Cepheus is a large constellation. Its most notable star is Delta Cephei, the prototype for the class of variable stars known as Cepheid variables. These are variable stars which can be used to estimate distances both within our galaxy and to nearby galaxies. Cepheus lies close to the north celestial pole. As such it is circumpolar for arctic and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The whole of the constellation is also visible at some point in the year in equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of it visible in equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. It is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere late autumn and southern hemisphere late spring. The open cluster NGC 188 lies in Cepheus and is marked here with a yellow circle. The nebula NGC 7023 also lies in the constellation and is marked with a green square. The red ellipse in the lower right marks the position of the spiral galaxy NGC 6946. This diagram maps an area around the north celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination are marked on the y-axis. 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. Delta Cephei is marked with a circle around a dot as it is a variable star. Mu Cephei is also a variable star marked here as an open circle. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Chamaeleon appears as flat rectangle orientated East-West with a line extending to the West (the right here)

Chamaeleon Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Chamaeleon with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Chamaeleon is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Carina, Volans, Mensa, Octans, Apus and Musca. Chamaeleon lies close to the south celestial pole and this the whole of the constellation is visible from the whole southern hemisphere at some point in the year. All or part of the constellation can be seen from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is circumpolar for all but the most equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. Chamaeleon is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. The solid circle around the pole marks a line of -80° declination with the larger, incomplete circles above it marking -70° and -60° declination respectively. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Circinus appears as a thin isosceles triangle pointing to the south-west (lower right)

Circinus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Circinus with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Circinus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Lupus, Centaurus, Musca, Apus, Triangulum Australe and Norma. Circinus is a relatively small constellation with few bright stars. Circinus is a southern constellation and is thus the whole constellation is visible from the whole southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation can also be seen from some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from the remaining equatorial regions and some northern hemisphere temperate locations. The constellation is circumpolar for all antarctic and some southern hemisphere temperate regions. Circinus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The open cluster NGC 5823 lies in Circinus and is marked here with a yellow circle. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Columba has no real structure with three lines radiating out from a central point.

Columba Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Columba with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Columba is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Lepus, Caelum, Pictor, Puppis and Canis Major. Columba is a southern constellation and thus is visible to the whole southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The globular cluster NGC 1851 lies in Columba and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Coma Berenices looks like an east-west line with a north-south line extending from its east end

Coma Berenices Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Coma Berenices with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Coma Berenices is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Canes Venatici, Ursa Major, Leo, Virgo and Boötes. This constellation has relatively few bright stars. Coma Berenices is a northern constellation close to the celestial equator. As such the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year everywhere on Earth except the most antarctic regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere late spring and southern hemisphere late autumn. Coma Berenices is home to a large cluster of galaxies known as the Coma Supercluster. However none of the galaxies in this cluster are marked on this diagram as they are too faint to observe with most amateur telescopes. The elliptical galaxy M85 and the spiral galaxy M100 are members of the nearer Virgo cluster of galaxies. These are marked with red ellipses as are the even nearer M64 and NGC 4565, both of which are spiral galaxies. The globular cluster M53, marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it, also lies in Coma Berenices. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom right of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Corona Australis has a sickle shape, curving upwards as we move from right to left

Corona Australis Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Corona Australis with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Corona Australis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Sagittarius, Scorpius, Ara and Telescopium. This constellation has relatively few bright stars. Corona Australis is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible in the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The constellation can also be viewed from equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular cluster NGC 6541 lies in Corona Australis and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the top right of the diagram marks the ecliptic.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Corona Borealis appears as a u-shape tilted slightly to the left

Corona Borealis Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Corona Borealis with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Corona Borealis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Boötes, Serpens Caput and Hercules. Corona Borealis is a northern constellation and thus the constellation is visible from the whole northern hemisphere at some point in the year. It whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and most temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Corvus appears as a quadrilateral with a short line extending vertically from its lower right (SW) corner

