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Uses of constellations in fiction:
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Example of the Constellations as a motif, someone's soul, or the basis of something
- In Fairy Tail, Celestial Spirit mages can summon Celestial Spirits, which are based on constellations, through various magical keys. The Golden Keys summon the twelve zodiac signs while the Silver Keys summon other constellations.
- The Fushigi Yuugi series has the spirit of each Chinese constellation born to flesh as each of The Four Gods' "Celestial Warriors;" with each warrior holding various super powers.
- Kaguya-sama: Love Is War uses the Summer Triangle as a recurring motif, referencing Shirogane's love of the stars. Shirogane and Hayasaka also both have a star motif, but of very different types (though both allude to their own relationships with Kaguya due to the moon always being accompanied by stars). Hayasaka uses generic star fields on many of her personal belongings such as her nails, phone case, and Line ID due to her being based off of the celestial envoy from The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Shirogane, meanwhile, uses actual constellations as his motif (such as the Big Dipper as his Twitter Icon) since he desires to reach for the stars in both a metaphorical and literal manner.
- Metal Fight Beyblade: The beyblades in that series are based on constellations.
- Saint Seiya: The characters are all named for constellations and the names are usually Meaningful or refer to the myths behind them.
- Clash of the Titans ends with Perseus, Andromeda, The Hydra and other characters becoming constellations. Fitting too as the movies are based on the myths of Perseus.
- In Dragonheart, the constellation Draco is also known as the Dragon's Heaven. According to dragon religion, dragons that live honorable lives are allowed to become a star in the constellation when they die.
- At the end of Hercules 1983 Hercules becomes a constellation.
- In the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, some constellations are mentioned as having different names, e. g. Ursa major (the "Big Dipper") is the Sickle. The constellation Orion is called Menelmacar or Menelvagor, the Warrior of Heaven, originally created by the Valar as a symbol of defiance against the forces of evil led by Morgoth.
- In the Star Darlings franchise, each Star Darling has traits associated with a constellation, as well as their birthday's corresponding Zodiac sign.
- In Robin Jarvis' Deptford Mice trilogy, the Starwife is a celestial-themed monarch. There are decorations on the ceiling in her chamber that represent all the constellations, and she herself is also known as the Handmaiden of Orion (referring to the constellation Orion, the Hunter).
- In The Irregular at Magic High School, it seems to be a national constant that notable magicians are titled after constellations (since their real names are kept secret). Taurus Silver is a weapons inventor, Sirius is a Strategic-Class level soldier, and the "Maidens of Cygnus" are child prodigies from the Juumonji clan.
- The Centauri of Babylon 5 seem to have been named after the Centaurus constellation (whose genitive term is "Centauri", as in "Alpha Centauri"). The origin of this name is unclear, but most plausibly it might have been the name humans gave them upon first contact.
- Farscape had the villain Scorpius, which is also the name of a zodiac constellation (in the sky of a planet nowhere near the region of space Farscape was set in), as well as a Name to Run Away from Really Fast.
- In Kamen Rider Fourze, the Monsters of the Fortnight are known as Zodiarts and draw their powers from the various constellations; despite the name, the signs of the Western Zodiac are reserved for high-level warriors and commanders.
- Uchu Sentai Kyuranger has its rangers get their powers from "Kyutama", orbs that represent the 88 constellations. Unlike Fourze above, the Western Zodiac doesn't get preferential treatment; only about half of their team gets their powers from the Zodiacnote while the rest of the team uses lesser-known constellationsnote and all the rest grant various power-ups (Gemini performing a Doppelgänger Attack, for example).
- Xena: Warrior Princess: In "A Day in the Life", Xena and Gabrielle identify a water dipper and bear constellation in the night sky. In "Fins, Femmes and Gems", the Mystic Diamond is responsible for keeping the North Star from being extinguished, but Aphrodite steals the diamond and plans to add it to her own constellation.
Mythology
- Greek Mythology: Several monsters and characters were transformed into constellations by the gods, such as Chiron (either Centaurus or Sagittarius), Orion, Castor and Pollux (Gemini)...
- In Contra: Hard Corps, Noiman Cascade's Virtual Zone forms include the constellations Taurus, Sagittarius and Gemini.
- In Cuphead Hilda Berg's first and second phaes include forms based on Taurus, Sagittarius, and Gemini, as a shoutout to Contra
- The Celestrians in the localisation of Dragon Quest IX are named for constellations that are named for birds.
- In ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, each skill tree looks like a constellation shaped after something appropriate, like a bottle for Alchemy or a sword for One-Handed Weapons.
- In Genshin Impact, each character's skill tree takes the form of a constellation, with each star being a passive skill. Constellations also show up behind Paimon when she moves, and The Traveller summons them in one of their idle animations.
- In Ōkami, each of the 13 Brush Gods (who are all based on Eastern Zodiac plus a cat), hides themselves as constellations with missing stars in various locations. When you spot them, you need to fill in the missing stars to restore their powers and make them at your service.
- In Mobile Phone Game Sword of Chaos, Star Souls light up points of the constellations on a Star Map. There is a sun and moon constellation, and constellations of other galaxies.
- Upon defeating Raphael the Raven in Yoshi's Island, he flies off into the sky and becomes a constellation.
- Poseidon: Master of Atlantis: If your city doesn't have enough food, the Astronomer ill express his wish to become a constellation so he wouldn't be so hungry.
