USE YOUR MIND’S EYE

13 There’s more to the night sky then you can see. With the naked eye you’re only penetrating that first layer of the night sky: visible stars, clusters and the occasional galaxy. Even with binoculars or a telescope there’s only so much you can see. But the news is full of new astronomical discoveries. Can you find them in the night sky? For example, most exoplanets found by astronomers using the Kepler space telescope are in two tiny patches of sky around the constellations of Lyra and Cygnus. Here’s another: the first exoplanet ever discovered in 1995 was 51 Pegasi b in the constellation of Pegasus. It’s about halfway between the bright stars Scheat and Markab. Halley’s Comet? It’s in front of the constellation of Hydra, close to bright star Sirius. Marry together what you observe with what you hear about in the news and not only will you get a deeper understanding of the night sky, but you’ll also be able to navigate it on a whole new level.