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What Makes Constellations Look Like the Shapes We See in the Sky?

-- Curelle | October 29, 2024

Question:

HI! I’m a high school senior and I’m doing a TOK project. constellations are my first object, and I was wondering: How is it so that we can see constellation patterns if they are not close to each other in reality?

Thanks!

-- Curelle

Answer:

This question has been answered previously in the post entitled “What are Constellations?“. Constellations appear like the shapes we see due to the chance alignment of stars toward a particular place in the sky that lie at a variety of distances from us.

-- Jeff Mangum

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