What are the consolations of the stars?

Question

Big dipper, little dipper, orions belt

Answer 1

They are just made up patterns that people use to recognize what part of the sky they are looking at. Kind of like looking at clouds and saying that one looks like a dog and another like a sail boat.

Answer 2

The Big Dipper is the body, and tail of the constellation Ursa Major (The Bear). The Little Dipper is the body and tail of the constellation Ursa Minor (The Little Bear). On a clear night look for the forward portions of the animals by 'connecting the dots' with other stars to see the legs and head. Orion is a portrait of a hunter with his shield (some say bow) in front of him. There are also legs and a head involved with this constellation as well. Constellations are groupings of stars that resembled cetain everyday things in the minds of ancient cultures.

Answer 3

The 88 modern constellations are: Andromeda • Antlia • Apus • Aquarius • Aquila • Ara • Aries • Auriga • Boötes • Caelum • Camelopardalis • Cancer • Canes Venatici • Canis Major • Canis Minor • Capricornus • Carina • Cassiopeia • Centaurus • Cepheus • Cetus • Chamaeleon • Circinus • Columba • Coma Berenices • Corona Australis • Corona Borealis • Corvus • Crater • Crux • Cygnus • Delphinus • Dorado • Draco • Equuleus • Eridanus • Fornax • Gemini • Grus • Hercules • Horologium • Hydra • Hydrus • Indus • Lacerta • Leo • Leo Minor • Lepus • Libra • Lupus • Lynx • Lyra • Mensa • Microscopium • Monoceros • Musca • Norma • Octans • Ophiuchus • Orion • Pavo • Pegasus • Perseus • Phoenix • Pictor • Pisces • Piscis Austrinus • Puppis • Pyxis • Reticulum • Sagitta • Sagittarius • Scorpius • Sculptor • Scutum • Serpens • Sextans • Taurus • Telescopium • Triangulum • Triangulum Australe • Tucana • Ursa Major • Ursa Minor • Vela • Virgo • Volans • Vulpecula

Answer 4

The 88 modern Constellations

Andromeda • Antlia • Apus • Aquarius • Aquila • Ara • Aries • Auriga • Boötes • Caelum • Camelopardalis • Cancer • Canes Venatici • Canis Major • Canis Minor • Capricornus • Carina • Cassiopeia • Centaurus • Cepheus • Cetus • Chamaeleon • Circinus • Columba • Coma Berenices • Corona Australis • Corona Borealis • Corvus • Crater • Crux • Cygnus • Delphinus • Dorado • Draco • Equuleus • Eridanus • Fornax • Gemini • Grus • Hercules • Horologium • Hydra • Hydrus • Indus • Lacerta • Leo • Leo Minor • Lepus • Libra • Lupus • Lynx • Lyra • Mensa • Microscopium • Monoceros • Musca • Norma • Octans • Ophiuchus • Orion • Pavo • Pegasus • Perseus • Phoenix • Pictor • Pisces • Piscis Austrinus • Puppis • Pyxis • Reticulum • Sagitta • Sagittarius • Scorpius • Sculptor • Scutum • Serpens • Sextans • Taurus • Telescopium • Triangulum • Triangulum Australe • Tucana • Ursa Major • Ursa Minor • Vela • Virgo • Volans • Vulpecula

Answer 5

They (seem to be) random patterns formed by stars that seem to resemble shapes.

People see shapes in some cloud formations.

People see a shape in the moon and it looks like a face so they call it the Man in the Moon.

There is a psychological test called the "ink blot test" in which ink is just dumped on cards which are folded and sometimes make a pattern, like a butterfly. Psychologists ask people what they see in those ink blots.

It has to do with creative thinking.

So people looked up at the sky, saw clusters of stars that seemed to make a pattern and they said that patterned looked like a big dipper.

Answer 6

Not consolations, constellations.

There are a number of constellations in the sky, and different ones for each hemisphere; also they change with season, due to the Earth's orbit.
Constellations were imagined by ancient people as a way to recognize parts of the sky; the ancient Greeks have tales relating to most constellations.
Actually, most constellations in use today in the Northern Hemisphere come from Ancient Greece; constellations like Orion, Andromeda, etc, each one with its own place in the Ancient Greek mythology.

Answer 7

Patterns that look like stuff in the sky. (Almost all the time the stars in constellations have nothing to do with each over and can be separated by parsecs of space.)

Answer 8

Consolers of the stars...they probably tell their woes to a shrink.

Answer 9

Constellations? There are so many it would be impossible to list.

Answer 10

I fear they are unconsolable. The whole universe is filled with their weeping.