Constellation
A constellation is a named pattern of stars and the region of sky around it; meteor showers are named after them.
A constellation is a group of stars that people have imagined as a picture, such as Orion the hunter or the Great Bear. Since 1930, astronomers have divided the whole sky into 88 official constellations with fixed boundaries, so every point in the sky belongs to one.
Constellations are not real groups: their stars are at very different distances from us and only appear close together. But they are a useful map. Meteor showers are named after the constellation that contains their radiant, the point from which their meteors seem to come. The Perseids come from Perseus, the Geminids from Gemini and the Leonids from Leo.
To enjoy a meteor shower, you do not need to know the constellations well, because meteors appear all over the sky. But learning to find the radiant's constellation helps you tell shower meteors from sporadic ones, and makes a night under the stars even more interesting.
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Level: Beginner Ages 7 and up