In every culture, people observe and interpret stars. Korean culture is no exception. Ancestors of modern Koreans had developed a distinct culture to locate the stars to guide their way and to put meaning in them.

Watching a night scene may sound like an extravagance to busy modern people. Unfortunately, as more people have less time to watch a night sky, more artificial lights have replaced our natural lights, meaning it becomes harder to see constellations.

However, the night sky is still available to us, maybe we should take some time to reconnect with our old friend.

Korea, located in the Northern Hemisphere, has a latitude of 33˚ to 43˚N, meaning most constellations are accessible to many Korean observers. However, there are some constellations such as Peacock and Aquarius that are unable to watch in Korean night scenes.

▲ Two people are observing the night sky.(Joongang daily)

Two of the most well-known stars in Korea are Jikneyo and GyeonWoo stars, which are also known as Vega and Altair. The names of the stars, Jikneyo and GyeonWoo are based on characters in a sad story. Jikneyo and GyeonWoo, both had been hard-working and diligent, neglected their responsibilities when they married. Hearing this, the Emperor of Heaven who once helped them to marry, enraged so he separated them into two different stars, Vega and Altair. Those two stars can be observed mostly during summer and fall.

▲ A meteor emerges in the constellation Perseus in the night sky in Korea.(Yonhap News)

Also, all zodiac constellations can be observed in Korean night skies in different time periods. As for now(this article was written in late August), you can mostly observe Virgo, Scorpio, and Sagittarius; non-zodiac constellations like Perseus and Ursa major can be seen as well.

The night is getting brighter making us hard to see dark night. However, as the night sky is still a beautiful scene, why don't we take some time to go out of town and observe the bright stars in the dark night sky?