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top 200 commentsshow 500

[–]limmah 209 points210 points ago

I remember Principal Skinner once identified a single star as "The Chariot Race" or something similar.

[–]spacecase-25 178 points179 points ago

Are you trying to say the simpsons did it?

[–]nosoyunchico 36 points37 points ago

Well, South Park did. I just watched the episode with that joke yesterday.

[–]sheriff_skullface 37 points38 points ago

Simpsons was first.

[–]McBurger 9 points10 points ago

You don't say?

[–]TwoThirteen 36 points37 points ago

Simpsons did it.

[–]PseudoVestus 13 points14 points ago

Simpsons did it.

[–]Perturbed_Spartan 3 points4 points ago

welcome to the planeh-arium

[–]Magic_is_the_answer 16 points17 points ago

I remember a very learned Homer showing his 'little brother' Pepi all the constellations - "Well, that one's Jerry, the cowboy. And that big dipper looking thing is Alan...the cowboy."

[–]TheTalkingCamelAnus 8 points9 points ago

I get my entire knowledge of constellations from The Simpsons.

[–]Quirkhall 6 points7 points ago

And that one over there is Alan... the cowboy.

[–]TheTalkingCamelAnus 4 points5 points ago

Oh Quirkhall, you are so learn'ed.

[–]FatZombieMama 5 points6 points ago

LERND, TheTalkingCamelAnus, it's pronounced LERND.

[–]TheTalkingCamelAnus 4 points5 points ago

I love you FatZombieMama

[–]bmfdan 743 points744 points ago

In fairness to the ancients, they didn't have anything else to waste their time with except making up patterns in the stars.

[–]jeberry12 192 points193 points ago

In even more fairness to the ancients, there was a whole hell of a lot less light pollution.

[–]Psythik 134 points135 points ago

It does make a bit of a difference in the amount of stars you can see.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]alarumba 31 points32 points ago

As a New Zealander, I can confirm this.

[–][deleted] 11 points12 points ago

I opened the tab, flipped back here, and read your comment while it was loading O.O

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points ago

Exactly. Also make sure to give videos a head start before you watch them, especially if you want to watch HD haha.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]MamasBoy 1 point2 points ago

hahaha that is SPOT ON! To those in the big cities and don't live where roosters are the alarm clocks he is not exaggerating.

[–]USMCsniper 34 points35 points ago

sad

[–]DrRedditPhD 1 point2 points ago

Even in the middle of nowhere, I've never seen the Milky Way that brightly. I call shenanigans on that picture.

[–]philosophaster 7 points8 points ago

I remember learning about constellations as a kid. The whole thing was crazy to me: "You mean those six dots over there are a warrior slaying a lion?"

Years later I went to Iraq and ended up standing a lot of night-time duty. No light pollution, and a lot of time to look up at the sky. After a couple of months I always knew where we were in the lunar cycle, I could tell time by looking to where Mars or Venus was in the sky, and I could identify a number of constellations, some of which even made sense to me. It's all about perspective.

[–]Tattered 720 points721 points ago

That, and domesticate cats

and for it we thank them

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]CTRL_ALT_RAPE 166 points167 points ago

Actually, they do kill us, but slowly. The carry a parasite that affects about 8% of the population. can't remember any details, look it up. That's why i'm never owning one of those little demons.

[–]bultonic 119 points120 points ago

[–]wsitu 70 points71 points ago

A study of 191 young women in 1999 reported higher intelligence and higher guilt proneness in Toxoplasma-positive subjects.

This is where I'd throw in the "look of disapproval" emoticon, if I did that sort of thing.

[–]Esc4p3 54 points55 points ago

If you knew how.

[–]wsitu 60 points61 points ago

ಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠಠ_ಠ

[–]turtlenecking 63 points64 points ago

showoff

[–]interesting_toast 30 points31 points ago

poor guy can't win, can he

[–]_Bones 6 points7 points ago

[–]Scrubtanic 1 point2 points ago

shewolf

[–]suicidemachine 1 point2 points ago

Uh, I thought I overdid the meds...

