Welcome to my Filling the Sky website! This astronomy website is primarily concerned with constellation history. There are currently 88 official constellations as recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Slightly over half of the official constellations were noted by ancient Greek astronomers, these are the so-called classical constellations. The remainder of the official constellations, the modern constellations, were created more than one thousand years later:
For hundreds of years star charts of the southern sky had a blank spot on them, a celestial 'terra incognita'. Explorers and cartographers began to fill that unknown region of sky with new constellations in the 16th century.
Filling the Sky emphasizes those 16th century constellations as well as the other modern official constellations that were formed in the 17th and 18th centuries. Generalized information on the classical constellations and various astronomy topics will also be covered from time to time.
The foundation of this site is the 'Modern Constellation Index' page. There you will find links to files about the history of each modern constellation. The rest of the website is mostly supportive information about those constellations. If you are new to the study of constellation history you should go to 'Constellation History' and the 'Who's Who' pages first.
Visitors to this website have come from many countries. Click on this link for the complete list: Visitation Listing.
Feel free to email me with any comments or suggestions.
Clear Skies,
Jim Fuchs
Last updated on Sun, 16 Mar 2008 10:41:40 -0600.