AMAZING CONSTELLATIONS

Of star assemblies….
Thousands of stars on a clear moon-less night, some of these stars arraying in groups or patterns as though staging a celestial drama (!!) do make a poetic picture!

Since the ancient times, man has gazed at the stars and singled out identifiable shapes and patterns. One group of stars suggested the outline of a bear; another group of stars reminded them of a hunter, and so on and on. The stars, which appear in the form or gathered groups and in identifiable silhouettes and patterns, are known as constellations. Again our ancestors named these star groups or constellations after the objects, which they seemed to resemble.

The Indian name for the constellations is 'Nakshatras'. About 88 constellations (star groups) are known. Each constellation has been assigned a name signifying an animal, a human being or some other object, which it appears to bear a resemblance to. You may be interested to note some of the important constellations-

Ursa major (or Great bear) 'Saptarishi'
(ii) Ursa minor (or Little bear) 'Laghu Saptarishi' or 'Dhruva Matsaya'
(iii) Orion (or Hunter) 'Vyadha' or 'Mirga'
(iv) Scorpio 'Vrishchika'
(v) Pleides ' Kruttika'
(vi) Cassiopeia 'Sarmishtha'

And now for you it will be interesting to know about the star formation or gatherings-