Why are all the constellations

Why are there 88 constellations in the sky?

The clear night sky is full of stars. After long-term observation, ancient humans found that the pattern of stars was constant, and only a few bright stars (planets) wandered among stars. In order to distinguish and address these stars, people grouped them and gave them special names. Different nationalities have different combinations and different names. Modern international constellation division can be traced back to Babylon. Babylon had the earliest constellation name as early as 5000 years ago. In 13 century BC, there were 12 constellations on the ecliptic, which were called "Zodiac", meaning 12 in the solar year. Later, it gradually expanded and named more constellations. In the 2nd century AD, Ptolemy, an ancient Greek astronomer, compiled a table containing 48 constellations on the basis of summarizing previous knowledge. 16 ~/kloc-the geographical discovery of Europe in the 0/7th century also supplemented some constellations in the southern sky. At this time, the concept of constellation is only a combination of some bright stars visible to the naked eye, and there is no clear boundary between constellation and constellation. With the development of astronomical telescope technology, more and more dark stars have been discovered and deeply studied, but it is difficult to know which constellation they belong to and how to label and address them.

Polaris with the north pole as the center and its mythical image.

The Southern Constellation with the South Pole as the Center and Its Mythical Image

1928, in order to meet the needs of astronomical research, the General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union held in Leiden, the Netherlands, clearly divided the whole sky into 88 constellation areas, divided along the right latitude and right longitude of the celestial equator coordinate system, kept the traditional constellation names, specified their scientific names in Latin, and clearly formed their abbreviation symbols with three capital letters, which were used uniformly all over the world. Later, the Chinese Astronomical Society confirmed the Chinese translation of the constellation and became the official academic name.

Other civilizations also have their own methods of dividing and naming stars. For example, the starry sky in ancient China was divided into three walls, four images and twenty-eight nights, which played a great role in history and culture, and was similar to the popular constellations in the west in function.