There are many constellations that one can find in the night sky however this week I am going to try to find some of the Zodiac Constellations that can be seen in the night sky this time of year. In popular culture there are twelve zodiac signs but in the night sky there are thirteen. I was successful in locating Pisces and Aquarius which are two of the zodiac constellations. Doing some research I found that the best way in which to locate these two constellations that are beside each other is to locate the “Great Square of Pegasus”. Once I have located this then I found the Pisces is right below the Great Square. Once Pisces is located the head of the fish on the right is right beside Aquarius. Another useful body that Stellarium showed that would be bright in the sky is Jupiter. Jupiter will be located below and a little to the right of Pisces. I also know that in order to locate these constellations I have to look southeast. With all of this information that I found I was able to locate these two constellations.
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Figure Obtained from Stellarium
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Above is a map of the night sky one can see that I can find the two constellations if I locate the great square. I was successful in finding the two constellations. Zodiac Constellations are unique; these constellations are the ones that the sun passes through in the sky. This means that presently the constellation Virgo is in the sky during the day and that is where the sun resided. This concept can be explained by looking at the figure below.
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| Figure obtained from: http://www.2012dayafter.com |
This shows that sun moves through different zodiac constellation different times in Earth’s orbit and thus different times of the year. At this time of year we see Aquarius and Pieces and the sun passes through Virgo. The zodiac constellations can change and you may not have the same sign as you think you have.
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