The Constellations

The original constellations are star patterns in the night sky that ancient cultures identified with their mythologies. Many of those in the Northern Hemisphere are based on the constellations created by the Babylonians and the Greeks. These include the 12 constellations of the Zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces) that lie along the Sun's annual path across the sky.

As modern astronomy developed, many of the old star patterns were adopted to identify regions of the sky on the celestial sphere. From the southern hemisphere there were large uncharted areas of the southern sky that 17th and 18th century astronomers filled with new constellations. In 1922, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) adopted the modern list of 88 constellations that we recognize and use today.

The table below lists details for the IAU's 88 modern constellations. They cover the entire sky in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The name of each constellation links to a page featuring maps and more details.

The Constellations
No.	Constellation	IAU Abbrv.	Genitive	Description	Location	Area Deg.²	Area %	Area Rank
1	Andromeda	And	Andromedae	Chained Maiden	N	722	1.75	19
2	Antlia	Ant	Antliae	Air Pump	S	239	0.58	62
3	Apus	Aps	Apodis	Bird of Paradise	S	206	0.50	67
4	Aquarius	Aqr	Aquarii	Water Carrier	S/Eq/Z	980	2.38	10
5	Aquila	Aql	Aquilae	Eagle	Eq	652	1.58	22
6	Ara	Ara	Arae	Altar	S	237	0.57	63
7	Aries	Ari	Arietis	Ram	N/Z	441	1.07	39
8	Auriga	Aur	Aurigae	Charioteer	N	657	1.59	21
9	Bootes	Boo	Bootis	Herdsman	N	907	2.20	13
10	Caelum	Cae	Caeli	Chisel	S	125	0.30	81
11	Camelopardalis	Cam	Camelopardalis	Giraffe	N	757	1.84	18
12	Cancer	Cnc	Cancri	Crab	N/Z	506	1.23	31
13	Canes Venatici	CVn	Canun Venaticorum	Hunting Dogs	N	465	1.13	38
14	Canis Major	CMa	Canis Majoris	Greater Dog	S	380	0.92	43
15	Canis Minor	CMi	Canis Minoris	Lesser Dog	N/Eq	183	0.44	71
16	Capricornus	Cap	Capricorni	Sea Goat	S/Z	414	1.00	40
17	Carina	Car	Carinae	Keel	S	494	1.20	34
18	Cassiopeia	Cas	Cassiopeiae	Seated Queen	N	598	1.45	25
19	Centaurus	Cen	Centauri	Centaur	S	1060	2.57	9
20	Cepheus	Cep	Cephei	King	S	588	1.43	27
21	Cetus	Cet	Ceti	Sea Monster	Eq	1231	2.98	4
22	Chamaleon	Cha	Chamaleontis	Chameleon	S	132	0.32	78
23	Circinus	Cir	Circini	Compasses	S	93	0.23	85
24	Columba	Col	Columbae	Dove	S	270	0.65	54
25	Coma Berenices	Com	Comae Berenices	Berenice's Hair	N	386	0.94	42
26	Corona Australis	CrA	Coronae Australis	Southern Crown	S	128	0.31	80
27	Corona Borealis	CrB	Coronae Borealis	Northern Crown	N	179	0.43	72
28	Corvus	Crv	Corvi	Crow	S	184	0.45	70
29	Crater	Crt	Crateris	Cup	S	282	0.68	53
30	Crux	Cru	Crucis	Southern Cross	S	68	0.16	88
31	Cygnus	Cyg	Cygni	Swan	N	804	1.95	16
32	Delphinus	Del	Delphini	Dolphin	N	189	0.46	69
33	Dorado	Dor	Doradus	Swordfish	S	179	0.43	73
34	Draco	Dra	Draconis	Dragon	N	1083	2.63	8
35	Equuleus	Equ	Equulei	Little Horse	N	72	0.17	87
36	Eridanus	Eri	Eridani	River	S/Eq	1138	2.76	6
37	Fornax	For	Fornacis	Furnace	S	398	0.96	41
38	Gemini	Gem	Geminorum	Twins	N/Z	514	1.25	30
39	Grus	Gru	Gruis	Crane	S	366	0.89	45