[–]Cam8895 1 point2 points ago

More like if he had one

[–]daedalus733 1 point2 points ago

[–]Whiskey_Fred 1 point2 points ago

So, cats are kind of like the worms that Fry had?

[–]wsitu 3 points4 points ago

Probably. I've seen about five episodes.

[–]ManiacalV 1 point2 points ago

Check this out: http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/sapolsky09/sapolsky09_index.html

(Motorcycle deaths show a higher infection rate!)

[–]Mroto 8 points9 points ago

I was actually diagnosed with this.. And cured. It made it so any time I would eat something I would feel sick. Worth it though cause my cat is awesome.

[–]BaneOfSorrows 20 points21 points ago

You only think that because that's what the parasite is telling you. IT HAS ALREADY BEGUN.

[–]Accelerator 1 point2 points ago

Weird. I'd heard of toxoplasmosis but I'd never considered the thing has a cure.

[–]sheriff_skullface 66 points67 points ago

Your source is a women's fashion blog?

Edit: just for you happyassassin

[–]HappyAssassin 23 points24 points ago

Fashion blog, bro. Edit: Dude, I'm so delighted that you edited.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]FredCompany 3 points4 points ago

Not as bad as what Gizmodo does - the writers (especially Jesus Diaz) blantantly just copy their articles from Reddit comments, and give an article linked in the comments as a source.

[–]ironicmetahipster 57 points58 points ago

Yeah, what an idiot! Everyone knows that Men's magazines are the way to go, peer-reviewed and all.

[–]gordofrog 9 points10 points ago

Yeah, but they cost more for the same amount of reading material

[–]SingBrokenChord 11 points12 points ago

thats because boobs.

[–]MayorBee 22 points23 points ago

Toxoplasmosis? Doesn't that only affect people with weakened immune systems? Which could very well be 8%, for all I know.

[–]kittencum 61 points62 points ago

And you have to eat their poop

[–]pinkteddygirl 43 points44 points ago

I'm scared of your username..... o.0

[–]Whiskey_Fred 1 point2 points ago

With a username like that, I would be too.

[–]Jisaw 23 points24 points ago

Dog eats cat poop, dog licks person's face.

[–]MayorBee 50 points51 points ago

Can't explain that!

[–]a_haar 43 points44 points ago

Checkmate, Atheists.

[–]aboxofcrayons 13 points14 points ago

Isn't that the dog's fault then?

[–]smartassman 5 points6 points ago

But apparently their cum is okay?

[–]RedditInVivo 14 points15 points ago

Not just weakened immune systems actually, and it's estimated to affect a great number more than 8%.

Here is a great article on it. The lab I work in is actually working on characterizing proteins from Toxoplasma gondii in the hopes to produce better vaccines/drugs for treatment. Fun!

[–]MayorBee 1 point2 points ago

That was very interesting. Thanks!

[–]SingBrokenChord 1 point2 points ago

you're like a potential redditor hero!! Do an ama. I think you deserve infinite upvotes for reddit's love of the pussy!

[–]RepostsRuinReddit 1 point2 points ago

We're so fucked. That was a great article though, TIL

[–]TheSexNinja 1 point2 points ago

The thing that gets me about t. gondii is that, evolutionarily, it has been much more beneficial for us to have put up with t. gondii while domesticating cats, than to have widespread disease from rodents.

Anyhow, thank you for your good work sir.

[–]potentiallyoffensive 6 points7 points ago

Nope. People infected with it that don't have weakened immune systems show behavioral differences, higher inclination to suicide, and higher chance of developing schizophrenia.

[–]IronSloth 10 points11 points ago

Aka crazy cat lady

[–]igetthatreference 16 points17 points ago

I thought you meant like they poison us little by little in our sleep using their little cat paws to make little cat poison.

[–]CTRL_ALT_RAPE 14 points15 points ago

No one can prove that they don't do that as well.

