Fundamentals of Stargazing

Motion of the Night Sky

In the first month the course, you learned the layout and important features of the night sky as well as the basics of the celestial sphere. This month you will learn the basics of how the sky appears to move over the course of a night and a year. Armed with this information, you will know why the stars of summer are different than the stars of win...

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Deep Sky Tours – March

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

Once you find the stars and constellations described in the 'Sky Tours' this month, you can try to find some of the so-called “deep sky sights”. The best and easiest objects this month are mostly open star clusters, which are groups of fairly new stars which formed together at the same time out of the same cloud of gas and dust. You also learn how ...

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Sky Tours (South) – March

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

Let’s begin the tours of the stars and constellations with the most famous and unmistakable constellation in the heavens, Orion, which will serve as a guide for other bright constellations in the late summer sky in March in the southern hemisphere. Along with the notes and audio, you will find at the bottom of the page a PDF of 5 printable star map...

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Sky Tours (North) – March

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

Let’s begin the tours of the stars and constellations with the most famous and unmistakable constellation in the heavens, Orion, which will serve as a guide for other bright constellations in the late winter sky in March in the northern hemisphere. Along with the notes and audio, you will find at the bottom of the page a PDF of 5 printable star map...

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Tour of the Planet Jupiter

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

You begin your exploration of the solar system this first month with a look at the planet Jupiter. In January through April of 2024, the planet lies low in the southwestern sky after sunset in the constellation Aries. Jupiter appears to move westward each day until it's lost in the Sun's glare and reaches conjunction on May 18. The planet reappears...

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