Will stars move around?

Question

Will Orion for example look different one day because the stars have moved or will they stay exactly where they are?

Answer 1

Yes, over a period of thousands or tens of thousands of years, the constellations will change in appearance. That is because stars move past each other at speeds as high as 200 miles per second or more, causing them to brighten or fade as their apparent position in the sky changes. Some stars are very faint and thus are only bright when very near the Solar System. The fastest moving star in the sky right now is a little red dwarf in Ophiuchus called Barnard's Star, which is now 6 light years away. It moves the diameter of the full moon ever 180 years and it's motion in the sky is accelerating. That is because it will close to about three light years some 8,000 years from now. Also, in constellations that have many massive stars, it's appearance will change when one of them explodes as a core collapse or Type II supernova, which may shine as bright as the full moon in the case of Betelgeuse when it does go off.

Answer 2

Yes, the stars we see in the constellations are not necessarily actually together in space. The constellations are just patterns we see in the random appearance of stars. But most of the stars in a constellation are dozens to hundreds of light years apart.
And not only are all the stars moving (some more than others), our solar system is also moving in the galaxy which will change our point of view over time.
But it takes hundreds of thousands of years to change the patterns in the sky noticeably.

Answer 3

Yes, the constellations change shape as the individual stars move in different directions. And those stars are moving quite fast. Many thousands of miles per hour. But they are so far away that it takes thousands of years for them to move far enough to change the shape of the constellations.

Answer 4

yes they will soon change shape, because we see the stars in a 2d planar, so that when one star is moving further from the other, the distance between them will seem to increase or decrease, thus deforming the constellation... and dont worry you will not notice the change of shape of the constellation

Answer 5

I am 68 years old and I can tell you from experience that they do
move.

The constellation of Orion is a perfect example, it has changed,
if only slightly, over the last 60 years.

Answer 6

All the stars are moving; but the distances in between them are so vast, that we won't notice the difference in our lifetimes.

Answer 7

looking at the sky, everyday, the constallation will seemed to have moved. but as you know, the earth is moving so it seems as if the stars are. according to the question, the answer is no. the stars haven't moved from there positions, we're just viewing them from different angles.