Humans have long gazed toward the heavens, searching to put meaning and order to the universe around them. Although the movement of constellations — patterns imprinted on the night sky — were the easiest to track, other celestial events such as eclipses and the motion of planets were also charted and predicted. Definition of astronomy: Astronomy is the study of the sun, moon, stars, planets, comets, gas, galaxies, gas, dust and other non-Earthly bodies and phenomena. In curriculum for K-4 students, NASA defines astronomy as simple "the study of stars, planets and space." Astronomy and astrology were historically associated, but astrology is not a science and is no longer recognized as having anything to do with astronomy. Below we discuss the history of astronomy and related fields of study, including cosmology . Historically, astronomy has focused on observations of heavenly bodies. It is a close cousin to astrophysics. Succinctly put, astrophysics ...