[–]SingBrokenChord 6 points7 points ago

i'm a dog person myself. most cats look at you like sentient moving, petting, food-dispensing furniture.

My grandma used to have a cat named gizmo that was a little sweetheart though, i wouldn't have minded an 8% chance of slow parasite death to have taken him home if it weren't for my dog pepper who would hapilly have ripped him to pieces; I swear I think Gizmo thought he was a dog though...

[–]FlyingPasta 14 points15 points ago

They also cause suicidal tendencies in women. Genius. Eliminate the babby bearers.

[–]Zerothe0 12 points13 points ago

how is babby formed?

[–]FlyingPasta 9 points10 points ago

I don't know kid, storks and shit.

[–]Achino 9 points10 points ago

Cat people ARE crazy.

[–]Taikunman 18 points19 points ago

Oh they can kill us, it's just that if they do that they can only eat our body for a limited amount of time. If they keep us alive we feed them for their entire life.

[–]R3allybored 1 point2 points ago

You know how most cats want attention the most when you're busy? What if they're using your distractions to infect you when you're not paying attention?

[–]smith7018 17 points18 points ago

The alternative idea is that cats were simply tolerated by people and gradually diverged from their 'wild' relatives through natural selection, as they adapted to hunting the vermin found around humans in towns and villages.[4]

Fun fact: cats are actually believed to have domesticated themselves. That's from the Cats wikipedia by the way.

[–]irishdevil80 1 point2 points ago

Pussypedia

[–]emlgsh 4 points5 points ago

And we're not juicy and plump enough yet, as a species, for sustained farming. They've been working on that problem for centuries.

[–]Minyme2009 6 points7 points ago

The Egyptians did not actually worship cats, they just thought they were hilarious and made their form of icanhazcheeseburger and related.

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]damaba6 14 points15 points ago

Daniel Tosh... that has to be you...

[–]Tattered 21 points22 points ago

YOU CAN'T PROVE ANYTHING

[–]sigaven 1 point2 points ago

Oh, and invent agriculture. That's a pretty important one

[–]Laerpni 1 point2 points ago

And by getting donkeys drunk and watch them struggle to eat some figs. Chrysippus laughed so much watching such spectacle that he had a heart attack and died on the spot.

he was watching a donkey eat some figs and cried out: "Now give the donkey a drink of pure wine to wash down the figs", whereupon he died in a fit of laughter.

[–]Dances_with_Sheep 33 points34 points ago

The way I imagine it, if you go back to a time before writing, gazing at the stars would provide the only available permanent set of cues to create an index of oral history. Today we use numbers to enumerate chapter and verse. In an ancient era, stars could have served the same role.

Pointing to a lone star then would be like saying "42" now.

[–]FourthReichsFuhrer 18 points19 points ago

That's very interesting. So instead of "open your folklore book to chapter 7," they'd sit around the campfire, look up, and the elder would recount the tale of Orion.

[–]BoomBoomYeah 7 points8 points ago

Orion is Greek and they had writing, though. Any culture that had specific understanding of the sky almost definitely had communication and writing.

[–]iamagainstit 8 points9 points ago

also, the stars were a lot more visible all the time back before electric lighting.

[–]sixothree 4 points5 points ago

That and the lack of light pollution.

[–]PmUaCnK2 3 points4 points ago

They also didn't have "light pollution"

[–]pyrodorobo 4 points5 points ago

Also without much clean water they only really had alcohol to drink. What would you see if you were wasted with thousands of little lights in the sky?

[–]RedditByPhone 5 points6 points ago

I like to think it was the equivalent of when people these days come up with convoluted mnemonic tricks to memorize hundreds of digits of pi.

[–]4ray 1 point2 points ago

They could actually see all the stars, unlike skies today with all the coal smoke and light pollution.

[–]RelevantRetsupurae 1 point2 points ago

From Terrible Sequel Headaches (Part 13/32):

  • Slowbeef: Excuse me, if you're a dark world alien, why do you have a haircut?

  • Diabetus: The anciencts forced us to have...

