Category: Fundamentals

Imagine you’re a photon that’s been travelling for 2.5 million years. You left the Andromeda Galaxy before our species existed. You crossed the intergalactic void at the speed of light, threading through the darkness for longer than the human mind can actually comprehend. You survived every light-year of empty nothing and you’re now in the…

When I ask someone what constellations they know, they almost always begin by mentioning the Big Dipper. It’s good that people have an idea of what’s up there in a night sky. The only problem is, the Big Dipper is not a constellation. (Don’t feel bad if you also thought the Dig Dipper was a…

Here’s something I wish someone had told me when I first got into this hobby: some of the best experiences astronomy has to offer require zero equipment. No telescope. No binoculars. Just you, a dark sky, and the eyes you were born with. Naked eye astronomy is its own discipline and probably where everyone should…

A lot of people getting into astronomy immediately jump to thinking about a telescope. There’s a certain romance to it. You picture yourself like Galileo in your backyard, eye pressed to the eyepiece, peering into the cosmos. Binoculars, on the other hand, feel a little boring by comparison. And let’s be honest, pulling them out…

You’ve probably noticed it already. You walk outside into the dark, you can barely see anything. Five minutes later, you can make out shapes. Twenty minutes later, you’re surprised by how much detail is visible. That’s not your imagination — your eyes are going through two distinct biological processes, one after the other. Understanding how…