Hinglish

Stars and Constellations

Class 6 Science · Chapter 12: Beyond Earth · NCERT Curiosity section 12.1

Learn

On a clear night at her grandparents' village, Zoya sees thousands of stars, far more than in the city. Her grandfather says each one is a sun: a huge, hot, glowing ball of gas. They look like tiny dots only because they are very, very far away.

Our Sun is also a star, the nearest one to us. That's why it looks so big and bright and gives us daylight. The next nearest star is so far that its light takes more than four years to reach us!

Long ago, people imagined lines joining bright stars into shapes, and gave them names. Such a group of stars is a constellation. Saptarishi (also called the Big Dipper) looks like a ladle with seven bright stars; Orion (Mriga) looks like a hunter with a belt of three stars in a row.

The stars of a constellation are not really close to each other; they only look close from Earth. Constellations help sky-watchers find their way around the sky, like landmarks on a map.

Explore: join the stars.

  1. Join the seven stars to draw Saptarishi (a ladle: a bowl and a handle).
  2. Now draw Orion: shoulders, a belt of three stars, and feet.

Remember

  • Stars are huge, hot balls of glowing gas; the Sun is our nearest star.
  • A constellation is a group of stars that forms a pattern, like Saptarishi and Orion.

Quick check

Why do stars look like tiny dots even though they are huge?

  1. They are very far away
  2. They are very small
  3. They are close to the Moon
  4. They are made of ice
Answer

They are very far away. Distance makes even huge suns look tiny.

Think about it

Why can we see many more stars in a village than in a big city?

One answer

City lights brighten the sky (light pollution), which hides faint stars. In a dark village sky, even faint stars are visible.

Practice

Practise with fresh questions at three levels (easy, medium, hard), some answered hands-on, with hints and worked answers. Get 4 of your last 5 right to finish the topic.