A constellation is a group of stars that are considered to form imaginary outlines or meaningful patterns on the celestial sphere, typically representing animals, mythological people or gods, mythological creatures, or manufactured devices. The 88 modern constellations are defined regions of the sky together covering the entire celestial sphere.
Origins for the earliest constellations likely goes back to prehistory, whose now unknown creators collectively used them to relate important stories of either their beliefs, experiences, creation or mythology. As such, different cultures and countries often adopted their own set of constellations outlines, some that persisted into the early 20th Century. Adoption of numerous constellations have significantly changed throughout the centuries. Many have varied in size or shape, while some became popular then dropped into obscurity. Others were traditionally used only by various cultures or single nations.
The Western-traditional constellations are the forty-eight Greek classical patterns, as stated in both Aratus' work Phenomena or Ptolemy's Almagest — though their existence probably predates these constellation names by several centuries. Newer constellations in the far southern sky were added much later during the 15th to mid-18th century, when European explorers began travelling to the southern hemisphere. Twelve important constellations are assigned to the zodiac, where the Sun, Moon, and planets all follow the ecliptic.
