This might be a good time to look up.

So said writer and physicist Andr Bormanis. He may be biased, because he has been telling true and fictional stories set in space for more than 25 years. Many of us now have more time, and if you can safely step outside, you can spy the skies and navigate the universe.

In your imagination, you can travel to different worlds simply by looking up at night, he said.

Bormanis, who has a masters degree in science, technology and public policy from George Washington University, served as a science consultant for the Star Trek television and film franchise in the 1990s, then went on to write for Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise and other series.

He wrote the narration for Centered in the Universe, the Griffith Observatorys long-running planetarium show, and serves as co-executive producer and writer for the Fox/Hulu series The Orville and consulting producer for National Geographics Cosmos.

We asked Bormanis for a beginners introduction to the sky a handful of celestial highlights you can see without a telescope. He gave us seven. All should be visible to the naked eye on a cloudless night, especially if theres not too much light pollution in your neighborhood. (For his bonus suggestion, No. 7, you might need binoculars.)

Read more from the original source:

Planets, stars, and comets to spot while stargazing - Los Angeles Times