Constellations

All 88 official constellations: their stories, their brightest stars, and real star maps for every one.

Best placed this month (October): Piscis Austrinus Grus Pegasus Cepheus Aquarius Octans

8 constellations shown. “Best month” = when it sits highest around 9 pm; zodiac constellations are marked ☉ (and see the note below on astronomy vs astrology).

Auriga The Charioteer Northern · best February · Capella

Camelopardalis The Giraffe Northern · best February · Beta Camelopardalis

Canis Major The Great Dog Southern · best February · Sirius

Columba The Dove Southern · best February · Phact

Gemini ☉ The Twins Northern · best February · Pollux

Lepus The Hare Southern · best February · Arneb

Monoceros The Unicorn Both · best February · Beta Monocerotis

Puppis The Stern Southern · best February · Naos

Photographs show each constellation’s own patch of sky. Where no free photograph exists, the map is drawn from real star positions and magnitudes.

Photo credits

Columba: Till Credner (CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

☉ Astronomy vs astrology: constellations are real regions of sky, mapped and measured. Astrology (predicting personality or events from them) is a belief system, not a science; the Atlas covers the zodiac constellations as astronomy and history only.