CONSTELLATIONS

for Science 5
Quarter 4 / Week 5

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 FOREWORD

This Self Learning Kit will serve as your guide in understanding

the constellation and how they come about. Simple explanation
of how constellations came about. Its concepts and examples are
presented in a way that the learners will easily understand the
subject matter without considerable supervision and/or special
assistance by the teacher.

It is divided into three parts:

A. What happened: It is where the learners are going to

answer the exercises to assess their prior knowledge about
the learning competency.

B. What you learn: It is in this part that the learners will be

able to know more about the learning competency.

C. What I have learned: It is in this part that the learners will

gauge their mastery of the learning competency on
identifying star patterns that can be seen at particular
times of the year.

After complying with the tasks given, it is expected that

pupils would master and learn the competency or lesson and
apply it on their daily lives.

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OBJECTIVE:
K Identify the different constellations
S Define constellations
A Appreciate the value of being discerning by being able to
discuss whether or not popular beliefs and with regard to
constellations and astrology have scientific basis.

LEARNING COMPTENCY:

Identify star patterns that can be seen at particular times of the

year. (S5FE-IVi-j-9)

I. WHAT HAPPENED

That group of stars that look like a

dragon is the Draco constellation.

Look at the stars! Let learn more about constellations

by reading and ding the activities in
Hey that one looks
our modules.
like a dragon!

https://www.canstockphoto.com/kids-studying-11770011.html

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Pre Test
Directions: True or False. Write TRUE if the statement is TRUE and FALSE if the
statement is FALSE. Write your answers in your notebook.

____________1. Constellations are group of stars that form distinct patterns in

the sky.
____________ 2. Constellations can be seen only at night.
____________ 3. Little Dipper and Big Dipper are also considered as
constellations.
____________ 4. Little Dipper is found within Ursa Minor.
____________ 5. Polaris is also known as the South Star.
____________ 6. Polaris is in Ursa Major.
____________ 7. Since ancient times, people have looked at the sky and
imagined star patterns that looked like animals.
____________ 8. The Orion constellation is referred to as the Hunter.
____________ 9. When the stars are hidden by clouds, there is a great
possibility of rainfall.
___________ 10. Navigators use Polaris as their guide in determining directions.

II. WHAT I NEED TO KNOW

Constellations
When we look up into the sky on a clear night, we can see thousands
of stars. Sometimes we might even use our imaginations to see pictures in the
stars. These pictures have a scientific name: constellations. The etymology of
the word constellation comes from Latin: con-, meaning together and stella
meaning stars it might be helpful to imagine a constellation as a connect-the-
dot picture where the stars are the dots.

The Names of the Constellations

Astronomers named constellations after things familiar to them and

those around them. Many constellations are named after characters in Greek
myths, or stories:

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 'Orion' is the name of a hunter in Greek mythology.
You can see by this picture that it takes some
imagination to see the shape of a hunter when the lines
are not drawn!

You might have heard the name 'Hercules' in

cartoons, movies, or books. This name also comes from
Greek mythology. A constellation was named after this
Greek hero.

Many constellation names come from other languages. For

example, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are Latin names for Big Bear and Little
Bear. (The Big Dipper and Little Dipper are parts of these constellations.)

Other examples of constellations

Ursa Major is the third-largest constellation in the

sky. It was regarded by many ancient civilizations as a
bear. In fact, its Latin name is for “great bear”. Ursa
Major’s seven brightest stars form a shape of a
saucepan shape, popularly known as the Big Dipper
(or Plow). This is one of the best known features of the
sky.

Ursa Minor represents a small bear with a long

tail. At the tip of the bear’s tail lies the North Star,
called the Polaris, which is the brightest star in the
constellation. Ursa Minor is sometimes called Little
Dipper. This is because its main stars form a shape
that looks like a smaller version of the Big Dipper in
the constellation Ursa Major. Polaris, the North star
and the brightest star Ursa Minor was used by sailors
to find their way at sea.

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 Canis Major host Sirius, the brightest star in the
entire sky and one of the Earth’s closest neighbouring
stars. Ancient Egyptians used the rising of Sirius
alongside the Sun to predict the timing of the Nile’s
annual flooding.

