What is celestial bodies and how to determine directions in ancient times

How wonderful it is to watch the sky after sunset! One would first notice one or two bright dots shining in the sky. Soon you would see the number increasing. You cannot count them any more. The whole sky is filled with tiny shining objects – some are bright, others dim. It seems as if the sky is studded with diamonds. They all appear to be twinkling. But if you look at them carefully you will notice that some of them do not twinkle as others do. They simply glow without any flicker just as the moon shines.
Along with these bright objects, you may also see the moon on most of the days. It may, however, appear at different times, in different shapes and at different positions. You can see the full moon only once in about a month’s time. It is Full moon night or Poornima. A fortnight later, you cannot see it at all. It is a New moon night or Amavasya. On this day, you can watch the night sky best, provided it is a clear night.

Do you wonder why can’t we see the moon and all those bright tiny objects during day time?

It is because the very bright light of the sun does not allow us to see all these bright objects of the night sky.

The sun, the moon and all those objects shining in the night sky are called celestial bodies.Some celestial bodies are very big and hot. They are made up of gases. They have their own heat and light, which they emit in large amounts. These celestial bodies are called stars. The sun is a star.Countless twinkling stars in the night sky are similar to the sun. But we do not feel their heat or light, and they look so tiny because they are very very far from us.You must have noticed that all objects look smaller when seen from a distance.

While watching the night sky, you may notice various patterns formed by different groups of stars. These are called constellations. Ursa Major or Big Bear is one such constellation. One of the most easily recognizable constellation is the small bear or Saptarishi (Sapta-seven, rishi-sages). It is a group of seven stars that forms a part of the large Ursa Major Constellation. Ask someone elder in your family or neighborhood to show you more stars, planets and constellations in the sky.

In ancient times, people used to determine directions during the night with the help of stars. The North star indicates the north direction. It is also called the Pole Star. It always remains in the same position in the sky. We can locate the position of the Pole Star with the help of the Saptarishi. You will notice that, if an imaginary line is drawn joining the pointer stars and extended further, it will point to the Pole Star. Some celestial bodies do not have their own heat and light. They are lit by the light of the stars. Such bodies are called planets. The word ‘planet’ comes from the Greek word “Planetai” which means ‘wanderers’. The earth on which we live is a planet. It gets all its heat and light from the sun, which is our nearest star. If we look at the earth from a great distance, say the moon, it will appear to be shining just as the moon.The moon that we see in the sky is a satellite. It is a companion of our earth and moves round it. Like our earth, there are eight other planets that get heat and light from the sun. Some of them have their moons too.