On these colder winter nights, it is refreshing to go outside and gaze towards the heavens. There it is.. the vast universe right before your eyes. Full of stars, planets, nebula and other galaxies. It is best to find a dark sky site that is free of city lights and cars. A blanket, star chart and a sense of adventure is all you need! Well.. maybe some hot cocoa and yummy snacks.

One of our favorite parts of stargazing is picking out the constellations. Locating the stars that form these shapes of animals, humans and some inanimate objects can be very satisfying. Sea-faring mariners from ancient civilizations would use these same stars and constellations to help them navigate the open seas. Farmers would watch the horizons each morning and evening to see various stars, asterisms and constellations. These were tell-tale signs of when to plant and harvest their crops. 

Many stories or myths have been told and retold throughout time and vary slightly depending on the teller. These myths tell how each constellation and their stars came to be and what they signify. 
The "Constellations" tab will set you on a tour of these magnificent pictures in the night sky.

As the ancient civilizations studied the sky, they noticed that there were a few objects that seemed to freely wander the skies. The Ancient Greeks called these "planetas" or wanderers. They could not rely on these objects for timing of seasons or navigational purposes. Even though they followed the path of the ecliptic, their movement did not match the background of the stars. They even seemed to pause and go backwards for a few months, then pause and resume their westward travel. As time went on and more observers catalogued their sightings, these objects became known as the planets.
Make sure to click on the "Planets" tab to take a tour of each of the 8 planets!

Among the heavens, ancient observers noticed that there were rather faint but large, fuzzy objects. With the invention of the telescope, these objects were found to be clusters of stars. Clusters that contained 100's to 1,000's of stars! Some were seen to be tight "ball-like" clusters or "globs" of stars. These were later labeled as "Globular Clusters". These are said to be some of the oldest objects in the visible universe. Other faint patches are called "Open Clusters". These also can contain 100's of stars, but are more widely dispersed in their cluster. Make sure to click the "Star Clusters" tab to check out some of these different clusters!

As telescopes became more advanced and observers were more aware of objects in the night sky, many more faint patches were discovered. These became known as nebula. Clouds of interstellar dust and gas left over from dying stars that have blown off their outer shells. Be sure to read about "The Life and Death of a Star" in the "Stars" tab.