1 00:00:20,387 --> 00:00:24,824 JAMES: WELCOME TO STAR GAZERS. 2 00:00:24,924 --> 00:00:28,361 I'M JAMES ALBURY, DIRECTOR OF THE KIKA SILVA PLA PLANETARIUM IN GAINESVILLE FLORIDA. 3 00:00:28,461 --> 00:00:30,163 DEAN: AND I'M DEAN REGAS, ASTRONOMER FROM 4 00:00:30,263 --> 00:00:32,032 THE CINCINNATI OBSERVATORY. 5 00:00:32,132 --> 00:00:34,768 WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU FIND YOUR WAY AROUND THE SKY TONIGHT. 6 00:00:34,868 --> 00:00:36,770 JAMES: HEY DEAN, WE HAVE SOMETHING SPECIAL TO TALK 7 00:00:36,870 --> 00:00:37,771 ABOUT THIS WEEK. 8 00:00:37,871 --> 00:00:38,772 DEAN: AND WHAT WOULD 9 00:00:38,872 --> 00:00:39,773 THAT BE? 10 00:00:39,873 --> 00:00:41,341 ANOTHER PLANETARY CLOSE ENCOUNTER? 11 00:00:41,441 --> 00:00:43,143 OR PERHAPS A SUPER-RARE ECLIPSE? 12 00:00:43,243 --> 00:00:45,045 JAMES: WELL, NONE OF THOSE ACTUALLY. 13 00:00:45,145 --> 00:00:48,515 A YOUNG VIEWER OF OUR SHOW VISITED MY PLANETARIUM A WHILE BACK AND HIS 14 00:00:48,615 --> 00:00:50,116 NAME IS HENRY. 15 00:00:50,216 --> 00:00:53,553 HE ASKED ME THIS QUESTION: WHERE DID ALL THESE CONSTELLATIONS COME FROM? 16 00:00:53,653 --> 00:00:56,122 I THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A GREAT THEME FOR THIS WEEKS EPISODE! 17 00:00:56,222 --> 00:00:57,891 DEAN: YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! 18 00:00:57,991 --> 00:00:59,325 WELL, HENRY 19 00:00:59,426 --> 00:01:01,594 WE'RE GOING TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION RIGHT HERE ON STAR GAZERS. 20 00:01:01,694 --> 00:01:05,031 WHERE DID ALL THE SKY PICTURES COME FROM, AND WHO CAME UP 21 00:01:05,131 --> 00:01:06,032 WITH THEM? 22 00:01:06,132 --> 00:01:07,233 JAMES: LETS SHOW YOU! 23 00:01:07,333 --> 00:01:09,803 JAMES: FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, OUR ANCESTORS HAVE 24 00:01:09,903 --> 00:01:13,440 LOOKED UP AT THE NIGHT SKY AND WONDERED WHAT IT ALL WAS. 25 00:01:13,540 --> 00:01:17,510 EVEN AS RECENTLY AS 100 YEARS AGO, BEFORE THE PROLIFERATION OF STREET LIGHTS, 26 00:01:17,610 --> 00:01:22,082 IF YOU WENT OUTSIDE ON A CLEAR, MOONLESS NIGHT, YOU COULD SEE THOUSANDS OF STARS, RIGHT FROM 27 00:01:22,182 --> 00:01:23,316 YOUR BACKYARD. 28 00:01:23,416 --> 00:01:25,418 DEAN: WITHOUT A SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATION OF WHAT THE 29 00:01:25,518 --> 00:01:29,589 STARS WERE, MANY ANCIENT CULTURES THOUGHT THE STARS WERE DIVINE. 30 00:01:29,689 --> 00:01:34,961 EACH STAR WAS CONSIDERED A GOD, FIXED IN POSITION, RELATIVE TO THE OTHERS; APPEARING TO RISE 31 00:01:35,061 --> 00:01:37,697 IN THE EAST AND SET IN THE WEST, NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. 