Just the basics, you say? This chart gives the locations in the sky of the constellations, Milky Way, and asterisms along the ecliptic for which the designations of the zodiac are named in a simple cylindrical projection.

Source: McDonald Observatory, Teachers' and Young Visitors' Guide, Image ID: star_chart.gif

This star chart shows the winter constellation called Orion (the Hunter) in Western terminology. This constellation, apart from being quite beautiful in appearance, also contains a number of very interesting celestial objects, and will be referred to often in the following material.

Source: NASA Space Telescope Science Institute, Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures, Image ID: PRC96-04 (Right panel); (copyright notice)

The spacecraft Galileo took this picture of Earth and the Moon from space as it headed out to its encounter with the planet Jupiter. The photo was taken from a distance of about 6.2 million kilometers from Earth. The Moon is in the foreground, moving from left to right. Galileo was then fairly close to the orbital plane of the Moon and nearly in line with Earth and the Moon, which foreshortened the distance between them and made them appear to be closer than their actual orbital separation.

Source: NASA Johnson Space Center Digital Image Collection, Image ID: S92-52043

This is one of a series of photographs of the eclipse of the Sun which was taken from the Apollo 12 spacecraft during its transearth journey home from the Moon. This view was created when Earth moved directly between the Sun and the Apollo 12 spacecraft.

Source: NASA Johnson Space Center Digital Image Collection, Image ID: S80-37406

This multiple exposure image was made at the Observatorio del Teide Tenerife of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (Canary Islands) on April 3, 1996. It shows the progression of Earth's shadow across the surface of the Moon during the lunar eclipse of that date for an hour-long time period between 22:30 and 23:30 Universal Time. Examination of these images, which were deliberately overexposed in a consistent way, clearly reveals the circular shape of the shadow of Earth.

Source: Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Lunar Eclipse, Image ID: sec.gif

This is the frontispiece from Pierre Beausard's book published in 1553 titled "Annuli Astronomici Instrumenti Cum Certissimi Tum Commodissimi Usus." It shows a kind of instrument known as an "armillary sphere," consisting of graduated metallic rings representing the equator, the ecliptic, meridians, and parallels. These were supported by a fixed ring representing the local horizon and could be adapted to the latitude and longitude of the observer. For more detailed pictures of astronomical instruments, see the Chapter 2 Image Archive.

Source: Universitat Ausburg, Bibliothek Oettingen-Wallerstein, Image ID: Book number 2741154