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Earth and the Moon

The Night Sky

What is an asterism?

An asterism is a group of stars in the sky that, when viewed from Earth, create an outline of some recognizable shape or pattern. Two well-known asterisms are the Big Dipper, which many astronomers use to point out the location of the North Star, and the Summer Triangle, which is marked by three of the most prominent stars in the Northern Hemisphere’s summer night sky.



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