For thousands of years, we have looked at the heavens in wonder and in awe and have expressed that wonder in song and poem.

The sky has teased us with questions and puzzles that some individuals have spent their entire lives devoted to solving and indeed, some cultures spent centuries studying the skies to try and better understand their place in the universe.

For farmers, knowing the sky helped in predicting the coming of seasons. For nomadic tribes and later on for sailors, they helped in navigation.

Many ancient civilizations believed that through intimate knowledge of the sky, one could predict earthquakes, wars, the birth and death of kings and the rise and fall of empires.