Constellations are patterns of stars that can be recognized in the sky. Surely you are acquainted with the constellations of the zodiac, the ones that appear in the ecliptic: Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Aquarius. This 12 constellations were recognized in the nocturnal sky since ancient times, and are even today, somehow invoked by astrologist and people who believe, that the stars are part of the destine of human kind. The International Astronomical Union has recognized officially 88 constellations. Cassiopeia, the Queen is one in the northern latitudes, that can be recognized for its form of a w. Orion, the Hunter, is a beautiful constellation that you will recognized as three stars in line, framed by four stars, two of which are Betelgeuse and Rigel. There are much more stars in a constellation that we cannot see with our unaided aye, but the pattern we recognize is called an asterism.
I encourage you to download in your computer a very good informative interactive star map, like Stellarium. It looks like shown in the picture. You will have a great deal of joy and satisfaction learning and watching the sky with this program.
AstroDidactics 