This is an online course that will teach you all you need to know about the constellations. Learn how to spot them in the sky, what their history is, what deep-sky objects are present in each, the most notable stars, and much more.
Each lesson comes with text and a video going over the constellation!
Stop being confused each time you look up at the night sky. Learn how to read the lines, navigate without a smartphone app, and be able to show your friends and family what's overhead!
51+ constellations covered and 245+ DSO's mapped
Lifetime access with free updates
Written lessons including videos with commentary, quizzes, and bonus content
Downloadable videos for offline learning
Available in English, French, German, and Spanish*
It's not your fault.
If you step outside at night, look up, and feel completely overwhelmed by thousands of identical-looking points of light... it is not your fault.
Most people spend hours on apps or planetarium software, yet never really learn where anything actually is in the sky. They know Polaris is "somewhere near the Big Dipper", or that the Andromeda Galaxy is "in the Andromeda constellation" but never really get a good grasp on how to navigate the night sky.
This course fixes that. You'll learn the constellations the right way, season after season. Quickly, you'll start understanding the patterns, shapes, stories, and deep-sky targets inside each one, and naturally know where everything is located. This is the kind of knowledge that makes you a much better astrophotographer and stargazer.
I started taking notes on constellations while spending hours alone in the desert
⚠️ Beginners also fall into one of two modern traps:
→ The Smartphone App Trap: You spend your stargazing sessions staring down at a bright, blue-lit screen running an astronomy app. The result? Your eyes never adjust to the darkness (destroying your night vision), and the second you put your phone away, you are completely lost again.
→ The Automated Telescope (GoTo) Trap: You buy an expensive computerized telescope that points at targets for you. But without a fundamental knowledge of "anchor" constellations, you'll eventually always feel lost under the stars.
Ancient navigators crossed oceans because they read the sky like a roadmap. To do that, you don’t need to memorize everything at once. You just need a logical way of memorizing the constellations, and an easy to learn skill: Star Hopping.
To learn the night sky without a telescope, you must first master the unmistakable star patterns that serve as anchor points across different seasons.
Let's take an example with an easy yet very important one: Finding the North Star using the Big Dipper asterism to do a very basic "star hop".
The Big Dipper is part of the constellation Ursa Major and is the ultimate starting point for anyone learning the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere.
Locate the distinct "bowl and handle" shape of the Big Dipper.
Look at the two bright stars that form the outer edge of the bowl (Merak and Dubhe). These are your pointer stars.
Mentally draw a straight line through these two stars and extend it outward about 5 times.
You will land directly on a bright isolated star: Polaris (The North Star). You have just found near-exact North.
Polaris is a magnitude 1.97 slightly variable yellow supergiant Cepheid + Binary star. It is 433 light-years away, so the light you see tonight left the star around 1590 AD, during the reign of Elizabeth I.
Because the Earth rotates around the Sun, our view of the night sky changes. Here are examples of main constellations visible for each season throughout the year:
|
Season |
Constellation |
How to Spot it |
Popular Deep-Sky Object |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Leo (The Lion) | Look for a backwards question mark pattern (The Sickle). |
The Leo Triplet (Galaxies) |
| Summer | Cygnus (The Swan) |
A massive cross layout directly on the Milky Way band. |
The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) |
| Fall | Cassiopeia (The Queen) | A bright, unmistakable "W" or "M" shape opposite the Big Dipper. |
The Heart Nebula (IC 1808) |
| Winter | Orion (The Hunter) | Look for the three perfectly aligned stars of Orion's Belt. |
The Great Orion Nebula (M42) |
Below: The M15 Cluster in Pegasus, the Wizard Nebula in Cepheus, and the Cocoon Nebula in Cygnus.
In this course, you get dedicated lessons for each constellation visible in the northern sky. Every lesson includes written content where you'll find:
On top of that, you also get videos with commentary where I go over each constellation using planetarium software, helping you get a quick look at its stars, place in the sky and DSO's inside.
Every constellation in the course follows this same format.
The course follows the sky itself, organized by season, so you learn the constellations at exactly the time of year you can go outside and find them. Let's take a look at the full list of lessons below!
Welcome to the Mastering the Constellations Course!
