What are the boundaries of the constellations? (Beginner)

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Details: Monday, 04 January 1999 18:59; Answered by Dave Kornreich; Views: 70340

Could you direct me on finding information of the boundaries of each constellation.

Are the boundaries listing in RA / DEC? How where the boundaries formulated? If so, then what are they.

If you could direct me in finding this information, it would be deeply appreciated.

The boundaries of the constellations are set by convention, and are indeed defined in RA and DEC, epoch 1875. First proposed by Eugene Delporte in 1930, the boundaries were soon adopted by the International Astronomical Union for naming purposes. You can see the exact boundaries in most serious amateur astronomy star charts, such as the Sky Atlas by W. Tirion.

This page updated on June 27, 2015

About the Author

Dave Kornreich

Dave was the founder of Ask an Astronomer. He got his PhD from Cornell in 2001 and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Physical Science at Humboldt State University in California. There he runs his own version of Ask the Astronomer. He also helps us out with the odd cosmology question.