AST-1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: International Astronomical Union, Scientific Modelling, Angular Diameter
Document Summary
Chapter 2: a user"s guide to the galaxy. Ancient cultures celebrated their important mythical figures such as heroes, gods, and beasts by naming groups of stars, or constellations, after them. 48 of the many ancient constellations named by assyrian, babylonian, and greek astronomers are still used today. In 1928, the international astronomical union established 88 official constellations with clearly defined boundaries. As a result, constellations now represent different areas of the sky rather than groupings of stars. A less formally defined grouping of stars is called an asterism (ex. The only thing stars within the same constellation have in common is that they lie in approximately the same direction from earth. Ancient astronomers also named the brightest individual stars most names coming from ancient arabic. Today, astronomers generally assign greek letters to the bright stars in a constellation in approximate order of brightness.
