The Leeds Ram among new constellations 'lighting the North'

Presenter of BBC’s Stargazing Live, Mark Thompson, has identified twelve new constellations that also include the Manchester Bee, a symbol Mancunians hold close to their heart, the Cutty Sark, a nod to Glasgow’s famous ship building history and Edinburgh Castle.

Mark was commissioned by TransPennine Express to locate new constellations that are visible from UK cities. Alan Shearer, visible from Newcastle, Parmo and Chips, visible from Middlesbrough, and the Beatles, visible from Liverpool have now all been immortalised in the night sky in constellation form.

The twelve constellations will be easier to view as the nights get darker since the clocks went back last month.

Astronomer Mark Thompson said: “Children in the future won’t be trying to spot Orion’s Belt or The Plough, they’ll be stargazing at The Beatles, Alan Shearer and the Humber Bridge.

“It is a great time of year for scanning the night sky with the days getting shorter. As the nights get longer I hope people will take the opportunity to spot the new constellations.”

“As an avid stargazer I took great pleasure in finding these new constellations and working with TransPennine Express, we decided to find ones that would be relevant and have meaning to the people living in cities across the UK.”

The full list of constellations are as follows:

Alan Shearer – visible from Newcastle

Parmo and Chips – visible from Middlesbrough

Manchester Bee – visible from Manchester

The Beatles – visible from Liverpool

Viking Helmet – visible from York

Sir Tom Finney – visible from Preston

Scarborough Castle – visible from Scarborough

Iron Girder – visible from Sheffield

Edinburgh Castle – visible from Edinburgh

Humber Bridge – visible from Hull

Leeds Ram – visible from Leeds

Cutty Sark – visible from Glasgow

TransPennine Express Star – visible from Manchester

Leo Goodwin, Managing Director at TransPennine Express, said: “We wanted to celebrate all of the cities we serve in the UK and what better way than to give each city their own constellation that the residents can relate to. Mark’s unrivaled knowledge of the skies has given way to twelve fantastic new constellations.”

The new constellations come as TransPennine Express prepare to launch three new state of the art fleets, called Nova, that will double capacity for customers once they are all in service. Each train will feature high quality seating and interiors with more luggage space, plug and USB charging points, free on-board wi-fi in both standard and first class and the entertainment system Exstream featuring the latest TV shows, news and films.

Leo Goodwin continued: “It’s great that our Nova plans are now becoming reality and I can’t wait for our customers to see and experience these futuristic trains for themselves. New trains mean more seats and the experience onboard these new carriages will be completely transformed, our customers in this part of the world will soon be travelling on some of the newest trains in the country.”