The Night Sky

When the ancients observed the night sky, they supposed that the stars were fixed on a kind of vast sphere that surrounded the earth - the celestial sphere. We now know that stars' distances from earth vary, and that the universe is ever-expanding.

I once read a Hindu love poem in which the poet tells his beloved, "Rays from your eyes embroider the universe." If we accept that extraordinary premise, then when we look up at the night sky, it may be that our stargaze extends to the very edge of the cosmos.

We'll be exploring the night sky over the course of time, beginning with the moon, then moving outward to the planets and on to deep space. The image above is of spiral galaxy NGC 4414 and was taken by the Hubble telescope. This NASA image is in the public domain. If you want to see more breathtaking astronomy images, go to the links section to NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, where you can see how humanity's vision with respect to the stars has come into sharp focus thanks to extraordinary technology.