constellation
n.a group of stars that forms a pattern in the sky and has a name. You can see these shapes at night, like the Big Dipper or Orion.
n.a group of stars forming a recognisable pattern that is traditionally named after its apparent form or identified with a mythological figure.
“The Big Dipper is a famous constellation.”
“Ancient sailors used the position of each constellation to navigate across the open ocean at night.”
“Modern astronomers divide the celestial sphere into eighty-eight official constellations, providing a standardised map that allows researchers to precisely locate and share the coordinates of newly discovered celestial bodies.”
Often used with the preposition 'of' when describing a group of related things ('a constellation of ideas').
“We turn our attention this week to one of the sky’s smallest constellations.”
“A Canadian satellite company, Telesat, recently received inquiries from other companies asking if they would consider sharing some of the 11 Falcon 9 launches Telesat has booked for its new constellation.”
Common in science and technology writing
PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English constellacioun, constillacioun (“(astrology) position of the moon or a planet in relation to the ascendant sign of the zodiac; horoscope; (astronomy) formation of fixed stars, constellation; (astronomy) elevation or position of the sun”) [and other forms], borrowed from Old French constellation (modern French constellation), or directly from its etymon Late Latin cōnstēllātiōnem, the accusative singular of cōnstēllātiō (“collection of stars supposed to exert an influence upon human affairs, constellation”), from Latin con- (prefix denoting a bringing together of several objects) + stēlla (“star; meteor; planet”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”)) + -ātiō (suffix forming nouns).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.