Tips, guides, activities, and videos for skywatchers. Watch the video and read the article. Read and Watch. Do you have a telescope? Would you like to see some of the same night sky objects from the ground that Hubble observes from space? Astronomy clubs bringing the wonders of the universe to the public.
Find a Club. Go to the Blog. Explore NASA's tips and guides for observing and photographing the sky. Binoculars are an excellent first instrument for skywatching because they are generally easy to use and more versatile than most telescopes.
Capturing the Moon with a camera is one of the most satisfying — and challenging — projects available to an outdoor photographer. Taking photographs of meteors streaking across the sky can be challenging, but with these tips — you might be rewarded with a great photo. Five planets in our solar system are easily observed without a telescope: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Uranus is just barely visible for those with excellent eyesight under dark-sky conditions, provided you know where to look. The planets appear to move across the sky, against the background of the much more distant stars. Planets appear as bright or brighter than most stars, and unlike stars, they tend to glow with a steady light, where stars often flicker.
About the Planets. Most of the brightest stars are relatively nearby in space — that is, within a few hundred light years of the solar system. While there are a couple hundred billion stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way, we only see a few thousand of the nearer ones when we look into the night sky with our eyes.