Table of Contents
Come Say Hello! ☕️
Before We Begin...
Introduction
Using SkySafari to Explore the Night Sky
How the Night Sky Moves
Why the Stars Change With the Seasons
The Celestial Sphere
Altitude & Azimuth
Right Ascension & Declination
The Ecliptic & Zodiac
Using Your Hand to Measure the Night Sky
The Milky Way: What Is It, and How to Use It as a Guide?
Light Pollution & the Bortle Scale
Astronomical Twilight
The Moon and Its Effect on Observing
Test Your Knowledge: The Night Sky
Introduction
Claudius Ptolemy
Johannes Hevelius
Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille
Petrus Plancius
Understanding Constellation Boundaries
Constellations Vs. Asterisms
Star Hopping
Test Your Knowledge: Constellation Fundamentals
Constellations Interactive Table
Introduction
Cancer
Leo
Leo Minor
Lynx
Coma Berenices
Canes Venatici
Boötes
Virgo
Libra
Hydra
Crater
Corvus
Test Your Knowledge - Spring Constellations
Introduction
Lyra
Cygnus
Vulpecula
Sagitta
Aquila
Delphinus
Hercules
Corona Borealis
Ophiuchus
Serpens (Caput + Cauda)
Scutum
Sagittarius
Scorpius
Test Your Knowledge - Summer Constellations
Introduction
Pegasus
Andromeda
Perseus
Triangulum
Lacerta
Aries
Pisces
Aquarius
Capricornus
Cetus
Equuleus
A constellation is an officially defined region of the sky, not just a pattern of stars. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) standardized the 88 constellations system in 1930, each with precise boundaries so that every point in the sky belongs to exactly one constellation. When astronomers say an object "is in" a constellation, they mean it is found within that constellation's boundary, not that the stars outline it.
Don't confuse constellations and asterisms. The Big Dipper, for example, is an asterism within the larger constellation Ursa Major. Orion's Belt is an asterism within Orion.
Constellation Map from 1670 - Frederik de Wit
There are 88 constellations. Of these, 47 were catalogued by the ancient Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD and have been recognized ever since. The remaining 41 were added by European astronomers between the 15th and 19th centuries, filling in the gaps, especially in the southern sky, which Ptolemy could not fully observe from Alexandria.
From the northern hemisphere, you can see roughly 50-65 of the 88 constellations at different times of year. This course focuses on the ones that are most significant and most visible for observers in Europe, North America, and similar latitudes, which is everything you'll ever realistically need as a northern-hemisphere stargazer.
Galaxy Season
Milky Way Season
Andromeda Season
Orion Season
Always There
The biggest mistake people make when learning the constellations is trying to memorize them all at once. It is, in my experience, much smarter to learn them season by season, starting with a few bright famous stars and expanding over time.
The most useful starting points are:
From these six anchors, you can navigate to every major constellation in the sky using simple star-hopping routes... And that's without an app!
On top of all this content, signing up to the course also gets you additional perks!
A Space where Everyone is Welcome
To stay accessible to all astronomy-lovers
Learn from mentors who truly care
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No. This course talks about the bright "anchor" stars that form the main shapes of the constellations. These stars easily cut through moderate to heavy suburban light pollution, making the course perfect even if you live in the city.
Both! Beginners will learn how to recognize and navigate the night sky from the ground up, while experienced stargazers and astrophotographers can use the course as a reference for constellations, notable stars, meteor showers, and deep-sky objects.
Text content: The text content is written in English, but it is nowadays very simple to auto-translate it to the language of your choice with whatever browser you are using. Example for Google Chrome: Click on the 3 dots near your profile, then click "Translate" and choose a language. Videos: All videos have subtitles in four languages: English, French, German, and Spanish!
Yes. While all the northern constellations are listed, southern constellations, like Dorado, Phoenix or Sculptor will be added over time until the courses reaches all 88 constellations.
We receive a lot of emails and messages on social media each day from people seeking help with astrophotography. We do our best to reply to everyone, but it is not always possible. We prioritize emails from both Galactic Course members and Patreon.
Yes, you can access the course on any device, which include computers, tablets, and smartphones.
