Constellations are groups of stars that appear to form shapes in the night sky. Observed from a different vantage point in outer space, however, the stars no longer appear aligned, but random and disassociated an illusion versus reality. For example, the stars that comprise the Big Dipper, an asterism in the Ursa Major constellation, are separated by many light years.
StarFlight was developed by the University of Chicago's Center for the Presentation of Science with funding from the National Science Foundation, and in collaboration with University of Illinois at Chicago's Electronic Visualization Laboratory.