Are the stars that belong to the same constellation usually physically associated with each other?
2007-08-02 08:34:29 · 7 answers · asked by dothedip 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
No. Constellations are a line-of-sight phenomenon, which the human brain uses to make sense of the cosmos. We mentally associate stars that look close together in the sky as being "connected" in some way to one another. But it is fairly rare if they prove to be physically associated with one another as well.
2007-08-02 09:08:03 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Constellations are totally illusory. They do not exist as we draw them, except from our vantage point in space. If you were a thousand light years away from the Earth, many constellations would appear vastly different.
Basically, humans just put arbitrary lines in the sky connecting stars that have no relationship to each other. The lines have no scientific significance whatsoever. It's just people making familiar pictures in the sky.
2007-08-02 08:39:32 · answer #2 · answered by lithiumdeuteride 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are generally NOT associated with each other. With few exceptions, the stars that make up a constallation in our viewing field from earth are many many light years away from each other in real space. Stars that were close to each other in real space would not make very good imaginary connect-the-dot pictures form our view here on earth because there would appear to be no, or little, space between them. And all constallations are are imaginary pictures that are not really there.
2007-08-02 08:39:28 · answer #3 · answered by TopherM 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, most of the time they are actually light years away from each other. And some of the lights in the constellations are actually galaxies, not stars.
2007-08-02 08:38:11 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The association is only an apparent association and not a physical association.
2007-08-02 09:50:50 · answer #5 · answered by Shaula 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, they only look like they do because of the way we look at them, heres an example, take a small ball and set it on a table, then set a larger ball farther away, and look at them from the level of the table, and it looks like two, roughly same-size balls right next to eachother
2007-08-02 08:40:39 · answer #6 · answered by The Gopher 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. Two stars that appear close together in our sky may, in fact, be *very* far apart. (and usually are.)
2007-08-02 08:37:14 · answer #7 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