• Question: Do you trhinks the stars have a pattern, What is it and Why?

    Asked by Faye P to Heather, Helen, Hugh, Jane, Julian on 14 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Julian Onions

      Julian Onions answered on 14 Nov 2014:

      In our own galaxy there is a certain pattern to stars. For the most part they are all rotating the same way around the centre, so we’re all drifting along together.
      Stars are also usually born in clusters, like the severn sisters or pleiades, and then they later split up, so there are patterns in that too.
      Other than that, there aren’t many patterns, other than those which our brain makes.
      Its different in some other galaxies, where things are more random.

    • Photo: Helen Johnson

      Helen Johnson answered on 16 Nov 2014:

      If you’re thinking about constellations, these aren’t real patterns in the sky, they’re just what our brain makes of the random distribution of stars – a bit like it you’re cloud spotting and finding shapes of animals etc. Usually these stars are actually very far apart – some are much further away than others. If we were to look at them from another point of view they wouldn’t look like that at all!

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