Other forms: constellations
A constellation is a named picture the stars seem to draw in the night sky. The constellation of Orion, name the constellations, a winter constellation.
The stars in one are not near each other — they only look grouped from here, and some are hundreds of times further away than others. Astronomers now use the eighty-eight constellations as map areas covering the whole sky rather than as pictures.
1nounconstellationA named group of stars in the night sky.
“On clear winter nights, you can easily see the constellation of Orion.”
constellation is a group of stars.
Latin constellatio means a set of stars, from con-, together, plus stella, a star.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂eHs-
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂stḗr — star
Latin
cōnstēllātiōnem
Old French
constellation
Middle English
constellacioun
English, today
constellation
Built from
From Middle English constellacioun, constillacioun (“(astrology) position of the moon or a planet in relation to the ascendant sign of the zodiac; horoscope; (astronomy) formation of fixed stars, constellation; (astronomy) elevation or position of the sun”)constelacioun, constellacion, constellacyon, constellacyoun, constillacion, constillacione, constillacioune, constillatioun, constollacion, constolacioun, borrowed from Old French constellation (modern French constellation), or directly from its etymon Latin cōnstēllātiōnem, the accusative singular of cōnstēllātiō (“collection of stars supposed to exert an influence upon human affairs, constellation”), from Latin con- + stēlla (“star; meteor; planet”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂stḗr (“star”)) + -ātiō.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA