Stargazing

Get the terminology down
It doesn't hurt to use the proper language when describing the night sky, and its even better to understand what you're saying. Here are a few basic terms to get you started.

Asteroids
Asteroids (also called planetoids) are smaller than a planet or a planet's moon, and believed to be fragments of larger objects that broke apart during the early beginnings of the solar system.

Constellations
A grouping of stars that form a pattern in the night sky (example: The Big Dipper).

Corona
The outer layer and hottest part of the sun's atmosphere.

Galaxy
The giant mass of stars, interstellar gas and dust that make up the Milky Way (our galaxy) and the billions of other galaxies.

Nebula
Celestial objects that have a fuzzy or cloudy appearance and are mainly made of gas and dust.

Planet
A celestial body that orbits a star -- composed mainly of rock and dense gases.

Meteor
Commonly known as a shooting star or falling star, it gets its light from the heat it produces as it enters the Earth's atmosphere.

Retrograde
When a planet appears to “travel” backwards, or in a direction opposite its usual one.

Star Cluster
A group of stars within the Milky Way, bound by gravity. (example: the Pleiades, aka Seven Sisters cluster).