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

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

Boötes The Herdsman Northern · best June · Arcturus

Circinus The Drawing Compasses Southern · best June · Alpha Circini

Libra ☉ The Scales Both · best June · Zubeneschamali

Lupus The Wolf Southern · best June · Alpha Lupi

Ursa Minor The Little Bear Northern · best June · Polaris

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

Circinus, Lupus: 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.