A website with this title has been created by a group of enthusiasts in New York, one of whom, Mitchell Barrick, has asked our help in making it known. As Mitch says, it displays the constellations and “what they represent, where and when you can see them, and … their brightest stars. It was fascinating putting it all together and we’re proud of how it came out.”
Interestingly, the context of the project is that it is an outgrowth of the group’s work on sleep. Their previous “infographics” are on animal sleep, sleep disorders, and nightmares.
Their first astronomical infographic is good to look at:
Here is Mitch’s description, only slightly edited.
Human beings have been drawing imaginary lines between stars for quite a long time. From giraffes to altars to mountains to whole pantheons of gods to simple shapes and tools, the stuff of these constellations tells us a lot more about the human beings who grouped them together than the stars themselves. The constellations have endured as a useful framework into which to fit our growing knowledge of the boundless universe/
This infographic by Sleepopolis displays the brightest stars, origins, and inspiring sights in the 88 official constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) . Only 48 of the constellations are the original Greek and Sumerian ones recorded by Ptolemy; they include the constellations of the zodiac and most others that are well known. About 15 others on the list were much later inventions by the French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, who drew his constellation names from more prosaic objects such as an easel, a compass, a telescope, a clock.
See if you can spot the brightest star in each constellation and map the night sky – use the key to find out when is the best time to see it and which hemisphere you can find it in!
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DIAGRAMS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor. One way: right-click, and choose “View image”, then enlarge. Or choose “Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). I am grateful to know of what methods work for you.