SC.4.E.5.1 Stars, Constellations, and Seasons

SC.4.E.5.1 Observe that the patterns of stars in the sky stay the same although the appear to shift across the sky nightly, and different stars can be seen in different seasons.

Why Do We See Different Patterns of Stars in Different Seasons?

This photograph shows stars in the night sky. The stars appear as short lines. This is because the camera to this image over a period of about thirty seconds. This allowed the camera to gather enough light to show the stars. This image is evidence that stars move across the night sky.

In this image, some of the stars are scattered randomly. Some of the stars look almost like they were placed in a patter. Near the center is a line of three bright stars. There is a smaller line of three dimmer stars to the lower right.

Some ancient people looked at this pattern and imagined that they saw the pattern of a man with a sword hanging from his belt.

In this image, we see the same pattern of stars. The lines have been connected, and we can begin to imagine a man with a sword hanging from his belt.

Now the pattern has been filled in with the picture of a hunter with his sword hanging from his belt. The name of this hunter is Orion. Patterns of stars in the sky are called constellations. Patterns of stars can be seen all over the sky. One familiar constellation is the Big Dipper. This constellation is seen in the northern sky and looks like a spoon used to dip water from a bucket.

Stars move across the sky during the night. As the Earth moves in its orbit around the Sun, the patterns of stars in the night sky appear to change from month to month. Orion is only visible at night during the winter months. In the summer, Orion is in the daytime sky.