Constellations

"Constellations are normally the product of human perception rather than astronomical realities." (Wikipedia)

It thrills me to gaze up into the night sky. A couple nights ago Robin and I sat out under the stars long after the house and the peepers were quiet. Ursa Major, the Great Bear and Big Dipper shone high in the dark dome above. I remembered some lesson from a visit to the Hayden Planetarium: "Follow the 'arc' of the handle in the dipper to the bright star Arcturus; connect the stars in the front of the dipper and follow them up to Polaris." It still works. Those nocturnal jewels haven't wandered from their cataloged locations one bit. It's about this time every year I have to locate the book I've carried around since I was a kid - H.A. Rey's __Stars__ (it's not in its usual place ... the search continues!) It's illustrated with drawings and cartoon images of constellations which have pointed me skyward for decades. In the back are double-page sky charts and maps so you can find your particular sky on any particular night.
Of course, the internet is full of resources. "Astroviewer.com" has an interactive map and does the same thing as my old book with a couple clicks. I did notice they've replaced the Zodiac names of constellations with more generic "astronomically correct" titles, e.g., "Pegasus" is "Winged Horse", and "Taurus" is "Bull".
And, yes, from the scientific astronomical point of view, all those clusters of shimmer we see from down here have no meaningful relationships with one another. But our perspective is the human perspective, and we humans are seekers after meaning. We create and tell stories, weave relationships among diverse elements of our experience, and make art. Night skies inspire me to live more deeply and more fully into my geocosmystic humanity. Tonight, I'll wish upon a star or two ... or a whole constallation!