32 00:01:37,797 --> 00:01:40,567 JAMES: IMAGINE HOW MAGICAL, MYSTERIOUS AND AWESOME 33 00:01:40,667 --> 00:01:43,169 THE HEAVENS MUST HAVE SEEMED TO OUR ANCESTORS. 34 00:01:43,269 --> 00:01:48,007 AS A PERSON WENT FROM YOUTH TO OLD AGE, THEY WOULD SEE THE SAME STARS IN THE SAME LOCATIONS 35 00:01:48,108 --> 00:01:51,644 YEAR AFTER YEAR; THE SAME AT AGE 5 AS AT AGE 50. 36 00:01:51,744 --> 00:01:56,216 AND THE SKY SEEMED SO HIGH ABOVE THEM, THAT THE STARS WERE UNREACHABLE, AS IF THEY 37 00:01:56,316 --> 00:01:59,819 WERE ATTACHED TO THE INSIDE OF A LARGE, CRYSTALLINE SPHERE, WITH US AT 38 00:01:59,919 --> 00:02:01,054 THE CENTER. 39 00:02:01,154 --> 00:02:03,857 DEAN: AND THIS CRYSTALLINE SPHERE WOULD APPEAR TO 40 00:02:03,957 --> 00:02:05,925 ROTATE AROUND THE EARTH, AGAIN 41 00:02:06,025 --> 00:02:08,895 WITH US AT THE CENTER, MAKING THE STARS APPEAR TO RISE IN 42 00:02:08,995 --> 00:02:10,897 THE EAST AND SET IN THE WEST. 43 00:02:10,997 --> 00:02:15,969 THIS REPETITIVE MOTION OF THE STARS WAS VERY PREDICTABLE, SO MANY ANCIENT PEOPLE USED THE 44 00:02:16,069 --> 00:02:17,804 NIGHT SKY AS A PRIMITIVE CLOCK. 45 00:02:17,904 --> 00:02:19,606 JAMES: THATS RIGHT. 46 00:02:19,706 --> 00:02:22,775 BECAUSE, NOT ONLY WAS THE DAILY MOTION OF THE STARS REPETITIVE, BUT OVER THE COURSE 47 00:02:22,876 --> 00:02:26,646 OF A YEAR, THE STARS YOU COULD SEE WOULD GRADUALLY CHANGE, 48 00:02:26,746 --> 00:02:30,984 BUT 365 DAYS LATER, THE SAME STARS YOU SAW A YEAR AGO WOULD APPEAR 49 00:02:31,084 --> 00:02:32,752 IN THE SAME PLACE; 50 00:02:32,852 --> 00:02:36,189 SO IF YOU LOOK UP AT THE STARS AFTER SUN-SET ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, YOU'LL SEE THE SAME 51 00:02:36,289 --> 00:02:38,725 STARS IN THE SAME PLACE, EVERY BIRTHDAY, FOR AS 52 00:02:38,825 --> 00:02:39,826 LONG AS YOU LIVE. 53 00:02:39,926 --> 00:02:42,095 DEAN: THE HUMAN BRAIN LIKES TO MAKE ORDER 54 00:02:42,195 --> 00:02:43,563 OUT OF CHAOS. 55 00:02:43,663 --> 00:02:46,699 ALTHOUGH THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE STARS IN THE NIGHT SKY IS RANDOM, 56 00:02:46,799 --> 00:02:50,503 YOUR BRAIN IMMEDIATELY WANTS TO MAKE PATTERNS OUT OF THE BRIGHTEST STARS. 57 00:02:50,603 --> 00:02:53,173 JAMES: SO, AS OUR ANCESTORS SPENT THEIR EVENINGS 58 00:02:53,273 --> 00:02:57,844 GAZING AT THE STARS, THEY WOULD PLAY A CELESTIAL GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, MAKING PATTERNS 59 00:02:57,944 --> 00:03:01,014 ( BOTH BIG AND SMALL) THAT REPRESENTED OBJECTS, ANIMALS 60 00:03:01,114 --> 00:03:02,115 OR PEOPLE. 