The course lessons are hosted on an online platform, but you will have the option to download the videos and watch them at any time, even when offline!
Yes, all videos have closed captioning / subtitles which you can toggle ON or OFF at anytime. You can also play the video at different speeds, for example, at a slower rate of x0.5 or x0.75 if you want!
Sort 50+ constellations, and narrow them down by season or type. The dot shows where each one sits on the chosen scale. Seasons are for the northern hemisphere.
Sort by Season OnlyAndromedids: nearly inactive, with occasional brief outbursts.
Eta Aquariids (peak ~May 6–7, up to 50–85/h from the south) and Delta Aquariids (~Jul 30, ~20/h).
Epsilon Aquilids (~May 6) and June Aquilids (~Jun 5): low rates, occasional fireballs.
Daytime Arietids (~Jun 7): among the strongest showers, but radio-only.
Alpha Aurigids (~Aug 31, ~6/h, occasional outbursts); Zeta Aurigids in mid-October.
June Bootids (~Jun 27, usually a handful, rare outbursts); January Bootids (~Jan 16, very low).
Camelopardalids: surprise outburst in May 2014; future returns unpredictable.
Delta Cancrids (~Jan 17, ~4/h): a quiet background shower.
Canis-Majorids: minor January daytime shower, radio-only.
Alpha Capricornids (mid-Jul to mid-Aug, peak ~Jul 30, ~5/h): few, but bright slow fireballs.
No shower of its own; many Perseids and stray autumn meteors pass through this area.
Eta Cetids (late February): very minor.
Coma Berenicids (~Dec 19): brief minor shower with very fast meteors (up to 65 km/s).
Kappa Cygnids (late Jul–late Aug, peak ~Aug 17, 5–10/h): slow, bright meteors, occasional fireballs.
No significant showers; sporadic summer meteors from the Aquila/Aquarius direction.
Draconids (~Oct 8–9): usually a handful per hour, but spectacular storms in 1933 and 1946.
Eta Eridanids (Nov) and Delta Eridanids (late Oct): minor, very low rates.
Geminids (~Dec 13–14, 120+/h, multicolored): among the year's finest, from asteroid 3200 Phaethon.
Tau Herculids: rare intense outbursts (brief storm in May 2022), minor in most years.
Alpha Hydrids (late Dec) and Sigma Hydrids (~Dec 12, ~3/h): very minor.
Lacertids (~Aug 21): minor, low rates.
Leonids (November): famous for rare storms of thousands of meteors per hour.
No significant showers; stray Leonids may appear near the November peak.
No major showers; sporadic winter meteors.
May Librids: minor and rarely observed.
Lyrids (~Apr 22–23, ~18/h, occasional 100+/h): ancient and reliable, from Comet Thatcher.
Alpha Monocerotids (~Nov 21): usually low, with rare brief storm-level outbursts.
Ophiuchids (June): minor, under 5/h.
Orionids (~Oct 21, 15–20/h, active Oct 2–Nov 7): fast, bright meteors from Halley's Comet.
Perseids (~Aug 11–13, 100+/h, active Jul 17–Aug 24): fast, bright meteors with persistent trains.
Piscids (Sep–Oct): diffuse minor showers, very low rates.
No significant showers; some Perseids appear to radiate from this direction.
Sagittariids: diffuse minor complex (May–July) with sporadic fireballs.
Alpha Scorpiids (~May 3) and Omega Scorpiids (~Jun 2): ~5/h, slow fireball-rich meteors.
No significant showers; sporadic summer meteors nearby.
Southern (~Nov 5) and Northern Taurids (~Nov 12), ~5/h each: slow, bright fireballs, from Comet Encke.
Alpha Ursa Majorids (mid-March): very minor, essentially unobservable.
Ursids (~Dec 22, ~10/h): modest but reliable; occasional 50+/h outbursts.
Virginids (Jan–Apr): diffuse complex; Mu Virginids peak ~Apr 25 at ~7/h.
No significant showers; stray Perseids and Kappa Cygnids may appear in August.
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This guide is part of the Galactic Course Ultimate Bundle, which also includes our courses on Deep Sky imaging, Milky Way photography, Star trails, Time-lapses, Remote Imaging, all our processing guides, and several perks!
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