Walking outside on a clear night, my eyes turn skyward at the glowing jewels in the draped darkness of the sky. The two close lights drew me to wonder, as all the ancients have before me, to wonder where we all came from.

Astronomy studies celestial objects ( stars, planets, comets, nebulae, star clusters and galaxies), phenomena that originate outside the Earth's atmosphere (such as the cosmic background radiation) and the formation and development of the universe.

Prehistoric cultures left behind astronomical artifacts such as the Egyptian monuments and Stonehenge, and early civilizations such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Chinese, and Indians performed methodical observations of the night sky

Jun. 6: Two Pairs to See

Orange-yellow Mars slides less than a degree north of the bluish star Regulus, a pretty conjunction easily seen in the middle of the evening sky. By then, Mars will have shrunk to a tiny ochre dot even in large telescopes. Also on this night, Jupiter will engage Uranus in the first of a series of three conjunction; there have been only six such triple conjunctions between 1801 and 2200. The last was in 1983 and the next will come during 2037-38.

Jun. 26: Partial Eclipse of the Moon

This eclipse favors the Hawaiian Islands, western Alaska, Australia, New Zealand, eastern portions of Malaysia and Asia. These locations will see the upper half of the moon darkened by the Earth's umbral shadow. Across parts of the eastern U.S., some evidence of the eclipse may become evident as the lighter penumbral shadow casts a "smudge" on the moon's left edge just before moonset.

Jul. 11: Total Eclipse of the Sun

Virtually the entire path of totality falls over water. It will pass within 15 miles of Tahiti (a great cruise ship opportunity) and scores a direct hit on tiny Easter Island, famous for its strange humanoid megalithic statutes. From this speck of land in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, the sun will be totally eclipsed for 4 minutes 45 seconds. Talk about a photo-op! The only other landfall is near the very end of the totality track, over Patagonia.

Early Aug: Planetary Trio

Mars passes less than a couple of degrees south of Saturn on Aug. 1 and Venus slides just over 3 degrees to the south nine days later; on Aug. 8, the three planets will form what Jean Meeus defines as a "trio," when three planets fit within a circle with a minimum diameter smaller than 5 degrees. These three worlds are all well out (46 to 50 degrees) from the sun but, unfortunately for the Northern Hemisphere, south of it and therefore rather low to the sunset horizon.

Aug. 12: Perseid Meteor Shower

One of the best known and most reliable of the annual meteor displays reaches maximum with no moonlight to interfere. Under dark, clear skies, a single observer might see as many as 90 meteors per hour. If you aim to catch one night sky event this summer, make it this one

On a warm summer night, in a clear field, gaze at the beauty of the heavens above.

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