Definition of constellation - What it is, Meaning and Concept

According to the Spanish Royal Academy ( RAE ), constellation is a term that can also be written as costation , although this second form is used infrequently.Coming from the Latin word constellatio , it is the group of stars which, through imaginary lines , shape a drawing that refers to a certain figure.

Constellations, therefore, are sets created by convention .The practice of grouping stars according to imaginary strokes dates back to Antiquity , when different peoples began to register virtual figures in the sky.The position of the constellations in the night sky is apparently unchanging.

Since we are facing very old discoveries and that there are no historical records on which to base them for study, there is no It is easy to pinpoint the origin of the first constellations drawn in the West.According to some research, Taurus, Scorpio and Leo (the bull, the scorpion and the lion, respectively) were "discovered" approximately four millennia before the Christian era, although they did not have those same names.

Despite what the observation of the constellations may mean today, it is estimated that the first human beings who were interested in the arrangement of the stars had more practical reasons, that is, who sought to rely on this plane of nature to better organize their tasks, their displacements and their rites .Thanks to the creation of different constellations, for example, people from ancient villages could measure the passage of time and the arrival of the stations with more precision.

The constellations also allowed the ancient civilizations to orientate much better throughout their travels, both by sea and by land, since the figures that warned when relating the stars to each other joined to the series of signs and landmarks they used to trace their routes.

The International Astronomical Union , the group that makes decisions related to the denomination of the planets and the establishment of astronomy standards, among other topics, recognizes 88 constellations , of which almost half were imagined by ancient Greek astronomers.

Chinese culture is the source of one of the largest and oldest constellation groups worldwide.As with many of its elements, based on the language itself, its constellations do not resemble those we learn to recognize in West; In large part, the reason for this difference is because this town developed its version of astronomy at the same time as the Greeks, in a totally independent and parallel way.In broad strokes, we can say that The Chinese constellations are divided into 3 enclosures and 28 mansions .

It is important to note that the constellations are arbitrary : the stars do not have an association with each other and can even be located hundreds of light years away.It is a human construction and even the same star can belong to different constellations according to each culture .

One of the best known constellations is Orion , which presents the asterism known as Belt of Orion or The Three Marias .This set is formed by three bright stars ( Mintaka , Alnilam and Alnitak ) that are easily visible.

The zodiac signs proposed by astrology , on the other hand, are linked to constellations such as Aries , Pisces , Taurus and Leo .Astrologers argue that these signs determine certain personality characteristics and somehow govern the destiny of people.

In colloquial language, a meeting or a set of figures prominent or famous is called constellation.example: "The marriage of the mayor was a constellation of celebrities" , "The constellation of stars of Real Madrid never worked as a team" .