How Do You Tell the Difference Between All the Stars In the Sky Without a Telescope or Binoculars?

There are many ways to look at the night sky.

The most obvious is to stand outside and look up.

On a clear, dark night, the sky, what astronomers call the celestial sphere, appears filled with individual points of light.

Only by studied, careful observation can you distinguish a star from a planet or one star from another.

People have been studying the night sky for thousands of years, first just by looking, then by looking through telescopes and binoculars, and now also by measuring all kinds of electromagnetic radiation besides light.

By looking and studying, and with careful training, astronomers can see amazing details in what may appear to some as just another starry night.