40	Hercules	Her	Herculis	Strong Man	N	1225	2.97	5
41	Horologium	Hor	Horologii	Clock	S	249	0.60	58
42	Hydra	Hya	Hydrae	Water Serpent (female)	S/Eq	1303	3.16	1
43	Hydrus	Hyi	Hydri	Water Serpent (male)	S	243	0.59	61
44	Indus	Ind	Indi	Indian	S	294	0.71	49
45	Lacerta	Lac	Lacertae	Lizard	N	201	0.49	68
46	Leo	Leo	Leonis	Lion	N/Eq/Z	947	2.30	12
47	Leo Minor	LMi	Leonis Minoris	Small Lion	N	232	0.56	64
48	Lepus	Lep	Leporis	Hare	S	290	0.70	51
49	Libra	Lib	Librae	Balance	S/Z	538	1.30	29
50	Lupus	Lup	Lupi	Wolf	S	334	0.81	46
51	Lynx	Lyn	Lyncis	Lynx	N	545	1.32	28
52	Lyra	Lyr	Lyrae	Lyre	N	286	0.69	52
53	Mensa	Men	Mensae	Table	S	153	0.37	75
54	Microscopium	Mic	Microscopii	Microscope	S	210	0.51	66
55	Monoceros	Mon	Monocerotis	Unicorn	Eq	482	1.17	35
56	Musca	Mus	Muscae	Fly	S	138	0.33	77
57	Norma	Nor	Normae	Square	S	165	0.40	74
58	Octans	Oct	Octantis	Octant	S	291	0.71	50
59	Ophiucus	Oph	Ophiuchi	Serpent Bearer	Eq	948	2.30	11
60	Orion	Ori	Orionis	Hunter	Eq	594	1.44	26
61	Pavo	Pav	Pavonis	Peacock	S	378	0.92	44
62	Pegasus	Peg	Pegasi	Winged Horse	N	1121	2.72	7
63	Perseus	Per	Persei	Hero	N	615	1.49	24
64	Phoenix	Phe	Phoenicis	Fire Bird	S	469	1.14	37
65	Pictor	Pic	Pictoris	Easel	S	247	0.60	59
66	Pisces	Psc	Piscium	Fishes	N/Eq/Z	889	2.15	14
67	Pisces Austrinus	PsA	Pisces Austrini	Southern Fish	S	245	0.59	60
68	Puppis	Pup	Puppis	Stern	S	673	1.63	20
69	Pyxis	Pyx	Pyxidis	Compass	S	221	0.54	65
70	Reticulum	Ret	Reticuli	Reticle	S	114	0.28	82
71	Sagitta	Sge	Sagittae	Arrow	N	80	0.19	86
72	Sagittarius	Sgr	Sagittarii	Archer	S/Z	867	2.10	15
73	Scorpius	Sco	Scorpii	Scorpion	S/Z	497	1.20	33
74	Sculptor	Scl	Sculptoris	Sculptor	S	475	1.15	36
75	Scutum	Sct	Scuti	Shield	S	109	0.26	84
76	Serpens	Ser	Serpentis	Serpent	Eq	637	1.54	23
77	Sextans	Sex	Sextantis	Sextant	Eq	314	0.76	47
78	Taurus	Tau	Tauri	Bull	N/Eq/Z	797	1.93	17
79	Telescopium	Tel	Telescopii	Telescope	S	252	0.61	57
80	Triangulum	Tri	Trianguli	Triangle	N	132	0.32	79
81	Triangulum Australe	TrA	Trianguli Australis	Southern Triangle	S	110	0.27	83
82	Tucana	Tuc	Tucanae	Toucan	S	295	0.72	48
83	Ursa Major	UMa	Ursae Majoris	Great Bear	N	1280	3.10	3
84	Ursa Minor	UMi	Ursae Minoris	Little Bear	N	256	0.62	56
85	Vela	Vel	Velorum	Sails	S	500	1.21	32
86	Virgo	Vir	Virginis	Virgin	Eq/Z	1294	3.14	2
87	Volans	Vol	Volantis	Flying Fish	S	141	0.34	76
88	Vulpecula	Vul	Vulpeculae	Fox	N	268	0.65	55

The Constellations Column Descriptions
Heading	Description
No.	Constellation Number in Alphabetic Order
Constellation	Name of Constellation
IAU Abbrev.	IAU 3-Letter Constellation Abbreviation
Genetive	Genetive Form (Latin) of the Constellation Name
Description	Translation or Common Name of Constellation
Location	Hemisphere or Location on Celestial Sphere (N=Northern, S=Southern, Eq=equatorial, Z=Zodiac)
Area	Area of Constellation on Celestial Sphere (sq. degrees)
Area Percent	Percent of Constellation's Area Relative to the Entire Celestial Sphere (41,253 sq. deg.)
Area Rank	Rank of Constellation in Area

Additional Information

AstroPixels Links

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Last Updated: 2014 Sep 10