ASTERISM

, the same with constellation, or a collection of many stars, which are usually represented on globes by some particular image or sigure, to distinguish the stars which compose this constellation from those of others.

ASTRÆA, a name given by some to the sign Virgo, by others called Erigone, and sometimes Isis. The poets feign that Justice quitted heaven to reside on earth, in the golden age; but, growing weary of the iniquities of mankind, she left the earth, and returned to heaven, placing herself in that part of the zodiac called Virgo, where she became a constellation of stars, and from her orb still looks down on the ways of men. Ovid. Metam. lib. i. ver. 149.