Stars of northern skies (Important Facts) {Part-5}

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE NORTHERN SKIES, you look away from the densely populated Galactic centre, so the northern sky generally appears less bright than the southern sky.

Northern Sky from the Earth

Northern Stars

Among the best-known sights in the northern sky are the constellations "Ursa Major(the Great Bear)

Ursa Major(the Great Bear)

Ursa Major

and the Orion".Some ancient civilizations believed that the stars were fixed to a celestial sphere

Orion

Orion

surrounding the Earth, and the modern maps of the sky are based on a similar idea. The North and South Poles of this imaginary celestial sphere are directly above the North and South Poles of the Earth, at the points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects the sphere.The celestial North Pole is at the center of the map, and Polaris(the Pole Star) lies very close to it. The celestial equator marks a

projection of the Earth's equator on the sphere. The ecliptic marks the path of the Sun. The Moon and planets move against the background of the stars because the stars are much more distant; the nearest star outside the Solar System (Proxima Centauri) is more than 50,000 times further away than planet Jupiter.

Proxima Centauri

Some of the Northern Star Constellations

Andromeda the Princess constellation

Andromeda Constellation

Pegasus Constellation

Pegasus Constellation