什么是星座？

When you look up into the sky on a clear night, you’ll see stars littered throughout the darkness. It may seem like a random pattern. But some people used those patterns to tell stories—and the stars still have uses for scientists today.

當(dāng)在晴朗的夜晚仰望天空時，會看到在黑暗中散落的星星。它可能看起來像是有隨機(jī)的圖案，但有些人用這些圖案來講故事 - 而今天，星星仍然對科學(xué)家有用。

A constellation is a group of stars that create a recognizable pattern in the sky. There are 88 officially recognized constellations, some of which are named after mythological creatures and might sound familiar if you’ve ever looked up your horoscope.

星座是一組恒星，在天空中顯現(xiàn)出一種可識別的圖案。目前有88個官方認(rèn)可的星座，其中一些以神話生物的名字命名，如果你曾經(jīng)看過你的星座，有的可能聽起來就很熟悉。

Anthony Cook, an astronomical observer at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, says constellation patterns are useful for memorizing stars in the sky. In ancient times, different cultures recognized these patterns in different ways, he says, but a lot of the constellations we know today were defined in Ancient Greece.

洛杉磯格里菲斯天文臺的天文觀測員安東尼·庫克說，星座圖案對于記憶天空中的恒星非常有用。在古代，不同的文化以不同的方式認(rèn)識到這些圖案，但我們今天所知的很多星座都是在古希臘定義的。

Some of them are named after heroes like Hercules and Orion. Other star patterns are named after animals, like Ursa Major or the big bear. The stars acted as a way to preserve stories, like the legend of Perseus rescuing princess Andromeda from a sea monster named Cetus. Certain parts of the sky let you see the whole story from one constellation to the next, Cook says.

其中一些以赫拉克勒斯和奧利安(獵戶座)等英雄命名，其他星形圖案以動物命名，如大熊座。這些恒星充當(dāng)了保存故事的方式，就像珀耳修斯(Perseus，對應(yīng)星座英仙座)的傳說，從一只名叫刻托(Cetus，對應(yīng)星座為鯨魚座)的海怪中救出安德洛墨達(dá)(Andromeda，對應(yīng)星座仙女座)公主。庫克說，天空的某些部分讓你可以看到從一個星座到下一個星座的整個故事。

These constellations are used for more than just remembering stories, Cook says. Explorers used constellations to navigate. Ursa Minor, or the little bear, contains the North Star, a bright star that hovers right over the north pole. Knowing the location of that star means knowing where north is, which is pretty important for getting around without the help of a map. Cook says it can also tell you your latitude based on how high it is above the horizon.

這些星座不僅被用于記憶故事，探險家使用星座進(jìn)行導(dǎo)航。小熊座(Ursa Minor)里包含北極星，了解那顆恒星的位置意味著知道北方的位置，這對于在沒有地圖幫助的情況下出行非常重要。庫克說，它還可以根據(jù)它在地平線上的高度來告訴你你的緯度。

To fill out every corner of the sky, Cook says new constellations were named. This explains more modern names for constellations, like Microscopium, the microscope, which was named in the 18th century.

為了填補(bǔ)天空的每個角落，新的星座就被命名了。這解釋了更為現(xiàn)代的星座名稱，例如顯微鏡座(Microscopium)，它是在18世紀(jì)命名的。

Today scientists use constellations to identify territories of the sky. Cook says that if an astronomer talks about the constellation Sagittarius, they are probably thinking about the center of the milky way galaxy, which lies in Sagittarius’ direction.

今天，科學(xué)家使用星座來識別天空的區(qū)域。庫克說，如果一位天文學(xué)家談?wù)撋涫肿男亲?，他們可能會想到銀河系的中心，它位于射手座的方向。[HW：射手座的盆友可以自稱“銀河之心射手座”]

Constellations can also come in handy when naming or identifying stars. Most stars are logged and given a number. A star’s catalog number might include the name of the constellation it’s in. Alpha Centauri, the stars closest to Earth, exist in the Centaurus constellation.

在命名或識別星星時，星座也可以派上用場。大多數(shù)星星都會被記錄并被指定一串?dāng)?shù)字。恒星的編號可能包括它所在星座的名稱。半人馬座α(南門二)星是最接近地球的恒星，存在于半人馬座中。

Even over thousands of years, the constellations remain relatively stable, Cook says. Stars are moving past each other at rapid speeds, but they are so far away that if you went back in time to the ancient Greeks, he says you’d probably not notice a difference from today’s sky.

即使在數(shù)千年的時間里，這些星座仍然相對穩(wěn)定。星星正以極快的速度相互移動，但它們距離如此遙遠(yuǎn)，以至于如果你回到古希臘，你可能沒有注意到與今天的天空有什么不同。