(Later)

  • Slowbeef: Can one of the questions be 'can you put a shirt on' please?

  • Diabetus: The ancients stole all of our clothes!

[–]NotaMethAddict 131 points132 points ago

The only group of stars I've ever been able to make out is the Big Dipper. I can't even fathom how they saw all of the other constellations.

[–]Luke273 114 points115 points ago

I can usually only pick out Orion, or more particularly Orion's Belt.

[–]tylerjames 123 points124 points ago

That's because the galaxy is on Orion's belt.

[–]GuyFromTheYear2020 72 points73 points ago

which was the style at the time.

[–]Aanimal93 19 points20 points ago

Give me five bees for a quarter!

[–]Real-Life-Reddit 3 points4 points ago

And he would hand me a goose.

[–][deleted] 38 points39 points ago

the galaxy is on orion's b... b.... beh..... beh.....

[–]wierdaaron 6 points7 points ago

You know what I do sometimes when it's really late?

[–]Ana_Thema 2 points3 points ago

Milk the prostate?

[–]Phrodo_00 6 points7 points ago

what I usually see is Orion's belt and sword (aka penis) and what I guess would be Orion's Left knee (I looked it up, and it's not actually part of the constelation, but it'd fit) that make what I call the shopping cart constellation.

[–]WhitePostIt 5 points6 points ago

I always make out all of Orion. It's the first constellation I look for. For some reason, people look for any three stars and say that's Orion's belt, without even bothering to check if the rest of Orion is there. It really bugs me.

[–]straponheart 1 point2 points ago

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time... like tears in rain...

[–]cowboysauce 27 points28 points ago

The big dipper isn't a constellation.

[–]darkneo86 33 points34 points ago

You are correct. It is an asterism.

[–]JBob250 26 points27 points ago

I feel like that's just semantics. To the casual observer, I'd be interested to know the difference, and why it might be important (relatively) to differentiate.

[–]HurricaneHugo 16 points17 points ago

Asterisms are basically any stars that make a shape. All constellations are asterisms, not all asterisms are constellations. Three stars that form a triangle is an example of an asterisms that isn't necessarily a constellation.

Basically the big dipper is an asterism (shape) that is a part of a constellation (Ursa Major).

[–]geareddev 6 points7 points ago

But why?

[–]darkneo86 6 points7 points ago

This might help.

Studied astronomy as a college student, just a little bit.

Sorry if that didn't format correctly. I'm on my phone, working...

[–]DeathToPennies 2 points3 points ago

Your final bracket there should be a parentheses. Just thought you should know.

[–]darkneo86 2 points3 points ago

Ah hell. Good on you. Thanks for that, I was wondering why it didn't format correctly. Again, on phone. Thank you!

[–]semisomna 3 points4 points ago

Built to Spill has the same problem!

[–]austinanimal 1 point2 points ago

Go out way out way away from any city sometime and you'll figure it out pretty quickly. I'm talking about being so far away that you can't see your hand 1 inch in front of your face when the moon isn't out.

[–]Chaseman69 281 points282 points ago

That happens every time I go to the plane-arium

[–]TheQuadricorn 116 points117 points ago

You love the plane-arium

[–]Chaseman69 82 points83 points ago

Not loving the plane-arium will cause great pain

[–]trumancatpote 46 points47 points ago

Can you please explain what the fuck you guys are talking about?

[–]Speed_Racist256 72 points73 points ago

There was an episode of South Park where a planetarium manager controls peoples minds, he has a condition which ironicly enough, he cant pronounce the T in the word planetarium.

[–]DashFerLev 4 points5 points ago

They have a rare bone disorder that keeps them from pronouncing the 't' in planetarium. Please be more sensitive about it.

[–]Atario 1 point2 points ago

I prefer the spelling "plane'arium"

[–]NotaMethAddict 23 points24 points ago

[–]LoveAndDoubt 3 points4 points ago

Matt Stone and Trey Parker once said that season 2 is their least favorite season. Perhaps it's because I was about 12 when the show came out, but season 2 is one of my absolute favorite.