Corvus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Corvus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Corvus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Virgo, Crater and Hydra. Corvus is a southern constellation and thus the whole of the constellation is visible in the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from temperate and equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. Corvus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere late spring and southern hemisphere late autumn. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the top left marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Crater appears like a goblet tilted by 60 degrees to the left

Crater Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Crater with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Crater is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Leo, Sextans, Hydra, Corvus and Virgo. Crater is a southern constellation so the whole of the cluster is visible at some point in the year from the whole of the southern hemisphere.The whole constellation is also visible from temperate and equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the top left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Cygnus looks like a swan in flight with the neck pointing to the lower right (south-west). Deneb is the tail

Cygnus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Cygnus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Cygnus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cepheus, Draco, Lyra, Vulpecula, Pegasus and Lacerta. Cygnus is notable for its brightest star Deneb. This forms one vertex of the prominent Summer Triangle asterism that is visible in northern hemisphere summer evenings. Cygnus is a northern constellation and thus the whole of the constellation is visible at some point in the year in the whole northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from temperate southern regions. The plane of the Milky Way runs through Cygnus and thus the constellation is rich in nebulae and star clusters. These include the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) and the Crescent Nebula (NGC 6888). The Veil Nebula is a huge supernova remnant, parts of which are marked here as NGC 6960 and NGC 6992/5. All of the previously-mentioned nebulae are marked with green squares. The planetary nebula NGC 6826 is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. The open star clusters M29 and M39 are marked here with yellow circles. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Delphinus looks like a diamond with an additional small line extending to the south

Delphinus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Delphinus with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Delphinus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Vulpecula, Sagitta, Aquila, Aquarius, Equuleus and Pegasus. Delphinus is a relatively small constellation with few bright stars. Delphinus lies just north of the celestial equator and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to all but the most antarctic regions. The constellation is best viewed in the evenings in the early northern hemisphere autumn and early southern hemisphere spring. The globular cluster NGC 6934 lies in Dephinus. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Dorado form a rough line from south-east to north-west. The LMC lies on the southern boundary of Dorado

Dorado Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Dorado with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Dorado is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Pictor, Caelum, Horologium, Reticulum, Hydrus, Mensa and Volans. Dorado is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. Dorado is circumpolar for temperate and antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. This constellation is best viewed in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, lies in Dorado and the neighboring constellation Mensa. The outline of the Large Magellanic Cloud is marked here as a roughly circular loop in green. The open cluster NGC 2070 lies at the heart of the Tarantula Nebula. This is marked here with a green square. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Draco has the shape of a backward letter s rotated by 90 degrees

Draco Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Draco with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Draco is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cepheus, Ursa Minor, Boötes, Hercules, Lyra and Cygnus. Draco is a sprawling northern constellation, parts of which lie close to the celestial north pole. As such the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole northern hemisphere and a thin sliver of the southern hemisphere near the equator. Parts of the constellation are visible from all other southern equatorial and some southern temperate regions. Draco is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The planetary nebula NGC 6543 (also known as the Cat’s Eye Nebula) lies in Draco. It is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. This diagram maps an area around the north celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. Some of the lines of constant declination are marked on the y-axis. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Equuleus appears as a north-south line with a short line extending west from its northern end

Equuleus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Equuleus with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Equuleus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Delphinus, Aquarius and Pegasus. It is a relatively small constellation with few bright stars. Equuleus lies just north of the celestial equator and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year to all but the most antarctic regions. Equuleus is best viewed in the evening in the early northern hemisphere autumn and early southern hemisphere spring. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Eridanus appears as a letter z tilted by 30 degrees clockwise

Eridanus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Eridanus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Eridanus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Taurus, Cetus, Fornax, Phoenix, Tucana, Hydrus, Horologium, Caelum, Lepus and Orion. Eridanus is a large constellation that spans a wide range in declination. A small portion of the constellation is in the northern hemisphere with the southern-most point lying at a declination of almost -60°. As it spans the celestial equator, parts of the constellation are visible to the whole Earth at some point in the year. The whole constellation can be observed from northern and southern equatorial regions, southern temperate regions and most of Antarctica. Eridanus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Fornax takes the shape of a small, flat, downward-pointing triangle

