February 20, 2020 Constellations for Dummies

Have you ever wondered whether or not a constellation could be discovered in a place where there were no stars? Like, say, on an article of clothing? As absurd as that question is, the real wonderment is that it turns out to be a valid question.

When my husband and I were investigating apps to follow the phases of the moon, we also happened upon an app called “SkyView Lite.” Write that down – you’re going to want it. The app is designed to use the camera function of your phone. You point it at the sky, and voila! It figures out what constellations of stars are in your sky. Astronomy for dummies. What a marvelous piece of technology!

Hubby opened the app while sitting in the living room and the machine began looking to and fro for possible constellations, just as it was designed to do. To our delight, it found one on my husband’s pants.

And there you have it: Virgo, looking very fetching, I must say. The app even thoughtfully inserted a little moon above her head. All in all, it was very educational and enlightening. And you don’t even have to go outside on a brittle cold night. And the app is FREE. Need I say more?

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.

Update: Since publishing this blog post, my fanciful interpretation of the machinations of the app have been discredited. The app is way smarter than I thought. It was using all of its powers to determine what constellation was at that angle below the earth from where my husband was sitting. I tip my hat. Well played, SkyView Lite. Well played.