The Rhythm of the Spheres

Reading the Night Sky

Wandering in Astronomy

The night sky is the oldest pattern of man, and every culture reads it differently. The stars above keep silent time, moving to a rhythm we are just now beginning to understand. Astronomy is where math, science, art, music, and words meet in a wondrous collision. In this section of our site, learn the basics of astronomy: from how a star chart is made, to projections and art that map the night sky, to how an astrolabe works just like it did thousands of years ago. Watch the North Star shift across centuries, explore how one sky has been mapped by many traditions, read what happened on this day in space, and see tonight’s moon for your location.

Map the Stars

The math behind star charts, with a projection explorer and a working astrolabe.

The Moving Sky

How the sky shifts across centuries, with a precession clock you can run.

The Traditions

One sky reads many ways, with a same-sky overlay of the world’s constellations.

This Day in the Stars

The sky’s events, discoveries, and lore tied to today’s date.

The Moon Tonight

Its phase and face, drawn live for where you’re standing.

โœฆ  Astronomy Picture of the Day  โœฆ

Perseus Galaxy Cluster from Euclid

November 8, 2023
Credit: Image Credit & License: ESA , Euclid , Euclid Consortium , NASA ; Processing: Jean-Charles Cuillandre ( CEA Paris-Saclay ) & Giovanni Anselmi ; Text: Jean-Charles Cuillandre
See this entry on NASA's APOD โ†’
There's a new space telescope in the sky: Euclid . Equipped with two large panoramic cameras, Euclid captures light from the visible to the near- infrared . It took five hours of observing for Euclid's 1.2-meter diameter primary mirror to capture, through its sharp optics , the 1000+ galaxies in the Perseus cluster , which lies 250 million light years away. More than 100,000 galaxies are visible in the background, some as far away as 10 billion light years. The revolutionary nature of Euclid lies in the combination of its wide field of view (twice the area of the full moon), its high angular resolution (thanks to its 620 Megapixel camera ), and its infrared vision, which captures both images and spectra . Euclid's initial surveys , covering a third of the sky and recording over 2 billion galaxies, will enable a study of how dark matter and dark energy have shaped our universe .

Customized Star Charts Coming 1st Quarter 2027

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โœฆ  EarthSky  ยท  Astronomy.com  ยท  Phys.org  โœฆ
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