Line #56 Main/ConstellationsAsLocations


1	In real life, constellations don't actually exist as discrete groupings of stars -- what we perceive as constellations are simply casual patterns created by our perception of the night sky as a two-dimensional surface, and the individual stars within them are usually very far away from one another. Furthermore, because their shape is specifically the product of where their stars are located compared to ''Earth,'' they also only exist from a point of view in the solar system-- extrasolar worlds would have alien night skies with entirely different constellations. [[note]]With variation being bigger the further you go from Earth. Incidentally, from the point of view of Alpha Centauri, the closest star system from us, our Sun [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiopeia_(constellation)#Pattern_from_Alpha_Centauri would be in Cassiopeia.]][[/note]] However, it's a common astronomy error in science fiction to treat constellations as though they were clusters of stars that are actually physically near each other, and to treat these as major astronomical areas and reference points. Often, this results in characters or cultures being described as being "from the so-and-so constellation", and in constellations being used to describe where a specific location is within the broader universe.
2
3	This trope typically uses real-life constellations, as part of the assumption that constellations are universal constants. However, some works may invent FictionalConstellations that will be used in the same manner. Such uses are arguably more justified-- while the stars in real constellations are not clustered close together, there is no reason why a fictional constellation might not be so. Alternately, the meaning of the word "constellation" may have shifted in-universe to refer to stars that are actually in the same region, as interstellar travel made it necessary to have some convenient way to refer to such things.
4
5	Worth noting that this does happen with (some of) the stars in certain constellations, such as Ursa Major, Orion, or Scorpius, that share a common origin and are relatively close to each other. However, even in this case, these stars are often hundreds of light-years from each other.
6
7	Subtrope of ArtisticLicenseSpace.
8	----
9	!!Examples:
10
11	[[foldercontrol]]
12
13	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
14	* ''Manga/TheFiveStarStories'' is set in a group of star systems that are physically near each other, which many characters refer to as a constellation.
15	[[/folder]]
16
17	[[folder:Comic Books]]
18	* ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline "ComicBook/TheSuperSteedOfSteel": When the sorcerer Maldor and his evil master conspire to exile Biron to Sagittarius, they talk like that constellation was a specific place instead of an imaginary pattern on the sky.
19	[[/folder]]
20
21	[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
22	* ''WesternAnimation/TheMindsEye (1990)'': In the first segment "Creation", [[AstronomicZoom the camera flies through Orion's belt]]. Orion is shown to have all its stars exist on the same 2D plane.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
26	* ''Film/BladeRunner'': During his famous speech at the climax, Roy Batty mentions having seen attack ships on fire "off the shoulder of Orion".
27	* ''Film/TheFifthElement'': The cruise ship is stated to be orbiting the planet Phloston in the "Angel" constellation.
28	* ''Film/FugitiveAlien'': It's implied that stars in the same constellation are actually close to each other instead of just looking that way from a specific point in space, as if space were two-dimensional.
29	* ''Film/MenInBlack'': Discussed, lampshaded and ultimately subverted. A dying alien tells the heroes that "the [[MacGuffin Galaxy]] is on Orion's Belt", which they first take to refer to the strip of stars forming the "belt" of the Orion constellation. However, they are quickly refuted when they are shown that the "belt" in reality consists of only three stars (not enough for a galaxy) millions of light-years apart that only ''look'' like they are close together from Earth, and that there are no suitable galaxies in that particular direction of the sky. [[spoiler:The alien's words turn out to refer to his pet cat, also named Orion, who carries a tiny galaxy hidden on his collar.]]
30	* ''Film/SpaceMutiny'': Constellations are repeatedly referred to as meaningful divisions of space.
31	* ''Film/{{Stargate}}'': PlayedWith. The titular gate uses constellations as reference points for a three-dimensional coordinate system (six constellations, one for each side of a cube, plus one non-constellation symbol for the starting point). The gate on Abydos has completely different constellations though, and Daniel has to find the coordinates for Earth for the expedition to go home. ''Series/StargateSG1'' and subsequent TV series quickly discard the "unique constellations" aspect and treat the symbols on the gates as a simple entry code for different planets, with extragalactic travel using seven constellation symbols and a point of origin (and extra power).
