The idea behind "Skylights" and "Stars" (compiled from Skylights'
"Star of the Week") is to provide general information on the sky
and on the natures of the stars by means of a short, easily
readable page on what will happen in the sky during the upcoming
week along with elementary, but comprehensive, examinations of
individual stars. Skylights is accompanied by a picture of the
week that highlights a variety of sights visible in both the
nighttime and daytime sky and by a variety of external links to
particular topics that appear in the text. The purpose behind
the Star of the Week (and Stars) is to look at the stars'
individual characteristics. Each description begins with an
explanation of the name of the star, followed by a general
description of its nature and by anything that makes the star
unique. With some exceptions, only stars with proper names have
been chosen, though that rule will eventually be broken as more
stars are compiled. The compiled stars are listed both
alphabetically and by constellation as well as by Greek letter
name. Separate linked pages list the stars by spectral class (or
color) and luminosity; one gives proper names, the other Greek
letter names.
Each star is also shown in a photograph of its parent
constellation. Each constellation is presented unlabelled along
with a descriptive caption and a link to a captioned picture in
which the stars that are listed in the main site are named.
Labels are added as needed. For comparison, all the listed stars
are cross-linked to each other. Unless otherwise acknowledged,
all photographs in Skylights and in Stars are by the
author.
Stars also features introductory pages on the natures of the
stars, the spectra of the stars, constellations, and star
names.
Skylights, which eventually led to the Star of the Week
("Stars"), was born on November 11, 1985 as the "Halley Comet
Hotline." It was available by telephone at (217) 333-8789, the
number that is still used for Skylights. During the time the
comet was visible, and even when it passed beyond the other side
of the Sun, informative messages about the comet's progress were
recorded five days a week, Monday through Friday, except for a
break in March of 1986 (during which time some of the messages
were recorded by Dave Hollowell). The Hotline typically answered
100 calls a day, and at its peak received up to 200.
The Hotline was terminated after 111 messages on May 12, 1986,
when the comet became too distant and faint to be readily seen.
Given the interest shown about the comet and astronomy, the daily
Hotline was thereafter converted to a weekly service that gave
information about the vast number of other events that happen in
the sky, from lunar and planetary movements to the visibility of
the constellations. The messages were recorded on Friday to be
available fresh for the weekend when people would have the most
time to view the sky. The name "Skylights" was suggested by my
wife Maxine.
The service typically received 50 or so calls per week, though
the peak could be much higher when some event made the news.
Around 1996, I began to send Skylights via email to a small group
of family and friends. My cousin (Ursula Schuster) then began
circulating Skylights around her company in California, which was
followed by its posting to a University listserver and eventually
to several State listerservers for teachers. Skylights now goes
out by email to nearly 1000 people. Around 1997, the script for
the telephone service was placed on a crude web page, for which
Dan Goscha provided instruction.
Skylights by itself told little of actual natures of the stars
that were featured in the text. The result was the birth of the
Star of the Week on January 30, 1998, beginning with the
prominent winter star Aldebaran. Since the website was already
in operation, it was only natural to compile and list the
previous Stars of the Week. Shortly thereafter, the
now-independent Star of the Week site was upgraded into an early
version of its present more-readable form, along with 35mm
constellation pictures that I had been compiling for several
years as an avocation. A picture of the week was also added to
the Skylights page. The Stars site was then further upgraded
with tutorials on stars, on spectra, and on other topics.
My thanks to all those named above, to anyone I may inadvertently
have left out, to the many people who have written giving
their own thanks and encouragement, and to the University of
Illinois Department of Astronomy.
Jim Kaler
