Help the astronaut reach the stars!

The Stars Tell a Story

Help the astronaut write the next part.

Thousands of years ago, when the first man looked curiously into the night sky, he saw an infinite number of twinkling dots. There were so many of them that his head was spinning! But humans have always loved to organize the world. And so began the great game of connect-the-dots.

The ancient Greeks saw their gods among the stars: Orion, the great hunter, and Cassiopeia, the enthroned queen. The Sumerians knew the constellations of the scorpion, the Egyptians saw the silhouette of a lion, and the Chinese – a dragon coiling across the sky.

Every people drew their own pictures in the sky and told stories about them – of love, betrayal, heroism, and fear. The stars became an open book for the imagination.

Centuries passed. Sailors went to sea with star maps in their hands. They needed new navigational markers, so they added constellations unknown to the ancients: "Bird of Paradise," "Giraffe," "Toucan"... There were no gods in them – only exotic animals from distant lands, discovered during great voyages. The sky became a traveler's album full of strange creatures.

Then came the age of science. People began to look at the sky through telescopes and measure the paths of the planets. And they changed the constellations again: "Microscope," "Pump," "Spyglass" appeared... The sky was no longer just a stage for myths – it became the workshop of scientists who wanted to understand the cosmos.

Today we know that stars are enormous nuclear furnaces, scattered across space at incredible distances. Neither of them sticks to the other – it's us, from Earth, who connect them into pictures, like children drawing lines between dots in a coloring book.

But the story doesn't end there. Engineers are already building rockets that will one day take humans to other stars. And when the first human stands on the planet orbiting Proxima Centauri and looks up, they will see a completely different sky.

And that same beautiful human need will begin again: to connect twinkling dots into new shapes, to tell new stories, to name new constellations – perhaps "Spaceship," "Footprint on Mars," or "The Way Home."

Because the stars themselves are silent.

We give them a voice. And so it will be as long as humans raise their eyes to the sky – yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

And that's why the astronaut in our game now needs help navigating the tunnel leading to the starship.

Unfortunately, the passage has been damaged by meteorites. You must carefully guide it through the remaining undamaged squares, and, if necessary, jump over the holes.

It's just a game now, but who knows if something like this will happen again someday?

Game rules

Did you know this about the constellation?

Antlia Antlia (abbr: Ant)

Antlia has no associated myth. It was named for the air pump, Antlia pneumatica, invented by French physicist Denis Papin, who also created the steam digester—a precursor to the steam engine and pressure cooker.

French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille introduced Antlia to honor Papin's invention. In the 1750s, Lacaille spent years observing the southern skies from South Africa's Cape of Good Hope, where the astronomer and geodesist called the new constellation la Machine Pneumatique (the Pneumatic Machine).

In 1763, he Latinized it to Antlia pneumatica on his star chart.

Astronomical Facts

Use of Constellations in Everyday Life

Many constellations, or rather their representations in the form of lines connecting individual stars, were created thousands and hundreds of years ago. You would think they would be universally known and distinguished by all people, and therefore often used as symbols or "shortcuts" of stories or proverbs.

Strangely enough, this is not the case. Although humanity looks at the stars every day, and being a "star" is something desired by practically everyone, knowledge of constellations is not common.

Perhaps this is due to the fact that with the development of technology, we no longer need to use stars for navigation, we no longer need to know which constellation the sun is in to determine the beginning of sowing or harvesting. Or perhaps more "mundane" matters are simply more important to us.

It's a pity, because even with the best technology, we can't do anything when the power simply goes out. And stars don't need batteries. They always point, at least to the north – like the star Polaris, one of the stars in the constellation Ursa Minor.

North is not just Polaris

It should be noted that Polaris only indicates north, in the astronomical sense, for a moment. In a few thousand years, the star pointing to the north pole will be a completely different star. This is related to the precession of the Earth's axis, i.e., the change in its tilt.

It is caused by the influence of the Moon and Sun on the Earth. But this is so slow that we are unable to observe it during our lifetimes. If we lived a very, very long time, we might see the place of the "polar" star gradually taken over by various other stars. After about 26,000 years, Polaris would return to that position. That's how long it takes for the Earth's axis to tilt in the same direction again.

Stars and Astronauts

But returning to the topic of using stars or constellations. Man hasn't entirely forgotten about the stars. "Astronavigation," meaning determining one's location based on the positions of celestial bodies, including stars, is still taught today. While this is only a backup method of navigation at sea or in airplanes, it can be very helpful if all other equipment fails.

It can also be very helpful in space navigation. Stars are also used in space navigation as fixed reference points to determine the position, orientation, and course of spacecraft. There is no GPS in space.

For example, in the "Apollo" program, stars were used to determine position during the flight and landing on the Moon. Many space probes use stars for precise navigation (star trackers). The camera takes a picture of the visible stars, and the computer compares this view with the one stored in its memory. The difference in the relative positions of the stars, from memory and from the picture, allows one to determine one's own position and direction of movement quite precisely. Although this method has recently been replaced by navigation based on "pulsars", but that's a topic for another article.

Astrology and Astronomy

The second thing is the "drawings" of constellations. They are still used today in astrology (a type of fortune-telling), which attempts to connect a person's date of birth with their "sign" and thus predict their character or even their future. In ancient times, astrology and astronomy were essentially one field. Since then, however, we have learned much more about the stars, and astrology has remained merely a curiosity. Especially since its foundations have remained unchanged for thousands of years. And the stars have already significantly shifted their positions during that time.

Star Symbols

Another, seemingly obvious, application of constellations would be their presence in the symbolism of statehood. In coats of arms, symbols, and on national flags, we have a whole galaxy of different symbols. These are usually animals or plants. Only a few national flags in the world feature constellations. We're not talking about drawings of stars; they appear frequently on flags, but mostly only as symbols. Just like on the flag of the USA, the European Union, or other "star-spangled" flags.

Full, or almost full, recognizable constellations are present on only five national flags.

• Brazil - contains 9 constellations, including the Southern Cross, Scorpius, and Hydra.
• Australia - Southern Cross
• New Zealand - Southern Cross
• Papua New Guinea - Southern Cross
• Samoa - Southern Cross

The Brazilian flag is quite interesting. It represents stars from 9 constellations. These stars were seen on the day Brazil was declared a republic. It's a view as if from "outer space."

One could also add Alaska to these constellations. While it is a US territory, it does contain the "Big Dipper" asterism on its flag, which is part of the constellation The Great Bear (Ursa Major), and the north star, Polaris.

I wonder where else the shapes of constellations are used? We'll leave that for you to explore on your own.