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Literature]]
35	* ''Bio of a Space Tyrant'': When Earth nations begin to colonize the galaxy after discovering faster-than-light travel, they divide their claims by each getting exclusive rights to a specific constellations. [[NationalAnimalStereotypes The United States get the Eagle, Russia gets the Bear, and China gets the Dragon.]]%%Work page has been cut per P5 policy, do no link
36	* ''Literature/TheDemonPrinces'', a pentalogy by Creator/JackVance: One character notes that "Ophiuchus isn't a star. It's a sector". There's also a reference to the [[SpaceSector Aquarius Sector]].
37	* ''Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat'': A planet is described as being "Second planet of a B star in Corona Borealis", but the setting is a sprawling interstellar civilization in which Earth (and the whole Solar System) is either unimportant, or even (in later books in the series) destroyed and its location no longer known.
38	* Creator/StanislawLem: In both ''Literature/TheInvincible'' and ''Literature/{{Fiasco}}'', the protagonists' spaceships arrive at constellations.
39	* ''Literature/TheZodiacSeries'': The twelve Houses are all Zodiacal constellations, with several planets and moons in each one.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
43	* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
44	** Throughout the classic series, "constellation" is used as a synonym for "galaxy". The Doctor admits to being from "outside the constellation" several times, and that Gallifrey is ([[EarthShatteringKaboom or was]]) in the constellation of Kasterborous. This happens so often that a later Expanded Material book justifies it by claiming that it's a result of meaning changing due to interacting with other spacefaring species who measure sectors by specific groups of stars rather than the present meaning.
45	** "The Trial of a Time Lord" -- the season 23 story arc -- repeatedly refers to Earth's entire constellation being moved by advanced aliens, ravaging Earth in the process.
46	* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': Implied with the Orions (the Trope Namers for GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe). Background information and later parts of the franchise established that the green-skinned aliens were from the ''planet'' Orion, which is located in the Orion Sector (which sector is presumably geocentrically named for the Earth constellation).
47	* ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'': The aliens' homeworld is located in the border territory between the Cepheus and Draco constellations.
48	[[/folder]]
49
50	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
51	* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': Several of the major factions, such as the Lyran Commonwealth (later Lyran Alliance), Draconis Combine and Taurian Concordat, are named for constellations and rule over large regions of space containing at least some of the stars in said constellations as seen from Earth, but their fanciful names are generally understood to be little more than poetic license ([[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny as are the other parts of their names, in many cases]]).
52	[[/folder]]
53
54	[[folder:Video Games]]
55	* ''VideoGame/JumpStartAdventures3rdGradeMysteryMountain'': The observatory MiniGame has you figuring out which constellation Polly sent her father's spaceship to.
56	* ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'': Constellations are physical groupings of stars until they were all destroyed by the King of All Cosmos on a drunken bender, and your job is to build new ones to place back in the sky.
57	* ''VideoGame/StarControlII'': All the stars in a constellation are close to each other, forming contiguous regions on the hyperspace map. Given a {{handwave}} in the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]], which explains that these constellations are not the same constellations visible from any given planet, but were created after hyperspace was mapped from the patterns on the map and were merely named after old earth constellations due to superficial resemblance.
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Web Original]]
61	* WebVideo/{{Vsauce}} talks about this misperception [[https://youtu.be/mQ0hS7l9ckY?t=143 here]], where he describes how constellations appear as cohesive shapes only due to our perception of the sky as a flat plane, whereas in truth this is only an illusion and their component stars are often very far away from one another.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Western Animation]]
65	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': "[[Recap/FuturamaS8E2ChildrenOfALesserBog Children of a Lesser Bog]]": Ursa Major is described as a physical region of space where a planetoid populated by water bears the size of actual bears is located.
66	* ''WesternAnimation/IlEtaitUneFois L'Espace'': Cassiopeia is said to control the neighboring constellations of Cepheus, Draco, and Andromeda, and aliens are described as coming from constellations such as Auriga or Centaurus.
67	[[/folder]]

Context Main / ConstellationsAsLocations