Today, astronomers recognize 88 official constellations — not actually patterns of stars, but instead set areas of sky. Here's how they came about.

The Big Dipper isn’t the only vessel in the night sky. If you face south on late July nights when it gets fully dark after sunset, a pattern of stars, or asterism, known as the Teapot is visible ...

Just to the right of Spica, the most striking star pattern in the spring skies next to Leo's Sickle is a little four-sided figure of fairly bright stars, resembling a triangle whose top has been ...