- Yu-Gi-Oh! has several cards with this motif. The Constellar/Sacred archtype are based on the Western Zodiac, and although the Fire Fist archtype is based an a different group of stars. "Ultimate Fire Formation - Seito", one of their support cards, is based on the Big Dipper asterism, and implying that the stars within are the other support cards.
- There are several cardsnote with "Leo" in the name, examples include "Leotaur" "Number 88: Gimmick Puppet of Leo" and "Photon Leo".
Webcomics
- In Yokoka's Quest, the constellation Orion appears numerous times in the comic note and related non-comic works note . Constellations and their stars are also used for Theme Naming.
- The My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Boast Busters" involved a giant bear made of stars incorrectly called an Ursa Major (it's actually an Ursa Minor as Twilight Sparkle pointed out in the end. There is an actual Ursa Major though but it is a little more monstrous than it's cub [the aforementioned Ursa Minor].)
- Aliens from Il Était Une Fois...Space are said to come from constellations as Cassiopeia, Auriga, Centaur, or Scorpius among others -and judging for the distances to Earth mentioned in the show from their brightest stars-. The gaffe mentioned at the start of the article is present here when it's for example mentioned that Cassiopeia controls the constellations of Pegasus, Andromeda, Draco, and Cepheus.
- Some flags which use imagery of constellations:
- The state flag of Alaska depicts the seven stars of the Big Dipper, with Polaris (the North Star) depicted at a distance from the upper right of the bowl, just as these stars appear in the Northern sky. (Note that Polaris itself isn't in the Big Dipper or the Ursa Major constellation, but in Ursa Minor which is close by in the sky.) The use of the Ursa Major stars symbolize the "strength" of the Great Bear, while the North Star symbolizes Alaska as a northern frontier.
- The flags of Australia and New Zealand both depict the prominent stars of the "Southern Cross" (the constellation Crux), an iconic feature of the Southern sky.
- The flag of Brazil features prominent stars of the southern celestial hemisphere, laid out as they appear in multiple constellations. 27 stars were chosen, each representing a Brazilian state (or the Federal District).
- The ten stars constellations on the logos of the ill-fated...Constellation Program represents the ten major NASA centers in the U.S. *
- The randomly assorted stars on the seal/flag and the "meatball" logo of National Aeronautics and Space Administration just represents spaces in general.
- The Southern Cross was part of the coat of arms of German East Africa until World War I. The Nazis revived this as a symbol of their demand for the return of all former German colonies and made this a badge worn by the uniformed police in some cities (e. g. Bremen, Hamburg, Kiel) to symbolize that these police forces continued the tradition of the Schutztruppe of the former German colonies.
- The flag of the Community of Madrid
, in Spain, features seven stars that represent the seven brightest ones of Ursa Major.
Examples of constellations as a gag
- In "Sailor Moon’s Ford Fusion Dream", Usagi and Luna watch the constellations of Sagittarius, Libra, and the new Ford Fusion.
- A 1999 GEICO commercial has a constellation of a car getting its "windshield" broken by a flying comet."At GEICO, we get the ball rolling on your claim quickly. Even in the middle of the night."
- In chapter 31 of Yotsuba&!, the Koiwais, Jumbo, Fuuka, Ena, and Miura all go out to see the stars. This provides opportunities for a couple of gags:
- Even with a planisphere and a red flashlight, it's hard to tell which star is which, especially as, as Miura observes, "there's no lines like at the planetarium." Fuuka advises her to try using her heartstrings, then points, calling something "Virgo". Jumbo says Virgo's not over there.
- A few constellations are named, and Yotsuba asks what they are. When Miura answers that they're constellations, she kneels, because seiza can mean either "constellation" or "kneeling position", depending.
- A 1950s-era sci-fi short story dealt with the scientific community's collective mind being blown when the stars begin visibly moving across the sky...ultimately arranging themselves into an ad for soap. It proves to be the result of an Earth-based light-bending device, which cannot be duplicated after its creator dies of a stroke on realizing he misspelled his own name.
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: In "The Gauntlet", Hercules rates Ipicles' stew "four stars", but Ipicles asks, "Why not a constellation?"
- The Far Side: One strip has a character pointing out the constellation known as "The Big Dip", which is the profile of a dorky-looking man.
Examples with claims that treat a constellation as a location
Film
- In The Fifth Element, the cruise ship is orbiting the planet Phloston in the "Angel" constellation.
- Stargate refers to Earth's constellations as "points" in space, using them as coordinates for the gate system. The constellations are marked as the 38 symbols on the rim of the gate, and the gate on the other side has different symbols based on the constellations that are seen from there. Perhaps recognizing that constellations do not constitute a "point" in space and/or not wanting to churn out 38 new gate symbols every episode, the subsequent TV series gradually retconned this away, eventually settling on the gate symbols being the letters of an Ancient alphabet instead.
- Doctor Who: The Doctor claims that Gallifrey is (or was) in the constellation of Kasterborous.
- On 3rd Rock from the Sun, the aliens' homeworld is located in "the Cepheus-Draco border territory."
- In the Katamari Damacy series, constellations can be rolled up as individual items, so long as your katamari's big enough to handle it.
- In JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain, the observatory Mini-Game has you figuring out which constellation Polly sent her father's spaceship to.
Western Animation
- Il Était Une Fois...Space: Cassiopeia is said to control neighboring constellations as Cepheus, Draco, or Andromeda among others and aliens are described as coming from so and so constellation (Auriga, Centaurus, etc).