Orion represents a giant hunter of Greek

mythology. In the sky he is depicted raising his club and
shield against a charging bull, Taurus, which forms the
neighbouring constellations. The bright star Betelgeuse
marks Orion’s right shoulder, Rigel marks his left foot.
One feature that makes Orion easy to identify is a line
of three stars that marks his belt. From the belt hangs his sword, which
contains one of the brightest nebulae (remains of dying stars) in the sky, the
Orion Nebula.

Uses of Constellations

Constellations have been used by people for thousands of years to

give directions, tell time and predict weather. Constellations are useful in
tracking artificial satellites and in assisting astronomers and navigators to
locate certain stars. Today, constellations are less important than they were in
ancient history. In ancient times, constellations were used to create and track
the calendar so they knew when to plant crops and harvest them.
Constellations are also used for navigation and to help sailors travel across
oceans. Once you find the Ursa Major, you can easily spot the Northern Star
(Polaris) and by using the height of the Northern Star, they can easily figure
out their latitude.

Visibility of Constellation

The visibility of a constellation depends on your location on Earth and

the time of the year you are in. The celestial sky is usually divided into two
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different hemispheres, the Northern Hemisphere and the Southern
Hemisphere. As the Earth rotates, different parts of the sky are visible at
different times and different locations, for example, the constellation Draco
can only be seen in the Northern Hemisphere.

How many constellations are there?

The sky is divided up into 88 different constellations in 1922. This

included 48 ancient constellations listed by the Greek Astronomer Ptolemy as
well as 40 new constellations. Below are the star maps that maps out the
brightest stars and the patterns that they make which gives rise to the names
of the constellations. The maps of the stars represent the position of the stars
as we see them from the Earth. The stars in each constellation may not be
close to each other at all.

Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere

https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/constellations-
northern-hemisphere-stars-vector-23926412

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 Constellations of the Southern Hemisphere

http://www.nightskyinfo.com/maps_images/html/sky_map_south.htm

Uses of Constellations
Since ancient times, constellations are always helpful to people. They
use the appearance of the stars to forecast the weather. More visible stars
mean fair weather.
Constellations are helpful to navigators too. When navigators lost at
sea, they refer to Polaris as their guiding star. Since Polaris is a fixed star
located at the north, it would be easier for them to identify south, east, and
west directions.

Zodiac Constellations

Zodiac constellations are constellations that lie along the plane of the
ecliptic. The ecliptic, or the apparent path of the Sun, is defined by the
circular path of the Sun across the sky, as seen from Earth. In other words, the
Sun appears to pass through these constellations over the course of a year. It

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contains 12 constellations. These are the Aquarius, Aries, Cancer, Capricorn,
Gemini, Leo, Libra, Pisces, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Taurus, and Virgo. Each is
represented by a sign or symbol.

The constellations of the zodiac are used as basis for the astrological
signs. Your Zodiac sign, or star sign, reflects the position of the sun when you
were born. Astrology claims that it can forecast of a person's future and
describes a person’s character and circumstances. Numerous scientific
studies have disproven that astronomical bodies affect people's lives
according to their birth date.

Can our Zodiac sign or star sign influence our personality, character and our
fortune? Read and reflect on this saying by Germany Ken.

“God has already equipped you with the skills you need to

achieve your dreams. If you just try, work hard, take control of
your destiny, remain true to yourself and believe it is possible,
you will have unlimited power to achieve the impossible.”
― Germany Ken

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III. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
POST-TEST:
A. MULTIPLE CHOICE: Write the letter of the best answer. Write your answer in
your notebook.
1. Which of the following is a constellation?
A. Betelgeuse C. Polaris
B. Sirius D. Orion

2. Which of the following is a Zodiac constellation?

A. Canis Major C. Orion
B. Gemini D. Rigel

3. Which constellation can be seen from the North Pole?

A. Canis Major C. Little Dipper
B. Draco D. Capricorn

4. The position of Polaris cannot be used to find;

A. the direction of North C. the latitude
B. the time D. the Little Dipper

5. What would astronomer say?

A. A comet is a sign of bad things to come.
B. Your horoscope says that you will have good luck tomorrow.
C. There will be an eclipse of the Moon on June 23.
D. It is not a good time now to invest money.

6. Virgo, Taurus and Orion are a few of the commonly known constellations,
but how many constellations are there altogether?

