5. Polygons within Constellations 🌌

Believe it or not, polygons and constellations are closely related!

In fact, a constellation is a group of stars that appear to form a figure or pattern in the night sky and are used by astronomers as a way of locating and naming stars.

As we know, polygons are closed plane geometric figures that are formed by a series of straight line segments intersecting at points called vertices. Common examples of polygons include triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons and octagons.

If we look at the sky, we can find thousands of constellations formed by such polygons, here are some examples (Diego, 2023):

• Canis Major

In this constellation we find one of the brightest stars in the sky: Sirius, a star worshipped by the Egyptians. As you can guess from its name, the stars that compose it give it an appearance that reminds us of a dog.

• Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

It is visible all year round from the northern hemisphere. The stars that form the Ursa Major give it the shape of a wagon, which is why it is also known as "the wagon". A very useful constellation for locating the North Star.

Very similar to the Ursa Major and as its name indicates, smaller and less luminous. It is also made up of seven stars, of which the Pole Star is the brightest of the group.

One activity that we can carry out in class related to this astronomical aspect is the following

• Preparation and identification: Print or draw pictures of different constellations on poster board and ask students if they can differentiate geometric shapes in them.

• Creating their own constellations: Ask students to create their own constellations using different geometric shapes, such as triangles, squares and pentagons.

• Discussion: Once the constellations are finished, a small group discussion can be started to see how we can find geometric shapes everywhere.

Hope you like it!