Highland Climate Festival Nature-Connection Activities

Identify a Constellation

Learn to identify a constellation that you will be able to look for in the night sky tonight, or a cloud-free night this week.

A constellation is a group of stars that appears to form a pattern or picture, often of an animal or a mythical figure. Constellations have historically helped people to orientate themselves using the night sky and there are 88 “official” constellations.

Some of the easiest constellations to recognise and find are:

Ursa Minor (The Little Bear)

Ursa Major (The Big Bear)
(The Big Dipper is part of Ursa Major)

Orion (The Hunter)

Taurus (The Bull)

Gemini (The Twins)

It is easiest to see the constellations on a clear night, and looking from a location as far away from other lights such as street lights also helps. Allow 10-15 minutes for your eyes to adjust to the dark and you will find that you will see more stars. Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Outside that, there are millions and millions of other galaxies too! Now that is a lot of stars!