A. 99 B. 88 C. 77 D. 12
7. How are constellations originally named and identified?
A. as people or animals they may have resembled
B. mathematically, with numbers and coordinates
C. in groups of very distant, bright or old stars
D. by their location from Earth’s horizon

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Refer to the illustration above to answer items number 8 and 9.
8. Which constellation is between A and B?
A. Hercules C. Big Dipper
B. Ursa Major D. Orion

9. What star is D?
A. Antares C. Betelgeuse
B. Rigel D. Polaris

10. Which constellation is best known because it contains the “big dipper?”
which looks like a ladle?
A. Ursa Major C. Orion
B. Ursa Minor D. Polaris

11. Orion is visible during the winter night sky and is one of the most
recognizable constellations – it contains some of the _____ stars that we
can see and is named for the hunter from Greek mythology
A. biggest C. brightest
B. smallest D. darkest

12. Sailors use what star to navigate on long voyages? It is one of the brightest
star in the night sky and it does not move its position in the sky throughout
the course of night.
A. The Big Dipper C. The Sun
B. The North Star D. Venus

13. How did ancient civilizations use the stars?

A. when to plant crops C. Calendars
B. navigation D. all the above

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14. Which sentence best describes the distances of stars in a constellations?
The stars in a constellation are located
A. near each other in space
B. about the same distance from Earth
C. both near each other and the same distance
D. neither near each other, nor the same distance
15. The Sirius belongs to the constellation called _____.
A. Orion B. Canis Major C. Aquarius D. Taurus

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 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL

SENEN PRISCILLO P. PAULIN, CESO V

Schools Division Superintendent

FAY C. LUAREZ, TM, Ed.D., Ph.D.

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent
Acting CID Chief

NILITA L. RAGAY, Ed.D.

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMDS)

ARNOLD R. JUNGCO
PSDS – Division Science Coordinator

MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)

ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)

BENELMA G. CALIJAN
Writer

BENELMA G. CALIJAN
Illustrator/Lay-out Artist

NOELYN E. SIAPNO
Layout Artist
________________________________

ALPHA QA TEAM
GENEROSA V. ALCUAR
ALICE A. ALATAN
GELISA F. LANGAN
MONALISA F. ONGCO

BETA QA TEAM
DORIN FAYE D. CADAYDAY
MERCY G. DAGOY
MARY JANE E. ELMA
MARIA ELVIE E. SIENES
JIMUEL SUN Ed. D.
CRISTITTA R. TINGUBAN Ph D.

DISCLAIMER

The information, activities and assessments used in this material are designed to provide
accessible learning modality to the teachers and learners of the Division of Negros Oriental. The
contents of this module are carefully researched, chosen, and evaluated to comply with the set
learning competencies. The writers and evaluator were clearly instructed to give credits to
information and illustrations used to substantiate this material. All content is subject to copyright
and may not be reproduced in any form without expressed written consent from the division.

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REFERENCES:

Sarte, Evelyn T. et.al (2016). Science Beyond Borders Teacher’s

Manual.Philippines: Vibal Group Incorporated

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/constellation-
cassiopeia-the-queen-lady-of-the-chair-how-to-find-history-myth

https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/orion-
constellation/

http://www.space-awareness.org/bg/activities/6054/discover-the-
colours-of-the-stars/

https://www.pngarts.com/explore/1594

http://collinspolarisstarslife.weebly.com/polaris-main-
sequence.html

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SYNOPSIS ANSWER KEY
Young Grade V Scientist, you should always
remember to appreciate and value God’s
creation. May it be big or small, living or non –
living deserves to be respected and taken care of.
There are lot of things we need to explore
around us. Young Scientist as you may start from
exploring the characteristics of stars as well as the
formation of constellations. They may be far
away but also beneficial to our lives. We may not
rely our fortune to it but could definitely help lost
navigator to guide its way home.

AUTHOR
Benelma Taub Geronilla-Calijan, is a 32 years old public-
school teacher for almost 10 years in the Department of
Education. She is a Grade 5 adviser and a Science teacher
of Grade 4, 5 and 6 at Tayasan Central School, Tayasan
District 2, Poblacion, Tayasan, Negros Oriental. She finished
Bachelor in Elementary Education at Negros Oriental State
University – Guihulngan Campus, Guihulngan City, Negros
Oriental. She studied Master of Arts Major in Supervision
and Administration at Cebu Technological University,
Moalboal Campus, Moalboal, Cebu.

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