Astronomy is a natural science which is the study of celestial objects such as stars, galaxies, planets, moons, asteroids, comets and nebulae, the physics, chemistry, and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth, including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic microwave background radiation. A related but distinct subject, cosmology, is concerned with studying the universe as a whole. Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, and Maya performed methodical observations of the night sky. However, the invention of the telescope was required before astronomy was able to develop into a modern science. Historically, astronomy has included disciplines as diverse as astrometry, celestial navigation, observational astronomy and the making of calendars, but professional astronomy is nowadays often considered to be synonymous with astrophysics.
The Earth's atmosphere is the bane of astronomers. The idea of sending a telescope into space to avoid it was first proposed long before the first satellites were launched, long before anyone even dreamt of sending astronauts to space. A space telescope avoids frustrating problems such as cloudy and misty observing nights, the twinkling of stars even on clear nights and absorption of the ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum. The Hubble Space Telescope is a joint ESA/NASA project and was launched in 1990 by the Space Shuttle mission STS-31 into a low-Earth orbit 569 km above the ground. During its lifetime Hubble has become one of the most important science projects ever. Hubble's orbit above the Earth's distorting atmosphere allows astronomers to make the very high resolution observations that are essential to open new windows onto planets, stars and galaxies. Hubble was designed as a high standard flagship mission and has paved the way for other space-based observatories. Notably it can access the otherwise invisible ultraviolet part of the spectrum, and also has access to areas of the infrared not visible from the ground. As of spring 2018, the Hubble Space Telescope has made over 1.5 million observations of more than 43 500 celestial objects. The 28 years’ worth of observations has produced more than 153 terabytes of data and, the orbiting observatory generates more than 80 gigabytes of data each month. Astronomers using Hubble data have published more than 15 500 scientific papers, making it one of the most productive scientific instruments ever built.
NGC & Messier Catalog w/cross reference
Complete NGC Catalog w/catalog cross references
Visible Universe Graphic
Detailed Solar System Moons Graphic
Constellation Star Chart
The Greek Alphabet
Detailed Star Chart 1: Declination North of + 65°
Detailed Star Chart 2: RA 0h to 4h Declination +65° to +20°
Detailed Star Chart 3: RA 4h to 8h Declination +65° to +20°
Detailed Star Chart 4: RA 8h to 12h Declination +65° to +20°
Detailed Star Chart 5: RA 12h to 16h Declination +65° to +20°
Detailed Star Chart 6: RA 16h to 20h Declination +65° to +20°
Detailed Star Chart 7: RA 20h to 0h Declination +65° to +20°
Detailed Star Chart 8: RA 0h to 4h Declination +20° to -20°
Detailed Star Chart 9: RA 4h to 8h Declination +20° to -20°
Detailed Star Chart 10: RA 8h to 12h Declination +20° to -20°
Detailed Star Chart 11: RA 12h to 16h Declination +20° to -20°
Detailed Star Chart 11a: RA 11:5h to 13:5h Declination +20° to 0°
Detailed Star Chart 12: RA 16h to 20h Declination +20° to -20°
Detailed Star Chart 13: RA 20h to 0h Declination +20° to -20°
Detailed Star Chart 14: RA 0h to 4h Declination -20° to -65°
Detailed Star Chart 15: RA 4h to 8h Declination -20° to -65°
Detailed Star Chart 16: RA 8h to 12h Declination -20° to -65°
Detailed Star Chart 17: RA 12h to 16h Declination -20° to -65°
Detailed Star Chart 18: RA 16h to 20h Declination -20° to -65°
Detailed Star Chart 19: RA 20h to 0h Declination -20° to -65°
Detailed Star Chart 20: Declination South of -65°
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