Grades K–2 · Earth & Space
How can scattered stars make a picture in the sky?
At night, some stars seem to make shapes together. People have imagined animals, people and other pictures among them. These patterns help people recognize parts of the sky.
In the diagramA sky picture depends on viewpointPattern seen in the skySide view: different distancesEarthInvented pattern; imagined joining lines; distances not to scale.
There are no lines joining those stars. We imagine the lines. Stars that look close together in our sky may actually be very far apart in space. Some are much nearer to us than others.
The picture depends on where we look from. From another place far away in space, the same stars could make a different pattern. A sky picture joins real stars with a way people have chosen to see them.
About this explanation
Starting knowledge: Recognize a pattern of dots and understand near and far.
Sources
- NASA — The True Shape of Orion