IAU constellations in the Planetarium of Pamplona

Presentation themes: fulldome; educational advances in planetariums

In order to visualize the pattern of lines that join the stars forming the constellation sticks we follow three basic rules: 

1. Only stars that are within the area defined by the IAU for that constellation can be used in the line pattern of a constellation, as can be found here. This criterion imposes restrictions on line designs for the constellations Auriga and Pegasus, for example. 
2. All stars used to build the line pattern must be visible to the naked eye mv <= 6 and it is better if you can avoid choosing stars with mv >= 5.5. Most of the stars used in our sticks appear in the IAU – Sky & Telescope maps of every constellation provided by the IAU official website 
3. If a star has an official name (IAU official names here) that means something specific in terms of the figure it represents, we must try to respect it. For example:
   
   Enif - ε Peg - the horse's nose 
   Skat - δ Aqr - the hip 
   Baten Kaitos - ζ Cet - the belly of the sea monster 
   Alderamin - α Cep - the right arm, etc.

Using these criteria, coherent patterns of lines can be created for our constellations. Furthermore, we have defined the lines in our system (Sky Skan – Dark Matter) as elements that join two stars defined by their Hipparchus catalog number. This allows us to travel outside the solar system and see how patterns warp and constellations lose their meaning. 

In order to fit these sticks with the designs of the constellations, we have created new artwork for them. 

In this presentation we will show examples of those sticks and artwork that we are using in our planetarium.

Image © Arena Berlin