Does our Sun belong to a constellation?

Question

The solar system is inside the "Milky Way", but there are a lot of constellations in it: how many are the constellations of the Milky Way?
Does our Sun belong to one of them?
Thanks.

please do not use the shortened writing, I am Italian, I would not understand the answers.
Thanks.

Answer 1

Constellations are man's artificial constructs when we see something that looks like a pattern. Since we can't view the sun as part of a larger group, it can't really be put into a constellation.

Answer 2

Constellations are groupings of stars designated for the shape they make together when viewed from Earth. The sun isn't part of any official constellation, probably because you can't see any other stars when you can see it. It's important to note that some constellations also include whole galaxies, which can appear to be stars on first sight (and especially to the naked eye). All of the (lone) stars in constellations are in the Milky Way, as stars in other galaxies tend to be too far away to be distinct from the rest of their galaxies.

Also, there are no constellations _in_ the solar system.

Answer 3

The constellations are arbitrary groupings of stars at various distances from the Sun, and don't have anything in common except that they are composed of stars in the same general direction in the sky. The Sun is much closer than any of these stars, and appears to move through the constellations as we orbit around the Sun. Thus the Sun is currently in the constellation Taurus, but in a couple of days it will move into the constellation Gemini. Over the course of a year, it appears to move through 13 different constellations.

Answer 4

Constellations were created by beings on Earth, so you can't say the Sun is part of a constellation. On the other hand, if you went to a planet circling a nearby star, the constellations would still be recognizable, as the position of the distant stars will not move that much. On that planet, our sun will appear in a constellation; which one would depend on where you are.

I remember one of Carl Sagan's appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He brought in a picture showing how the night sky would appear if we were on a planet circling a nearby star (I forget which one). One section of the sky looked like a familiar constellation, except there was one additional bright star - and that star was our sun. I thought that was pretty cool. :)

Answer 5

At the moment the Sun is in the constellation of Virgo. The signs of the zodiac are based on the constellations the sun appears to pass through during the year. It is caused more by the Earth's orbit around the Sun, and where the sun appears to be. So after 21st September the sun will be in Libra.

Answer 6

Constelations are groups of stars that are resemble characters from mythology or others. However they only make sense when they are observed from Earth in the night. Since the sun can not be seen in the night (and its too close to be part of any constelation) it does not belong to any constellation.

Answer 7

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/messier/more/mw.html
This site is easily found on Google. It may give you more info than you really wanted but it points out that our solar system is part of our galaxy which may have as many as 400 billion stars besides our little very own smallish star we call the sun.
I have read that if one were to travel very quickly, say the speed of light (300,000 kilometers per second or about 186,200, miles a second it would take 100,000 years to reach the other edge of our galaxy. That means that our milky way is 100,000 light years across.
There are of course larger galaxies than ours but ours is a big one which is apparently on a collision course with another one called Andromeda.
Not to worry however this meeting will take some millions of years and from a great distance should be quite beautiful. I believe that astronomers reserve the term constellation to apply to galaxies and what you are referring to might be what they call “globular clusters”. See what you can find out.
Jim D

Answer 8

PLEASE IGNORE ALL ANSWERS OTHER THAN THOSE THAT TALK ABOUT CONSTELLATIONS BEING ARTIFICAL - PEOPLE TEND TO GUESS ANSWERS, WHICH IS CONFUSING TO PEOPLE TRYING TO LEARN.

The constellations are simply someone's imagined shape made by a group of stars. There is no other connection between the stars in a constellation than they make a shape that someone in the past saw as Lion or a Giant or a Scorpion.

If you could travel to a distant star, you would not see the stars in the same groupings that we see in the sky.

The shapes of the constellations are no different to seeing shapes in clouds or seeing some rock that looks like a lion's head.

Answer 9

Not from our point of view, which is where our concept of "constellations" comes from, anyhow.

The constellations are an arbitrary grouping of stars that made/make a pattern in someone's mind. It relates to a phenomenon known as Pareidolia (see the link).

People out in the fields at night looked up at the stars and saw patterns that made them think of animals, legendary figures, and mythical figures, and showed them to others. These groupings "stuck", and have been passed down through time.

But different cultures looked at the same groupings of stars and saw different things. One group might look at Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and see a Ladle (the Big Dipper). The Brits call it "The Plough". In Burma, it is called "The Prawn" or "The Lobster".

Answer 10

The sun is in the constellation: Sagittarius. Am I the only one who just answered the question?