The Big Dipper, or the Great Bear, or the Plough, or Charles' Wain — this particular constellation has many names. In Indian astronomy, it's called the Seven Sages or Saptarishi. Whatever it's called, it's the first or second constellation most people learn to recognize.
For today's soundtrack, let's go for something suitably mysterious.
And this is why I'm on a Seven Sages kick today. Mizar and Alcor are middle stars in the "handle" and a system of six stars all together.
My latest capture. Mizar (upper center) is a quadruple 4-star system (with 2 of the stars bright enough to produce diffraction spikes), and Alcor (lower right) is a binary 2-star system. I used my Celestron RASA telescope and ZWO ASI533MC color camera. pic.twitter.com/0oS5h3r2u0
— Chuck's Astrophotography (@chucksastropho1) March 8, 2026
So we have seven sages, we've got to have the Seven Sisters,
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "M45 - Pleiades Cluster" by Michael Siniscalchihttps://t.co/vLmsKsC1Xf#astrophotography pic.twitter.com/jACQLiiBiN
— AstroBin.com (@AstroBin_com) March 9, 2026
Here's a nice example of, well, stars and stuff. CG7 is a "cometary globule," and NGC2792 is a planetary nebula — so one is stars in construction, and the other is stars in demolition.
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "CG7 and NGC 2792" by Brian Valentehttps://t.co/Q9fdWcEzjw#astrophotography pic.twitter.com/ykw8AL5s4Y
— AstroBin.com (@AstroBin_com) March 7, 2026
That's life.
The universe is a cycle.
— astrojuanan (@astrojuanan) March 11, 2026
Stars are born in nebulae, die in powerful explosions and their material forms new generations of stars.
Every deep-sky image is a time capsule.#Astrophotography #Cosmos #DeepSky pic.twitter.com/UrZyl7tlTh
Yes, that Tim Allen.
Thru my telescope last night, Jupiter. Or the same name my kids call me: The Gas Giant pic.twitter.com/USWFTW4euR
— Tim Allen (@ofctimallen) March 10, 2026
Three for one special.
Hello Everyone, here is my latest capture. The star, Phecda, is in the upper left. The galaxy M109 is in the middle, far left. The galaxy NGC 3953 is in the middle, far right. I used my Celestron RASA telescope and ZWO ASI533MC color camera. pic.twitter.com/28VRsRvYv7
— Chuck's Astrophotography (@chucksastropho1) March 12, 2026
No, it's not AI.
Blood Moon Magic Over Frozen Evergreens , Finland #art #landscape #photography #astrophotography pic.twitter.com/28rdlIycZH
— angelicatuttartsandwisdom (@angelicaio81153) March 12, 2026
This ought to be a scene in a movie.
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "Event Horizon" by Fabien Dal Vecchio - https://t.co/cFpKFFARmZ#astrophotography pic.twitter.com/OQYhW6lHe4
— AstroBin.com (@AstroBin_com) March 11, 2026
FOUR for one.
What’s your favorite galaxy? 🌀
— Seestar (@Seestar_astro) March 12, 2026
Here are four of Sylvain Villet’s best galaxy images from this year. Each one reveals a different corner of the universe.
🔭 Seestar S30
🖥️ Stacked in Siril & processed in PixInsight#Seestar #SeestarS30 #Galaxy #Astrophotography #DeepSky… pic.twitter.com/9yUt5U0DNF
Do you think the first Martian city will be called StarBase Mars?
AstroBin's Image of the Day: "Mars Approaching Opposition — Apparent Growth and Phase Evolution (July–November 2020)" by MAILLARDhttps://t.co/QkPWtDvkzm#astrophotography pic.twitter.com/xXOCCj3ddx
— AstroBin.com (@AstroBin_com) March 12, 2026
And some space history:
Today is March 9. #OTD in 1934 cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was born. Aboard the first successful crewed spaceflight, he became the first person to journey into space. Travelling on Vostok 1, Gagarin completed one orbit of Earth on 12 April 1961, with his flight taking 108 minutes. pic.twitter.com/NXX4vfKwBZ
— Mario Livio (@Mario_Livio) March 9, 2026
Or at least the first survivor. (Seriously, there's not much evidence in favor of the old conspiracy theory. I bow to no one in my willingness to believe ill of the Soviets, but it's apparently just a conspiracy theory.)
So that's the week. As always, I love comments, and hope you'll be back next week for more Sky Candy.