Fornax Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Fornax with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Fornax is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cetus, Sculptor, Phoenix and Eridanus. Fornax is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible in the whole southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and most temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Fornax is best viewed in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The spiral galaxy NGC 1097 lies in Fornax and is marked here with a red ellipse. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Grus appears as a small triangle pointing south-west with thin wings extending north-west and south-east

Grus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Grus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Grus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Piscis Austrinus, Microscopium, Indus, Tucana, Phoenix and Sculptor. Grus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year from the whole southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Grus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Hercules is a headless stick figure with a square of stars for the body

Hercules Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Hercules with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Hercules is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Draco, Boötes, Corona Borealis, Ophiuchus, Aquila, Sagitta, Vulpecula and Lyra. Hercules is a large, northern constellation that covers a big range in declination. The whole constellation is visible at some point in the year in the whole northern hemisphere and in equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. Parts of the constellation can be viewed from temperate and almost all antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. Hercules is best viewed in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular clusters M13 and M92 lie in Hercules and are marked here with yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Horologium has the shape of a distorted backwards question mark

Horologium Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Horologium with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Horologium is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Eridanus, Hydrus, Reticulum, Dorado and Caelum. Horologium is a southern constellation and thus is visible in the whole southern hemisphere at some point in the year. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial parts of the northern hemisphere with parts of it visible to some northern temperate regions. Horologium is circumpolar in antarctic and some temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. This constellation is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The globular cluster NGC 1261 lies in Horologium, it is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Hydra is shaped like a snake going from the south east to the north west

Hydra Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Hydra with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Hydra is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Leo, Cancer, Canis Minor, Monoceros, Puppis, Pyxis, Antlia, Centaurus, Lupus, Libra, Virgo, Corvus, Crater and Sextans. Hydra is a large constellation that covers over a quarter of the celestial sphere in right ascension. It also spans the celestial equator and thus part of the constellation is visible from everywhere on the Earth at some point in the year. All parts of the constellation are visible at some point for all but the most antarctic parts of the southern hemisphere and to equatorial and most temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. However the wide span of the constellation means that all of it may not be visible at the same time in many of these regions. Hydra is best viewed in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The famous spiral galaxy M83, also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, lies in Hydra. It is marked here with a red ellipse. The planetary nebula NGC 3242 can also be found in Hydra. It is marked here with a green circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The open cluster M48 is marked here with a yellow circle while the globular cluster M68 is marked with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line on the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Hydrus is shaped like an isosceles triangle pointing north

Hydrus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Hydrus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Hydrus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Eridanus, Phoenix, Tucana, Octans, Mensa, Dorado, Reticulum and Horologium. Hydrus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible in the southern hemisphere at some point in the year. As it lies close to the celestial south pole, only a small part of the northern hemisphere near the equator can see the whole of Hydrus, with other northern equatorial regions able to see parts of the constellation. Hydrus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. The solid circle around the pole marks a line of -80° declination with the larger, incomplete circle to the right marking -70° declination. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Indus appears as a right-angled triangle with the right-angle pointing south west

Indus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Indus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Indus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Microcopium, Sagittarius, Telescopium, Pavo, Octans, Tucana and Grus. Indus lies near the south celestial pole and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to a thin strip of the northern hemisphere near the equator with remaining northern equatorial regions able to see parts of the constellation. Indus is circumpolar for temperate and antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. Indus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Lacerta appears as two linked diamond shapes arranged north-south with a small tail extending below

Lacerta Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Lacerta with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Lacerta is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cepheus, Cygnus, Pegasus, Andromeda and Cassiopeia. Lacerta is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from temperate southern regions. The whole constellation is circumpolar from arctic regions. Lacerta is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The open cluster NGC 7243 lies in Lacerta, it is marked here with a yellow circle. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Leo Minor appears as a flattened diamond with a line extending from its west end

