Idea that motions of Sun, Moon, planets can be used to predict future. Based on ancient interpretation of these objects as gods, who betray their intentions by their movements.
Brighter objects have smaller values.
About 5000 visible to eye. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn. Eye cannot detect changes in relative positions of stars with respect to each other. There are often interesting mythological contexts, but the constellations have no intrinsic physical significance. Example of stick-figure pattern associated with Orion is shown at right.