Night Sky Network Articles
Astronomy clubs bringing the wonders of the universe to the public
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere and look up during July evenings, you’ll see the brilliant star Vega shining overhead. Did you know that Vega is one of the most studied stars in our skies? As one of the brightest summer…
by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific As summer deepens in the Northern Hemisphere, a familiar constellation rises with the galactic core of the Milky Way each evening: Scorpius the Scorpion. One of the twelve zodiacal constellations,…
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from NASA’s Heliophysics Education Activation Team (NASA HEAT) and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific/Night Sky Network Have you ever wondered about what the Sun is made of? Or why do you get sunburned on even cloudy days? NASA’s new…
by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Here on Earth, we undergo a changing of seasons every three months. But what about the rest of the Solar System? What does a sunny day on Mars look like?…
Astronomers have been trying to discover evidence that worlds exist around stars other than our Sun since the 19th century. By the mid-1990s, technology finally caught up with the desire for discovery and led to the first discovery of a…
It is easy to forget that all of the hard work, technology, and money that NASA pours into space research actually comes back down to Earth. In fact, many of NASA’s missions and research focus on our planet! NASA also…
by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific The Electromagnetic Spectrum If you’ve ever heard the term “radio waves,” used a microwave or a television remote, or had an X-ray, you have experienced a broad range of the…
Depending on your locale, equinoxes can be seen as harbingers of longer nights and gloomy weather, or promising beacons of nicer temperatures and more sunlight. Observing and predicting equinoxes is one of the earliest skills in humanity’s astronomical toolkit. Many…
by Kat Troche of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific What Are Messier Objects? During the 18th century, astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier wanted to distinguish the ‘faint fuzzies’ he observed from any potential new comets. As a result, Messier cataloged…
Light pollution has long troubled astronomers, who generally shy away from deep sky observing under full Moon skies. The natural light from a bright Moon floods the sky and hides views of the Milky Way, dim galaxies and nebula, and…