Leo Minor Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Leo Minor with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Leo Minor is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Ursa Major, Lynx, Cancer and Leo. Leo Minor is a small constellation with relatively few bright stars. It is a separate constellation from and should not be confused with its larger neighbour Leo. Leo Minor is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Leo Minor is circumpolar in arctic regions. This constellation is best viewed in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line in the bottom right marks the ecliptic.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Lepus appears as a crudely drawn rabbit without legs facing west

Lepus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Lepus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Lepus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Orion, Eridanus, Caelum, Columba, Canis Major and Monoceros. Lepus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation can be viewed at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation can also be viewed from temperate and equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere. Lepus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The globular cluster M79 lies in Lepus. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Lupus takes the shape of a stick figure drawing of a wolf with the head facing north rotated slightly anticlockwise

Lupus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Lupus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Lupus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Libra, Hydra, Centaurus, Circinus, Norma and Scorpius. Lupus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible in equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to remaining temperate regions. Lupus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line in the top left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Lynx appears as an uneven line going from the south east to the north west

Lynx Constellation Map

Caption: Lynx is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible in southern temperate regions. Lynx is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom right of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Lyra resembles a north-south parallelogram with a triangle joining its north west corner. Vega is one corner of that triangle

Lyra Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Lyra with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Lyra is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Draco, Hercules, Vulpecula and Cygnus. Lyra is dominated by its brightest star Vega which is used to define the zero point of one of the most commonly used magnitude scales of stellar brightness. Vega forms one vertex of the prominent Summer Triangle asterism that is visible in northern hemisphere summer evenings. Lyra is a northern constellation and thus is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from all equatorial and some temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Parts of the constellation are visible from the remaining southern temperate areas. Lyra is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The famous planetary nebula M57, commonly known as the Ring Nebula, lies in Lyra. It is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. The globular cluster M56 also lies in Lyra and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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No lines are drawn connecting the stars here to mark the shape of Mensa. The LMC lies on the northern boundary of Mensa

Mensa Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Mensa with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Mensa is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Dorado, Hydrus, Octans, Chamaeleon and Volans. Mensa is a faint constellation with relatively few bright stars. Mensa lies close to the south celestial pole and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible to a thin strip of the northern hemisphere around the equator with parts of the constellation visible to some other northern equatorial regions. Mensa is circumpolar in temperate, antarctic and some equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere. Mensa is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, lies in Mensa and the neighboring constellation Dorado. The outline of the Large Magellanic Cloud is marked here as a roughly circular loop in green. This diagram maps an area around the south celestial pole. Here lines of constant right ascension converge. The right ascension values of these lines are marked on the x-axis above and below the diagram. The solid circle around the pole marks a line of -80° declination with the larger, incomplete circle to the right marking -70° declination. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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No lines are drawn connecting the stars here to mark the shape of Microscopium

Microscopium Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Microscopium with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Microscopium is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Capricornus, Sagittarius, Telescopium, Indus, Grus and Piscis Austrinus. Microscopium is a faint constellation with relatively few bright stars. Microscopium is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from other northern temperate regions. Microscopium is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky. The ecliptic is marked with a blue line in the top right.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Monoceros appears as a stick figure drawing of a unicorn facing north west

Monoceros Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Monoceros with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Monoceros is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Gemini, Orion, Lepus, Canis Major, Puppis, Hydra and Canis Minor. Monoceros spans the celestial equator and thus parts of the constellation are visible everywhere on the Earth at some point in the year. The whole constellation is visible to all but the most arctic and antarctic regions. Monoceros is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The star-forming Rosette Nebula is marked here with a green square. The open cluster of young stars NGC 2244, which is associated with the Rosette Nebula, is marked with a yellow circle just below it. The other open clusters M50 and NGC 2506 are also marked here with yellow circles. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the top left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the line marking the ecliptic, nor the lines joining the stars appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Musca appears as a crudely-drawn arrow pointing south east

