Looking up at the stars,
ancient humans all around the world
saw the shapes of heroes and monsters.
The constellations of the ancient Greeks were preserved and built upon
— first by Muslim astronomers in
the Islamic Golden Age,
then by Europeans during the scientific revolution.
In 1922, the International Astronomical Union organized the sky
into 88 official constellations — each one with its own story —
but this celestial map can be hard to navigate without a guide.
So in this video I'm going to teach you some tricks that you can use to find a bunch of
constellations when you go out this summer.
The first tip is to get as far away from city lights as possible.
I'm here in Northern Pennsylvania in Cherry Springs State Park
and if you look at this map of light pollution
you can see that this is an area that's one
of the darkest patches east of the Mississippi.
You also want to avoid moonlight
— and luckily tonight the moon will be just a sliver.
If you start your stargazing trip around sunset
you can start to get your bearings.
And this is a 360 video, so you can look around
by moving your device or by clicking and dragging.
The sun just set behind me
and so that's the West.
This way is north.
There's south.
And back by the chair is East.
If you look around you’ll start to see a few points of light.
Some are the brightest stars
and some are planets,
a term that comes from the ancient Greek word for “wanderer.”
They don’t stay in the same place but rove across the fixed pattern of the stars.
As night falls
turn to the north and look up
— just follow these arrows —
and we’ll start our tour.
You might recognize one group of stars;
the Big Dipper.
Four stars form the bowl and
and three more the handle.
Before optometry, some tested their vision
by finding an extra star in the handle — little Alcor.
This pair is called “The Horse and Rider.”
The Big Dipper isn't an official constellation — it's technically part of Ursa Major.
According to myth, Zeus stretched out this great bear's
tail as he flung it into the heavens.
In Greek, bear is "arctos"
— and the lands that lie
in the direction of this bear (north)
became known as "the Arctic."
Some Native Americans also saw a bear in these stars
— pursued by hunters.
In South Korea, they saw seven devoted sons.
And for us, this unmistakable constellation will be a key to navigating the heavens.
Start with the two stars at the Dipper's edge.
Draw a line between them and keep going;
you'll run into the North Star — Polaris.
It's in the tail of a much fainter “Little Bear” — Ursa Minor.
As the night passes, Polaris stays fixed in the north
as all the other stars rotate around it.
I should mention that the night sky will look different depending on exactly where you are.
At the North Pole, Polaris is directly over your head.
As you travel south, Polaris moves lower and lower
until, at the equator, it kisses the horizon.
Here in Pennsylvania, it's right in the middle.
The sky also changes with the seasons.
This is the sky now — 10 p.m. on June 11.
But in a month,
the sky will look like this at 10 p.m.
And by midwinter, the 10 p.m. sky will look very different,
with a whole set of winter constellations
coming into view.
But let's get back to summer, and our guide the Big Dipper.
If we follow that same line from before from those two stars at the Dipper's edge to Polaris
and then keep going about the same distance again, curving slightly, we'll reach Cassiopeia
— look for a W in the stars.
The ancient Greeks saw a vain North African queen on a throne,
but people in northern Scandinavia and Siberia saw antlers.
Ok, let's return to the Dipper.
This time, follow a line from the two other stars in the Dipper's bowl
down towards the West
until you hit a backwards question mark.
This is Leo — a constellation that’s been recognized as a lion for at least 6,000 years,
from ancient Turkey to ancient India.
Back to the Big Dipper one last time!
If you follow those same stars the other way
far across the sky to the East you'll hit a bright star called Deneb.
It's one of the most distant stars
that you can still see clearly, because it is so luminous
- about 200,000 times brighter than our sun.
Deneb comes from the Arabic for "the tail of the hen" … and it is in the tail of a
swanlike constellation called Cygnus.
There are two more bright stars a little east of Cygnus.
First, by its left wing — Vega — in the constellation Lyra.
Second, a little more towards the horizon
you'll see Altair.
"The Flying One."
It’s in Aquila the Eagle.
These three bright stars are called
the "Summer Triangle."
In China, Altair and Vega were seen as two lovers — a weaver and a cowherd —
tragically separated by the river of the Milky Way.
As the night goes on, look south and you'll see
a bright reddish star peeking over the horizon.
This is Antares, in the constellation Scorpius.
You can follow the line of its barbed tail.
Which looked like Maui's magical fishhook
to the people of the Polynesian diaspora.
The final stop on our tour is the very center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
It's near the end of Scorpius’ tail, next to the constellation Sagittarius.
I see a teapot here, with a bit of Milky Way puffing out like steam.
And if you look right here, you're staring into the exact center of our galaxy.
Some stories say Sagittarius depicts
a satyr named Crotus.
A playful horse man who once,
putting his hands together in delight,
invented applause.
Subscribe to Skunk Bear — NPR's science show.
If you want a printable version to this guide there's a link in the description.
And if you want more 360 video check out our episode about walking to the moon.