Star Formations?

Question

How did these come about? I know they wernt formed into formations so who decided to see them as formations? Also who decided on the names?

Answer 1

They are not in any formation. From where we are we see them in the position they are. Actually the stars themselves are lighyears, if not millions of lightyears from each other and moving either closer or away from each other. The early civilizations saw patterns and used it for different purposes. They gave names to them based on their imagination of what the patterns looked like. Many of their lifestyles were dictated by it...agriculture, wars, marriage, etc. Horoscopes came out of it because they thought the stars controlled their fate.

Answer 2

It's just their positions in the sky as we see them that make the formations - constellations - if you were somewhere else in the galaxy they'd be in completely different places.
If you go and look up at the night sky, you're bound to say 'oh that group of stars over there, they look just like a teapot' or whatever, that's exactly what people have done for thousands of years, often, like the Ancient Greeks, naming them after mythological animals or people. There have been lots of attempts to change the names (they were tried to be Christianised for example), but most of the old names have stuck.
Even more recently, some star patterns have been named - Sir Patrick Moore called the pattern of where 3 particularly bright stars were in the summer, the Summer Triangle.

Answer 3

Most civilisations grew on the fact that these bright objects in the night sky dictated their lives. For example the Egyptians built Pyramids facing certain stars. They constructed small tunnels from the burial chambers that pointed at a star because they believed in the after life. And they would be reborn out there in space. Sirius is one example. The Great Pyramid of Giza is thought to be a apart of Orion's belt. If you look at an aerial shot of this Pyramid you will notice two other smaller Pyramids in close proximity. And if you look at the constellation of Orion, you will see the exact likeness Of Orion's belt. Ancient Civilisations evolved around the setting of the sun, moon and stars. The priests, or elders named them to help others seek guidance, forgiveness and gain spiritual awareness. Most of the names have survived today because the influence from our past cultures has been passed down. They remain in the text books because our ancestors lives were dependent on their predictions and calculations. A apart of us is and forever will be amongst the stars.

Answer 4

most early civilizations had star formations, i guess they didn't have much else to do. So i guess its hard to say who first saw them as formations, and as for names, they all had different names depending what culture you had.

Answer 5

Constellations are like looking at clouds. With a vivid enough imagination and cooperative clouds, you can see almost anything.

Answer 6

Try this!