seen shapes in the stars hey there
stargazers Ondine regus astronomer for

the Cincinnati observatory and I'm James
all Barry director of the kike sola

planetarium in gainesville florida

we're here to help you find your way
around the sky

hey Dean have you seen the Big Dipper
the summer i have after all it's my

favorite constellation demons

laughing because he knows darn well the
Big Dipper is not a constellation

I know I know I just like messing with
you James the Big Dipper is only part of

a larger constellation called Ursa Major
or the big bear

so if it's not an official constellation
what do we call it like to call it an

asterism an asterism is basically just a
shape we see in the stars to help us

find our way around

think of it as an unofficial
constellation and summertime is a great

time to find many of the asterisms in
the sky

exactly who got the summer terrible the
fish hook and the teapot

well let's show you ok we have our sky
set up for any night this week facing

north west after sunset

now that we're into July the sunsets
really late so use this as an excuse to

stay up past your bedtime

definitely because we want you to find
your first asterism of the evening up in

the north western sky

there it is standing on its spoon the
Big Dipper the formation of those seven

bright stars is unmistakable

4 stars make the spoon of the Big Dipper
and three more makeup the handle

now where's that big bear that I'll turn
my asterism into a constellation

haha i see it now Ursa Major the Big
Bear takes up a lot of space in the sky

the Big Dipper is only the rear end and
long tail of the bear while other

fainter stars Mark his head and feet

astronomers don't just stop there to
them everything within this boundary

every star every deep space object is
part of the constellation Ursa Major

wow that's a big bear

now we're facing east and here you can
find another huge ass tourism in the sky

I'll give you two hints it's up all
summer and it's in the shape of a

triangle

yep we call it the summer triangle who
said astronomy was tough to follow

brightest and blues to the 3 stars in
the summer triangle is Vega down into

the left is Delta and way over to the
right is all tear each of these stars

belongs to its own constellation vega is
part of liar of the harp

who stars make a little parallelogram
Deneb is the tale of Cygnus the Swan who

I can actually picture a swan and those
stars and all tear is the eagle eye of

the constellation aquila the eagle

so this asterism the summer triangle
really incorporates three regions of

three different constellations

now let's face south and look low on the
horizon for two more distinct asterisms

here we find the stars I most associate
with summer looking like the letter j or

a big fish look ad in The Fader stars
around the fish hook and you'll see the

constellation scorpius the Scorpion at
the heart of the Scorpion you find a red

supergiant star called and Terry's as an
added special effect and terry's is

often low in the southern sky and
appears to flicker like a beating heart

through the thicker atmosphere the
planets Mars and Saturn are also hang

around scorpius's summer now to the left
of the fishhook you can find stars in

the shape of a teapot these stars are
part of a larger constellation called

Sagittarius the Archer

he's a centaur half man half horse with
his legs down below the horizon for most

people in the US

other than the teapot the remaining
stars in sagittarius are tough to find

but the asterism marks the center's body
and out stretch bow and arrow

what's the aiming at and Tory's the
heart of the Scorpion of course

watch out Scorpius so find your favorite
asterism tonight from the Big Dipper in

the northwest to the summer triangle
high in the east to the fish hook in the

South next to the teapot and it's all
there when you keep looking up