Musca Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Musca with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Musca is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Crux, Centaurus, Carina, Chamaeleon, Apus and Circinus. Musca is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible to a thin strip of the northern hemisphere near the equator with parts of the constellation visible to other northern equatorial regions. Musca is circumpolar in temperate and antarctic regions of the southern hemisphere. Musca is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere late spring and southern hemisphere late autumn. The globular clusters NGC 4372 and NGC 4833 lie in Musca and are marked here with yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Norma has a kite shape with its thinnest angle pointing north-north-west

Norma Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Norma with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Norma is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Scorpius, Lupus, Circinus, Triangulum Australe and Ara. Norma is a faint constellation with relatively few bright stars. Norma is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from some northern hemisphere temperate regions. Norma is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The open clusters NGC 6025 and NGC 6087 lie in Norma and are marked here with yellow circles. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Pavo appears like a crudely-drawn peacock with the tail in the east and the body in the west

Pavo Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Pavo with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pavo is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Telescopium, Ara, Apus, Octans and Indus. Pavo is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible in the remaining northern equatorial regions. Pavo is circumpolar in antarctic and most temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular cluster NGC 6752 lies in Pavo and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Pegasus appears as a square with lines extending west from its western two vertices

Pegasus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Pegasus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pegasus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Lacerta, Cygnus, Vulpecula, Delphinus, Equuleus, Aquarius, Pisces and Andromeda. Pegasus is known for the prominent asterism the “Square of Pegasus” which consists of its three brightest stars plus the brightest star in Andromeda. Pegasus is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to southern hemisphere equatorial and temperate zones with parts of the constellation visible from all but the most antarctic regions. Pegasus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The globular cluster M15 lies in Pegasus and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The spiral galaxy NGC 7331 also lies in Pegasus and is marked here with a red ellipse. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Perseus resembles a crudely-drawn person with a round body and head tilting to the north west

Perseus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Perseus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Perseus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Camelopardalis, Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Triangulum, Aries, Taurus and Auriga. Perseus is home to the notable variable star Algol. Perseus is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to southern temperate regions. Perseus is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The open clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884 (commonly known as the Double Cluster) lie in Perseus as does the open cluster M34. These are all marked with yellow circles. The brightest star in Perseus, Mirfak (alpha Persei), along with some of the surrounding stars are members of the Alpha Persei open cluster. The planetary nebula M76 also lies in Perseus, it is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 dot marking Algol is surrounded by a circle, showing it is a variable star. 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. The blue line at the bottom left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Phoenix appears as a north-south diamond with a right-angled triangle extending from its western corner

Phoenix Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Phoenix with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Phoenix is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Sculptor, Grus, Tucana, Hydrus, Eridanus and Fornax. Phoenix is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to most temperate northern regions. Phoenix is circumpolar in antarctic and some temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the northern hemisphere late autumn and southern hemisphere late spring. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Pictor appears as a slightly bent line going from the south east to north west

Pictor Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Pictor with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pictor is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Columba, Caelum, Dorado, Volans, Carina and Puppis. Pictor is notable for its second brightest star, Beta Pictoris. This young star hosts a large disk of dusty material left over from the planet formation process along with two planets, one of which Beta Pictoris b was one of the first planets to be directly imaged by astronomers. Pictor is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining northern equatorial regions and some northern hemisphere temperate zones. Pictor is best viewed in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Piscis Austrinus form a rough horizontal fish shape with the tail facing west

Piscis Austrinus Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Piscis Austrinus with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Piscis Austrinus is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Aquarius, Capricornus, Microscopium, Grus and Sculptor. Piscis Austrinus is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining equatorial and some temperate northern hemisphere regions. Piscis Austrinus is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line in the top right of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Puppis appears to form the rear part of a great sailing ship with Carina and Vela forming the rest of the ship

Puppis Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Puppis with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Puppis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Monoceros, Canis Major, Columba, Pictor, Carina, Vela, Pyxis and Hydra. Puppis is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to all but the most arctic regions. Puppis is best viewed in the evenings in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The open clusters M46, M93 and NGC 2477 lie in Puppis and are marked here with yellow circles. The globular cluster M47 also lies in Puppis and is marked here with a yellow circle with a cross superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. Puppis was previously part of the larger Argo Navis constellation along with Vela and Carina. As the letter designations for stars were created before this division took place, Greek letter designations are now divided between the three constellations with Puppis having stars designated epsilon and zeta but no alpha, beta, gamma or delta. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The three brightest stars in Pyxis form a straight line going south-south-west to north-north-east

