The 88 constellations
The 88 constellations recognised by the International Astronomical Union, which together cover the whole sky. One row per constellation, with its official abbreviation, genitive form, origin, brightest star, area in square degrees and share of the sky, and the position of its centre.
Columns
Stable keys — use them in the API, SQL and code
| Key | Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| name | Constellation | string | — |
| wikidata | Wikidata | entity | — |
| abbreviation | IAU abbreviation | string | Official three-letter IAU abbreviation, e.g. Ori for Orion. |
| genitive | Genitive | string | Latin genitive used in star names, e.g. Alpha Orionis. |
| meaning | Meaning | string | What the name means or depicts. |
| origin | Origin | string | 'Ancient' for constellations going back to Ptolemy's catalogue, otherwise 'Modern'. |
| year_introduced | Introduced | year | Year a modern constellation was introduced; empty for ancient ones. |
| introduced_by | Introduced by | string | Astronomer credited with the constellation (Ptolemy for the ancient ones). |
| brightest_star | Brightest star | string | — |
| brightest_star_magnitude | Brightest star magnitude | number | Apparent visual magnitude of the brightest star (lower is brighter). |
| area_rank | Size rank | integer | Rank by area, 1 = largest (Hydra). |
| area_sq_deg | Area | number · sq. deg. | Area inside the official IAU boundaries, in square degrees. |
| sky_share_pct | Share of sky | number · % | Area as a percentage of the whole celestial sphere. |
| ra_hours | Centre RA | number · h | Right ascension of the approximate centre, in hours. |
| dec_deg | Centre Dec | number · ° | Declination of the approximate centre, in degrees (+ north, − south). |
| quadrant | Quadrant | string | Sky quadrant: NQ1–NQ4 (northern) or SQ1–SQ4 (southern). |
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