History of Constellations

Long before history has been recorded, humans have studied the stars in the night sky. Although we have looked at stars for thousands of years, it wasn’t until 1930 that the 88 constellations were officially named by the International Astronomical Union. 48 of these constellations were named by Ptolemy in his book The Almagest in 150 A.D. The rest of the 40 constellations were given names by various astronomers throughout the years. In modern terms, a constellation is an area or region in the sky. That area has stars within them to identifying the region, but the stars and the patterns they make are referred to as “asterisms.“

Nuclear Fusion in the Sun

Nuclear fusion is the process in which the Sun and all other stars generate energy through the combination of light atoms into heavier ones. The nuclear fusion in most stars is carried out in proton-proton fusion. In the first step, two protons fused together to create a proton-neutron core and emitting a neutrino and positron. Then, the core is fused with another proton to form helium-3. Finally, two helium-3 atoms are combined together to create helium-4 with two additional protons. Since the mass of the final product in this process is lower than the mass of its original components, the “missing” mass was converted into energy. The quantity of this energy can be calculated by Einstein’s famous formula: e = mc^2. Because the speed of light is such a massive quantity, even the most tiny of masses converted into energy will yield very large outputs.

Where the Zodiac Signs Come From

What’s your sign? This is a common question you may have encountered in your life. While most people aren’t too deep into astrology, chances are that most of us have looked into our daily horoscope at least once for fun. However, a lot of people don’t really know where these signs come from, or why they exist in the first place. If you are curious, keep reading.

The twelve zodiac signs come from the way the sun moves across the sky throughout the year. As each day passes, the sun will slightly shift its position among the stars. Due to Earth’s orbit, the sun will cycle around the stars in nearly the same pattern every year. The twelve zodiacs get their names from the constellations that the sun appears in front of during the year. Although the sun actually crosses over a thirteenth constellation Ophiuchus, it unfortunately does not a place in astrology.