I thought I could be an explorer—from my own backyard. But first, I got lost.
Constellations
Aquarius
Aquarius is a sprawling constellation that stretches across nearly 40° of the southern sky on autumn evenings…
Aquila
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive Aquila, the Eagle, is a mid-sized constellation that lies right along the summer Milky Way just south of the zenith on September evenings in the...
Scutum
Scutum, the Shield, is a small constellation that lies along the summer Milky Way, just south of the Summer Triangle…
Hercules
M13. Photo © Reinhold Wittich/Dreamstime.com. Hercules, the Strongman, is a large constellation that lies straight east of Bootes, the constellation we focused on last month. If you imagine a line...
Bootes
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive M3. Photo © Reinhold Wittich|Dreamstime.com. Bootes lies nearly straight overhead on June evenings in the Northern Hemisphere. This constellation is...
Monoceros
Monoceros the Unicorn is one of the most overlooked winter constellations.
Auriga
Auriga contains a number of open star clusters; the best three are M36, M37, and M38.
Cetus
A guide to finding deep-sky objects in Cetus.
Pegasus
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive M15. Photo © Hubble and NASA. Pegasus is one of the most familiar autumn constellations. The most prominent part of the constellation is a large square of...
Cygnus
Thanks to its location along the Milky Way, Cygnus is loaded with star clusters and nebulas. It also contains a couple of outstanding double stars…
Lyra
Lyra, the Harp, is a small constellation that lies almost straight overhead on August evenings in the mid-northern latitudes…
Draco
Draco isn’t heavily populated with great telescopic targets, but the double stars and deep sky objects that do lie within the constellation’s boundaries are widely varied…
Western Hydra
Hydra holds a diverse array of telescopic targets. The constellation contains several beautiful double stars, as well as a fairly bright planetary nebula, a globular star cluster, a bright open star cluster, and a fine barred spiral galaxy…
Puppis
View the full issue in the Magazine Archive By the time March comes around in the Northern Hemisphere, Leo is high in the east and Arcturus is rising around dark—both sure signs that spring is...