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Asterism

An asterism is a pattern of stars seen in Earth"s night sky. It may form part of an official constellation, or be composed of stars from more than one. Like constellations, asterisms are in most cases composed of stars which, while they are visible in the same general direction, are not physically related, often being at significantly different distances from Earth. The mostly simple shapes and few stars make these patterns easy to identify, and thus particularly useful to those learning to familiarize themselves with the night sky.

Examples of asterisms are the Big and Little Dippers are asterisms within the constellations of Ursus Major and Ursus Minor. The Summer Triangle and Winter Hexagon are asterisms that include stars from several constellations.


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