On a clear night, one may find themselves compelled to look up into the heavens. Even at a young age, one can’t help but to look upon the sky with a since of wonder and bewilderment. The stars scatter across the sky, looking ever majestic as they light up the darkest of nights. The moon lurks among them appearing godly in comparison, however the moon is just a small landmark in what is an infinite expanse of space and time. The night shows the great universal beauty which we are a part of, but also the absolute miniscule place that humanity has in it. The sun, which is the largest celestial body to our eye, has throughout our history represented the strongest and most reverent. It is our home star, but even it too has only a small place in a universe that contains billions of stars just like our own. Astronomy is the study of this universal expanse. It is to look up at the stars, planets, and moons above us and to organize them enough to provide some understanding of what the universe is, where the universe is going, and how does it work. It also looks to answer the questions written into the heart of humankind, where do we come from and what is our place in this world.
The celestial sphere is all of the stars visual to us here on Earth. The celestial sphere has been studied and interpreted through history. Many different ancient civilizations based much of their religion on heavenly objects. For the Ancient Egyptians, the sun was under the control of their strongest god, Rahotep. For the ancient Greeks, the goddess Artemis brought the blessings of the hunt to her followers. The constellations have been used to guide wayward seamen on a quest to find lands uncharted and guide slaves towards the freedom never before known. Even now, many associate the