Mathematica has data on stars and constellations. Here is Mathematica code to create a list of constellations, sorted by the declination (essentially latitude on the celestial sphere) of the brightest star in the constellation.
constellations = EntityList["Constellation"] sorted = SortBy[constellations, -#["BrightStars"][[1]]["Declination"] &]
We can print the name of each constellation with
Map[#["Name"] &, sorted]
This yields
{"Ursa Minor", "Cepheus", "Cassiopeia", "Camelopardalis",
…, "Hydrus", "Octans", "Apus"}
We can print the name of the constellation along with its brightest star as follows.
Scan[Print[#["Name"], ", " #["BrightStars"][[1]]["Name"]] &, sorted]
This prints
Ursa Minor, Polaris Cepheus, Alderamin Cassiopeia, Tsih Camelopardalis, β Camelopardalis … Hydrus, β Hydri Octans, ν Octantis Apus, α Apodis
Mathematica can draw star charts for constellations, but when I tried
Entity["Constellation", "Orion"]["ConstellationGraphic"]
it produced extraneous text on top of the graphic.
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The post Constellations in Mathematica first appeared on John D. Cook.