Danny Jones, age 13, of Bellafontaine, Ohio, for his question:

How many stars make up a constellation?

A constellation is a recognizable group of stars. It does not matter how many stars are in the design, so long as together they form a definite pattern, isle recognize some constellations from only one or two bright stars end in others roe can see a dozen or more.

The telescope, of course, shows more stars than our eyes can see and our eyes see more stars through the clay air over the desert than through the smoky air over the city.

Over the city, you may recognize the constellation Taurus from the one bright star, Aldebaran, though there are almost 20 stars in the constellation. Cants Minor, The; Little Dog, has but two stars. Only one, Procyon, is noticeable and often we see only Sirius of Cants Major, the Big Dot. This constellation has over a dozen other stars.

When Orion is visible we often notice only Betelusse, Rigel and the three stars in the bolt. There are 20 or more other stars in the constellation. A constellation is formed of a few brilliant stars, plus a number of Jimrner stars which fit into the design.