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Starry Night Backyard and explore the night sky yourself.
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“Starry Night is an excellent
aid for exploring the heavens...a superb, well documented program that
will transform you into an expert in no time.”
--ZDNet, 5 star rating
"There are few experiences as invigorating as being out in the countryside standing under a canopy of star on a still night. Starry Night conveys that feeling better than any other desktop planetarium"
--New York Times
StarGazer
Each week most PBS stations air Star
Gazer with Jack Horkheimer, the world's first and only weekly TV series
on naked-eye astronomy. The images on this page illustrate the show for
the week of Monday,
August 28, 2000.
Vega: The Brightest and Most Wonderful Star Of The Summer Triangle
Vega is the brightest star in the Summer Triangle, and is almost directly overhead (at the zenith) just after dark in late August and early September.
Today Vega is far from the north's celestial pole. Currently the North Star is Polaris, which is the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper.
However, 14 000 years ago Vega was the North star and Polaris was far from the pole! Vega will again be the pole star about 10 000 years in the future.
Click here to see a QuickTime movie showing how Vega moves relative to the North Pole over a timespan of 25 000 years.