[–]gnihtemoS 1 point2 points ago

Perhaps some day you can get a bone marrow transplant

[–]NeutralAngel 25 points26 points ago

Well, there's... Jerry the Cowboy. And that big dipper looking thing is Alan... the Cowboy.

[–]greycubed 138 points139 points ago

Are you just looking at the sky while learning them? Because with all the light pollution today stars are like 1/10th* of their former brightness. Many no longer visible.

*Dependent on bla bla bla.

Edit: Upvote this. To look up and see a galaxy...

[–]Hrodrik 34 points35 points ago

[–]sigaven 10 points11 points ago

And maybe exposure of the camera? Can you really see the milky way with the naked eye in some places? That would be so cool.

[–]firstness 32 points33 points ago

At a proper dark site (at least 50 miles from any city) the milky way is extremely obvious as a glowing band across the sky. If it's very dark you can also see the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds which are dwarf galaxies orbiting our galaxy.

The farthest thing we can see with the naked eye is the Andromeda Galaxy, 2.5 million light years away, also visible from a dark site.

[–]flyinthesoup 7 points8 points ago

Go to a desert at night. You won't believe your eyes. Or any remote place where the air is really dry. Humidity kind of distorts light.

[–]victore992 6 points7 points ago

Oh yes, it's very easy to see if you're out in the country far away from a major city. Check out a dark sky finder map, such as this one, to see the best place near you. In my opinion it's one of the most beautiful things a person can see.

[–]Hrodrik 4 points5 points ago

There was like 20 second exposure, but yes, you could see the milky way and even that thing to my left.

[–]a10t2 2 points3 points ago

Can you really see the milky way with the naked eye in some places?

This really made me reflect on how different the circumstances are in which people live.

At any rate, yes, from >99% of the surface of the earth the Milky Way is not only visible, but awe-inspiring.

[–]Namika 1 point2 points ago

Here in rural Wisconsin, night skies like that are quite common.

Not so much in the summer, hummidity is almost as bad as city lights. But if you go outside on a cold, dry, night in the middle of January? Hot dam, there are more literally more stars than you can count.

Some nights I'll be driving along on a county road and then realize its a clear night, so I will pull over and get out of my car and just admire the sky. (before you ask, no, I'm not going to get run over, this is rural Wisconsin, cars are pretty damn rare on a county road at 1am)

But anyway, yes, skies like that are quite possible. To be honest if I say that sky in real life I would only rate that a 6 or a 7 on a scale of 1-10 when it comes to clear nights.

[–]Procreate_Rapidly 49 points50 points ago

Are you just looking at the sky while learning them? Because with all the light pollution today stars are like 1/10th* of their former brightness. Many no longer visible.

Exactly. I always wondered what the big deal was with constellations - until I got stoned on the roof of a tall building. OMG ALL THE PRETTY STAR PATTERNS, LET ME NAME THEM.

[–]CookieTop 55 points56 points ago

"At the very moment that humans discovered the scale of the universe and found that their most unconstrained fancies were in fact dwarfed by the true dimensions of even the Milky Way Galaxy, they took steps that ensured that their descendants would be unable to see the stars at all. For a million years humans had grown up with a personal daily knowledge of the vault of heaven. I the last few thousand years they began building and emigrating to the cities. In the last few decades, a major fraction of the human population had abandoned a rustic way of life. As technology developed and the cities were polluted, the nights became starless. New generations grew to maturity wholly ignorant of the sky that had transfixed their ancestors and that had stimulated the modern age of science and technology. Without even noticing, just as astronomy entered a golden age most people cut themselves off from the sky, a cosmic isolationism that ended only with the dawn of space exploration." - Carl Sagan, Contact

[–]ANiceChap 9 points10 points ago

At some point, somewhere, all the lights will go out. People will panic. They will run over each other in the streets. They will murder, rape, and steal. But then they will look up. They will rediscover the stars, and in their wonder, they will be at peace.