Pyxis Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Pyxis with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Pyxis is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Hydra, Puppis, Vela and Antilia. Pyxis is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Reticulum appears as four stars in a kite shape pointing south west

Reticulum Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Reticulum with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Reticulum is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Horologium, Hydrus and Dorado. Reticulum is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation are visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to most equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere, with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining equatorial and some temperate northern regions. Reticulum is circumpolar for all antarctic and most temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. The constellation is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Sagitta are shaped like an arrow with a tail. The arrow points north east

Sagitta Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Sagitta with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Sagitta is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Vulpecula, Hercules, Aquila and Delphinus. Sagitta is a relatively small constellation. Sagitta is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to equatorial and temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Sagitta is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular cluster M71 lies in Sagitta. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Sculptor’s stars form hook shape with the curve of the hook pointing west

Sculptor Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Sculptor with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Sculptor is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cetus, Aquarius, Piscis Austrinus, Grus, Phoenix and Fornax. Sculptor is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial and most temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Parts of the constellation are also visible to the remaining northern temperate regions. Sculptor is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere autumn and late southern hemisphere spring. The irregular galaxy NGC 55, and the spiral galaxies NGC 253 and NGC 300 all lie in Sculptor. There are marked here with red ellipses. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Scutum form an elongated diamond with the longer axis pointing north east

Scutum Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Scutum with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Scutum is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Serpens Cauda, Sagittarius and Aquila. Scutum is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from all but the most arctic regions. Two open clusters lie in Scutum: M11, commonly known as the Wild Duck Cluster; and M26. Both of these are marked here with yellow circles. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Serpens Caput appear to form a north-south snake with a triangular head at the north end

Serpens Caput Constellation Map

Caption: A map of part of the constellation Serpens. Serpens is unique amongst IAU constellations in that it is divided into two non-contiguous parts. The part of Serpens shown here is known as Serpens Caput, representing the head of the serpent. This part of Serpens is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Corona Borealis, Boötes, Virgo, Libra, Ophiuchus and Hercules. Serpens Caput spans the celestial equator thus parts of the constellation are visible at some point in the year across the Earth. The whole constellation is visible to temperate and equatorial regions of the southern hemisphere and all of the northern hemisphere except a small region around the north pole. Serpens Caput is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The globular cluster M5 lies in Serpens Caput. It is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Serpens Cauda form a north-east to south-west line

Serpens Cauda Constellation Map

Caption: A map of part of the constellation Serpens. Serpens is unique amongst IAU constellations in that it is divided into two non-contiguous parts. The part of Serpens shown here is known as Serpens Cauda, representing the tail of the serpent. This part of Serpens is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, Scutum and Aquila. Serpens Cauda spans the celestial equator thus parts of the constellation are visible at some point in the year across the Earth. The whole constellation is visible to all but the most arctic and antarctic regions. Serpens Cauda is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The Eagle Nebula and its associated star cluster are marked here as M16 with a yellow circle. This region was the location of the famous “pillars of creation” image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Sextans take the shape of a hook with the concave part pointing south

Sextans Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Sextans with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Sextans is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Leo, Hydra and Crater. Sextans is a small constellation with relatively few bright stars. Sextans spans the celestial equator and thus parts of the constellation are visible at some point in the year across the Earth. The whole constellation is visible in all but the most arctic and most antarctic regions. Sextans is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The lenticular galaxy NGC 3115 lies in Sextans. It is marked here with a red ellipse. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the top of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Telescopium do not form a clear shape with the exception of a small right angled triangle of brighter stars

Telescopium Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Telescopium with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Telescopium is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Corona Australis, Ara, Pavo, Indus, Microscopium and Sagittarius. Telescopium is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial and some temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Telescopium is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The bright stars in Triangulum form an isosceles triangle pointing south west