61 00:03:02,215 --> 00:03:04,450 WE CALL THESE PATTERNS, CONSTELLATIONS. 62 00:03:04,551 --> 00:03:07,820 DEAN: THERE ARE CURRENTLY 88 OFFICIAL CONSTELLATIONS 63 00:03:07,921 --> 00:03:09,255 IN MODERN ASTRONOMY. 64 00:03:09,355 --> 00:03:12,025 THE CONSTELLATIONS YOU CAN SEE DEPEND ON WHERE ON EARTH 65 00:03:12,125 --> 00:03:13,726 YOU LIVE. 66 00:03:13,826 --> 00:03:16,863 FOR EXAMPLE, PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN AUSTRALIA CAN SEE SOME OF THE SAME STARS THAT 67 00:03:16,963 --> 00:03:19,999 WE CAN SEE FROM NORTH AMERICA, BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. 68 00:03:20,099 --> 00:03:21,234 AND VICE VERSA. 69 00:03:21,334 --> 00:03:23,703 JAMES: AUSTRALIANS CAN SEE THE SOUTHERN CROSS, BUT 70 00:03:23,803 --> 00:03:24,871 ONLY A FEW OF US IN NORTH 71 00:03:24,971 --> 00:03:26,172 AMERICA CAN. 72 00:03:26,272 --> 00:03:27,607 NORTH AMERICANS CAN SEE 73 00:03:27,707 --> 00:03:29,042 URSA MAJOR (THE GREAT BEAR), 74 00:03:29,142 --> 00:03:30,977 BUT NEW ZEALANDERS CANNOT. 75 00:03:31,077 --> 00:03:33,513 THE ONLY PLACE ON EARTH WHERE YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE ALL 76 00:03:33,613 --> 00:03:35,882 88 CONSTELLATIONS IS AT THE EQUATOR. 77 00:03:35,982 --> 00:03:39,018 DEAN: SO AS PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD PLAYED CONNECT 78 00:03:39,118 --> 00:03:42,589 THE DOTS WITH THE STARS, THEY WOULD CREATE FANCIFUL STORIES ABOUT EACH 79 00:03:42,689 --> 00:03:44,657 OF THE CONSTELLATIONS THEY CREATED. 80 00:03:44,757 --> 00:03:49,762 MANY OF THESE STORIES WERE USED TO PASS DOWN CULTURAL VALUES OF MORALITY, OR TELL STORIES 81 00:03:49,862 --> 00:03:51,764 ABOUT LOVE, COURAGE OR HONOR. 82 00:03:51,864 --> 00:03:54,234 JAMES: THESE CONSTELLATION STORIES WERE HANDED DOWN 83 00:03:54,334 --> 00:03:56,402 FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION. 84 00:03:56,502 --> 00:03:59,606 SO CONSTELLATIONS CAME FROM STARGAZERS LIKE YOU. 85 00:03:59,706 --> 00:04:01,608 DEAN: GREAT QUESTION HENRY! 86 00:04:01,708 --> 00:04:07,280 IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION OR TOPIC IDEA FOR THE SHOW, FEEL FREE TO WRITE TO US AT OUR WEBSITE: 87 00:04:07,380 --> 00:04:08,681 STARGAZERS ON LINE.ORG. 88 00:04:08,781 --> 00:04:11,551 JAMES: IN THE MEANTIME, YOU CAN ALWAYS CREATE YOUR 89 00:04:11,651 --> 00:04:13,720 OWN CONSTELLATIONS OUT OF THE STARS YOU CAN SEE 90 00:04:13,820 --> 00:04:14,787 EVERY NIGHT AS YOU... 91 00:04:14,887 --> 00:04:18,887 ALL: KEEP LOOKING UP!