[–]greycubed 29 points30 points ago

And then in their distraction they will be attacked and murdered in revenge.

[–]BlazeOrangeDeer 6 points7 points ago

Drive a 100 miles into the countryside, then do that. You may not be able to handle it

[–]Whiskey_Fred 1 point2 points ago

I hope your user name has real life relevancy, because you are awesome.

[–]syscofresh 5 points6 points ago

I live in WY. I can see every star in the goddamn sky.

[–]clevelandrox 1 point2 points ago

Please count them. We'll compare numbers.

[–]MrBoog 34 points35 points ago

I stared for far too long trying to locate the other star in that second image, and I finally found it!

[–]Red_Atlas 5 points6 points ago

Thank you.

[–]Omelette_Jew_Finnish 17 points18 points ago

I used to look up and feel complete lost and confused until I looked at a star map one day. I can't recommend it enough. Just take a few minutes to pick out a few constellations and then you will always know them and once you know a few you can start to see how the whole sky spins around Polaris. Here's how I started: You probably know Orion. If you don't, find that one first, it's super easy to spot. Orion holds a sword in his right hand which are the feet of the Gemini twins. His left hand holds a bow which shoots an arrow right into Taurus's head. From Taurus, Aries and Pisces aren't hard to find (Pisces takes up half the fucking sky). Cassiopeia makes a good starting point to "star-hop" towards other constellations. At first you're like "Wait, wtf it's just a 'W', all the fucking starts are W's." But once you find Cassiopeia, there's a lot of other neat stuff nearby. Try to find Pegasus, and on a clear night you might see the Andromeda Galaxy on one of his legs. My favorite is Sagittarius. It's a teacup and the Milky Way is the steam.

Sorry for rambling, but I think it's neat.

[–]burnt_chicken_wing 13 points14 points ago

I was watching my friend play Skyrim, and this constellation came up for Pickpocket. I initially thought, oh, this could totally pass for a hand (facing upwards)! Then it came up as a hand facing downwards ಠ_ಠ

[–]nylolexchange 4 points5 points ago

That picture illustrates how I think most constellations look. Like they took a few random bright points and came up with something way more complicated that you'd never guess from the points.

[–]Cheddar_Curtain 44 points45 points ago

[–]Kamikaze_Leprechaun 20 points21 points ago

Holy fucking shit...

At least we have the good ones.

/northernhemispherebias

[–]Cheddar_Curtain 12 points13 points ago

Get this: Down under they see some of the same constellations we do. But UPSIDE DOWN. It is true.

[–]Rhakan 2 points3 points ago

I'd say that I probably couldn't tell the difference given that I can't figure out any of the constellations over here anyway.

[–]RockKiller 11 points12 points ago

I grew up learning constellations on Long Island. I got pretty good at the major ones because they were all we could see from my backyard. A couple of years ago my girlfriend and I were visiting a friend on Cayman Brac. We went fishing one night when she asked where the North Star was was. So I looked up to the north for Polaris, and I realized that I knew jack-shit-all about the night sky. It was absolutely gorgeous how many stars we could see, but all I could do was point out the Milky Way and wonder how in the hell we learned to navigate using these things.

[–]RoboAly 2 points3 points ago

In fairness, the change in latitude is going to shift your perception of the celestial sphere.

[–]brucemo 8 points9 points ago

Some of them are pretty good.

Once you figure out Taurus, you can see its face, its eye, and the tips of its horns.

Orion is definitely a dude who's beating Taurus in the head with a stick. Hercules is the same sort of thing, but less noticeable. Canis Major is maybe Orion's dog, but it's easy to find because of Sirius, which is the brightest.

Pegasus is a square, but it kind of has neolithic horse bits, I guess.

Scorpio, yeah, okay. It has a bright red eye and a tail.

Deneb is a big goose or a big cross, take your pick.

Lyra maybe is a lyre, but Vega is so cool I don't care. The lyre is a nice retinue for Vega. Vega is a more feminine Sirius. It's almost as bright, but clear as a bell.

