Celestial bodies hanging like chandeliers in the sky have always fascinated professional astronomers as well as those who love star-gazing as dilettante or amateur astronomers, observed American astronomer and planetary scientist Carl Sagan, whose theories about the origin of the universe still hold ground.

Star-gazing is indeed a hobby that has a niche aura about it because it is one of the most absorbing pastimes for curious souls since time immemorial. In fact, professional astronomy became a proper discipline only a century ago. Before that, people used to observe celestial bodies with the naked eye, and those who could afford it would resort to binoculars or a cheap telescope.

Ancient references and early observers

The universe, sky, comets, stars, and all that have always made human beings inquisitive. There is a reference to this in the Mahabharata’s ‘Anusthaan Parv’, where Krishna predicted that a look towards the sky would one day open up a........

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