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in partnership with the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust

 

Constellations

Have you ever looked for pictures in the stars at night? Like the sky is a giant dot-to-dot puzzle?

We call groups of stars which form a picture in our imagination, a constellation

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Star map highlighting the Orion constellation and its neighboring constellations, such as Gemini, Taurus, and Canis Major. Major stars like Betelgeuse and Rigel are labeled, along with other notable objects like the Orion Nebula (M42)
Credit
This work by Torsten Bronger is licensed under GNU General Public License v2.0 or later
The Constellation of Orion

Atmospheric Problems

The Earth's atmosphere is vital for life. But did you know it can cause problems for astronomers. 

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Liverpool Telescope with the Milky Way galaxy arm
Credit
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved
Liverpool Telescope with the milky Way 

Stargazing Glossary

Welcome to our stargazing glossary! 

Here, you'll find key terms that will help you better understand the wonders of the night sky. 

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The image shows a person looking through a telescope silhouetted against a starry night sky, with a clear view of the Milky Way. On the right side, there is an icon of a book labeled "A-Z," indicating a glossary
Credit
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved

Sky Maps

 

Take a look at our sky maps, which are refreshed daily, to help you understand what you can see in the sky each night. 

The main part of each image shows the objects' positions visible in the sky at that time. This includes stars, the Moon, and planets. 

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A dome sky map with the sun setting and the compass points indicated
Credit
This work by The Schools' Observatory is licensed under All rights reserved

Finder-charts

A finder chart is a map of a small region of the sky. Astronomers use these charts to find particular stars within an image. 

The charts are also useful for communicating which object on a map is being referred to.

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A black-and-white star chart with numbered labels identifying 67 stars, used to locate the NGC 957 star cluster
Credit
This work by Fraser Lewis, Faulkes Telescope Project is licensed under All rights reserved
Finder chart for the open cluster NGC957.