Sagittarius is so like a tea pot it's very clear that it was named before tea pots existed. So that's the tea pot, to me. Look at it with binoculars and you'll blow your mind.

Leo, I can see that being a lion, sitting on its haunches, although Regulus isn't strong enough for a lion.

The Big Dipper is a dipper, not a bear, and the Little Dipper is a dipper you can't see.

Gemini is two stars, which I guess is twins.

But some of them, forget it. Virgo, Cassiopeia, no way.

Triangulum is undeniably accurately named though.

[–]ScratchyBits 2 points3 points ago

Cassiopeia? That's so easy - it's a big W.

[–]Awffles 3 points4 points ago

You confused Deneb with Cygnus. Deneb is the brightest star in Cygnus, but no worries! I, too, often find myself identifying constellations by their brightest stars. Lyra is basically "Vega and those two dimmer stars with the ring nebula in between them" to me.

[–]jjjjjohn 9 points10 points ago

should definitely check out "The Stars: A New Way to See Them," by H.A. Rey (guy who co-wrote/illustrated the Curious George books). he came up with new constellation diagrams that are easier to identify and make more sense. examples here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._A._Rey#Star_Charts

[–]mufinz 6 points7 points ago

you learn them pretty quick if you ever buy a telescope and get into astronomy. great way to navigate around the sky =)

[–]JedLeland 19 points20 points ago

Also, if you have a smartphone, the Google Sky app is awesome.

[–][deleted] ago

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[–]foreverwithcats 25 points26 points ago

Skyrim's sky makes me anxious. Those fucking moons man, how big is this planet that it can capture two of either enormous size because they look huge or have smaller ones held so close to it? One of them looks a bit jupiter-esque, is there a gas giant out there? Is Skyrim's world just a moon orbiting a larger planet, then?

Being a space geek is sometimes at odds with being a fantasy geek.

[–]xKazimirx 9 points10 points ago

/r/teslore

You're welcome.

[–]foreverwithcats 2 points3 points ago

I shouldn't be allowed on there. I'll never leave.

[–]ZombieCancer1996 5 points6 points ago

And these stars up here....Oh wait.....There are no stars, I'm in Houston.

[–]nonnein 5 points6 points ago

try "the stars" by h. a. rey (same author of curious george). his illustrations make a lot more sense than the traditional ones.

[–]jjjjjohn 1 point2 points ago

ahh, your comment beat mine by a minute

[–]DiscordianStooge 3 points4 points ago

I usually have this same thought. Then, I was on the Big Island of Hawaii, where light pollution is severely limited because of the observatories. I was driving early in the morning, looked up and said, "That must be Pegasus." The thing looked so much like a damn winged horse I couldn't help but notice it.

It may have helped that I had a severe facial injury and had taken a bit of vicodin, but I was happy to see a real constellation.

[–]Rhakan 2 points3 points ago

It may have helped that I had a severe facial injury and had taken a bit of vicodin

Yeah, I often see winged horses when I'm high off my ass as well. Although, they aren't always in the sky.

[–]starstuff3 3 points4 points ago

AstroProTip: If you live somewhere where very few stars are visible (like a big city) and you see a particularly bright star, it's probably a planet. I believe the exceptions are Sirius, Vega, and Arcturus (Northern Hemisphere) and Canopus and Alpha Centauri (Southern Hemisphere).

Also, you can use this to learn the sky and where to look for certain objects based on where you live.

P.S. It looks like the objects in the picture you posted are Saturn and Spica. There is a chance that Spica could blow up as a supernova within any time ranging from tomorrow to millions of years in the future. When it does go supernova it will be about as bright as the full moon.

[–]lexixd 3 points4 points ago

RELEVANT!

I just rented a book from the public library called 'The Stars, a new way to see them.' Second edition by H.A. Rey

No joke this book is so on my level. Teaches you constellations without making it impossible.

TRUTH.

[–]akajuicy 2 points3 points ago

False. This is the constellation Canis Minor.