Triangulum Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Triangulum with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Triangulum is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Andromeda, Pisces, Aries and Perseus. Triangulum is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial and most temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Triangulum is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere winter and southern hemisphere summer. The Triangulum Galaxy M33 lies in the constellation. This spiral galaxy is the third largest member of the local group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy and Milky Way. It is marked here with a red ellipse. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. The blue line at the bottom left of the diagram marks the ecliptic. Neither the constellation boundaries, nor the lines joining the stars, nor the ecliptic, appear on the sky.
Credit: Adapted by the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education from the original by the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The brightest stars in Triangulum Australe for a roughly equilateral triangle

Triangulum Australe Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Triangulum Australe with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Triangulum Australe is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Norma, Circinus, Apus and Ara. Triangulum Australe is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from the remaining northern equatorial regions. Triangulum Australe is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere summer and southern hemisphere winter. The open cluster NGC 6025 lies in Triangulum Australe and is marked here with a yellow circle. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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The stars in Tucana form an oval shape. The Small Magellanic Cloud lies in the constellation’s south east

Tucana Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Tucana with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Tucana is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Grus, Indus, Octans, Hydrus, Eridanus and Phoenix. Tucana is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is visible to some equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible to the remaining northern equatorial regions. Tucana is best viewed in the northern hemisphere autumn and southern hemisphere spring. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way lies in Tucana with a small part spilling over into the neighbouring constellation of Hydrus. The SMC is marked here with a green loop in the south east of Tucana. The globular clusters NGC 104, also known as 47 Tucanae or 47 Tuc, and NGC 362 lie in Tucana and are marked here with yellow circles with plus signs superimposed on them. While these two clusters appear close to the SMC on the sky, they are both significantly closer than that satellite galaxy. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

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Vela appears to form the sail of a great sailing ship with Carina and Puppis forming the rest of the ship

Vela Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Vela with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Vela is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Pyxis, Puppis, Carina, Crux, Centaurus and Antlia. Vela is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible from equatorial regions of the northern hemisphere with parts of the constellation visible from most temperate northern hemisphere regions. Vela is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere spring and southern hemisphere autumn. The planetary nebula NGC 3132 lies in Vela and is marked here with a green circle superimposed on a plus sign. The globular cluster NGC 3201 also lies in Vela and is marked here with a yellow circle with a plus sign superimposed on it. A yellow circle marks the position of the open cluster IC 2391. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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. Vela was previously part of the larger Argo Navis constellation along with Puppis and Carina. As the letter designations for stars were created before this division took place, Greek letter designations are now divided between the three constellations with Vela having stars designated gamma and delta but no alpha or beta. 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


The stars in Volans form the shape of two triangles connected at one vertex

Volans Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Volans with its bright stars and surrounding constellations. Volans is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Carina, Pictor, Dorado, Mensa and Chamaeleon. Volans is a southern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in year throughout the southern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible to a strip of the northern hemisphere near the equator. Volans is best viewed in the evening in the late northern hemisphere winter and late southern hemisphere summer. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons


The stars in Vulpecula do not form a clear shape

Vulpecula Constellation Map

Caption: The constellation Vulpecula with its brighter stars and surrounding constellations. Vulpecula is surrounded by (going clockwise from the top): Cygnus, Lyra, Hercules, Sagitta, Delphinus and Pegasus. Vulpecula is a northern constellation and thus the whole constellation is visible at some point in the year throughout the northern hemisphere. The whole constellation is also visible in equatorial and temperate regions of the southern hemisphere. Vulpecula is best viewed in the evening in the northern hemisphere early autumn and southern hemisphere early spring. The planetary nebula M27, commonly known as the Dumbbell Nebula lies in Vulpecula and is marked here with a green cross superimposed on a plus sign. The open cluster NGC 6885 also lies in Vulpecula and is marked here with a yellow circle. The y-axis of this diagram is in degrees of declination 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 the IAU and Sky & Telescope

License: CC-BY-4.0 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) icons