Bringing the Night Sky into Your Day

Paul Kinzer — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:47:27 +0000

The sky at night, away from the lights of city or town, is a beautiful, fascinating place. There is so much to see: the Moon and stars; constellations and the Milky Way; bright planets and meteors; maybe even a comet or the Northern Lights. And it changes from hour to hour, night to night, and season to season.

Unfortunately, sharing all this with groups — especially with children — is difficult. Bright lights, clouds, bugs, cold or heat, and the obvious fact that it all takes place at night (mostly after bedtime); all of these make it hard to plan for some time under the stars.

Seeing Stars is a service that aims to make exploration of the night sky easy and fun for schools, libraries, and other groups who are interested in What’s Up There.

Explore each of the pages of the site to find out more about Seeing Stars, or just to see more photos of objects in the nighttime sky. All were taken by me, Paul Kinzer, with modest amateur equipment, and most will show a larger version if you click on them!

The Constellation Orion the Hunter, with Several Nebulae (click to enlarge)

M42, The Great Nebula in Orion (click to enlarge)