A constellation is a group of stars that forms a recognizable pattern in the night sky, one we've given a name, usually after a mythological figure, animal, or object. There are 88 of them officially recognized, and together they map out the entire sky....
If you've ever tried picking up a telescope, downloading a stargazing app, or looking through a night sky map, you have probably run into two pretty weird terms: declination and right ascension. Declination sounds reasonable enough since it works kinda like latitude on Earth....
Carl Sagan once said, "Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known." This quote captures our fascination with the fourth planet from the Sun.
Do...
Almost everyone has seen photos of the Northern Lights, those rippling green curtains that draw travelers to Iceland, Norway, and Alaska every winter. Far fewer people know that the Earth puts on the exact same show at the opposite end of the planet. Down...
On Christmas morning 2021, a rocket lifted off from French Guiana carrying humanity's most expensive scientific instrument ever built, and for the next two weeks, almost nobody involved in the project could relax. Not because the launch itself was risky. It went perfectly. The...