[–]Galaxey 2 points3 points ago

upvote for south park reference and truthfulness

[–]knobblyer 1 point2 points ago

In fairness they were looking at them from very far away.

[–]djlewt 1 point2 points ago

Don't bother, in 50,000 years they'll all be different anyways.

[–]Radioiron 6 points7 points ago

and we'll have to recalculate the addresses for the Stargate

[–]Pfhoraphobia 1 point2 points ago

Canis minor bro. Canis minor. Fornax too.

[–]Volsunga 1 point2 points ago

What people tend to forget is that it isn't just stars that are part of constellations, it's the clouds of dust too. It's just that nobody gets to see that anymore due to light pollution. They are also highly dynamic and can drastically change on a scale of centuries, so the dust clouds we look at are completely different from those observed by ancient astronomers.

[–]cleverseneca 1 point2 points ago

has anyone else heard the theory that maybe between light polution, the death of Stars and the expanding nature of the universe that maybe some of the patterns noticeable a few thousand years ago when the constellations were named, are no longer more than a few dots in the sky?

[–]MattieShoes 1 point2 points ago

FWIW, constellations technically map out sectors of the sky now, and there's no real consistency in terms of what lines are supposed to connect what dots. For some like Ursa Major, the bear is pretty obvious. But for others, just find a shape that you can easily pick out. Perseus is a Y, Cassiopeia is a W, Andromeda is an A, Bootes is a lowercase cursive L... Lyra is a paralellogram, Orion is two lines, Cepheus is a house, Sagittarius is a teapot, Cygnus is a bow and arrow pointed at Aquila (a retarded arrow), etc.

Another trick -- start with the polar constellations. They tend to be visible throughout the year, and they're in the same section of sky every night.

Assuming Northern hemisphere: Ursa Major (big dipper), Ursa Minor (little dipper), and Cassiopeia. Then Cepheus and Draco. Then just work your way south with those as referents.

EDIT: This is an annotated picture of the the typical northern sky in summertime.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattie_shoes/559757842

[–]pecamash 1 point2 points ago

The best is Cancer (the crab). Most of the time they don't even bother to connect the stars to resemble a crab in any way. It's like all of astronomy go together and said "Screw it, you're right. That doesn't look like a crab at all."

[–]RIPeyedea 1 point2 points ago

Not all constellations are meant to resemble their title. Many are tributes - our ancestors saw a pretty grouping of stars and named it in honor of X

[–]smokingirishmonkey 1 point2 points ago

I thought the same thing. All I could ever find were the big dipper and Orion.

I was recently in Hawaii with a nice digital camera (Sony NEX-7) and Google Sky Map on my phone. I'd locate a constellation on my phone, point my camera in the general direction, and take a picture with a longer exposure time. Saw some pretty bad ass stars. Here's Scorpio: http://imgur.com/1zI41 - Antares is the bright star just above center in the picture. Rotate the image in wikipedia about 45 degrees CCW.

That night I found Hercules, Scorpio, Canus Major, the Big Dipper, Centaraus, the southern cross, and one or two others I've forgotten now.

I had to be lenient with some of them, but a lot of times I could make out "legs" or "heads" and stuff.

[–]uidsea 1 point2 points ago

I laughed way harder than I should of at this.

[–]cackslop 1 point2 points ago

Imagine what the night sky would look like without the air and light pollution we have now.

[–]Drunken_Upvoter 1 point2 points ago

Completely agree. However the constellations are ever changing and a constant view into the past of our universe. Sorry for the upvotes to all your comments and posts OP.

[–]Cbeckwith411 1 point2 points ago

I really don't get how constellations always appear the same. Aren't they moving at millions of miles an hour constantly?

[–]blargler 1 point2 points ago

This is actually a real constellation - canis minor

[–]chicagogam 1 point2 points ago

i wonder how messed up a sentient species would develop if out a zillion to one chance their stars perfectly aligned in a perfect rendering of an angry face. would they be more warlike...would their science suffer...

[–]yumtasticmexii 1 point2 points ago

i think i can see it