## Western

Western sky culture is used internationally by modern astronomers, and is the official scheme of The International Astronomical Union. It has historical roots in Ancient Greek astronomy, with influences from Islamic astronomy.

### Constellations

The Western culture divides the celestial sphere into 88 areas of various sizes called constellations, each with precise boundary, issued by the International Astronomical Union. These constellations have become the standard way to describe the sky, replacing similar sets in other sky cultures exhaustively in daily usage.

### Star names

Most of traditional western star names came from Arabic. In astronomy, Bayer/Flamsteed designations and other star catalogues are widely used instead of traditional names except few cases where the traditional names are more famous than the designations.

### Alternative asterism files for Stellarium

Asterisms by H.A. Rey, from his book "The Stars: A New Way To See Them", by Mike Richards.

### External links

- Constellation article at Wikipedia
- Star Catalogue article at Wikipedia
- Constellation image library of the U.S. Naval Observatory and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Johannes Hevelius Engravings.