Peering into the past, we find that our ancestors held a surprisingly advanced understanding of the stars and constellations. Their knowledge, as revealed in ancient texts, often rivals our modern ...

Who made the present-day official outlines of the 88 constellations and why do they contain so many zigzags? Caitlin McAlister Cottonwood, Arizona If you look at any star atlas published before 1930, ...

Constellations through the ages -- Constellations of the zodiac -- An astronomy primer -- Watching the skies -- How this book is organized -- The greek alphabet -- Map of the northern sky -- Map of ...

At SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park on Wednesday morning, researchers focused a powerful X-ray machine on pages of parchment from a medieval desert monastery, looking to reveal ...

Historical observations by Tycho Brahe (1572) and Johannes Kepler (1604) documented the transient appearance of "new stars," later identified as supernovae, which profoundly challenged prevailing ...

An ancient star map (not the document analyzed in the new research) unearthed in Dunhuang, China, in the seventh century C.E. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons Thousands of years ago, Chinese ...

Once you know how to use a star map, finding your way around the night sky is easy. Credit: Creators.com illustration I’ve been finding my way around the night sky with a star map for more than six ...