They often associated these patterns with pictures from the stories that they told. Most of the constellations that we use today come from the ancient Romans, and they depict many of the people and animals from their myths. The instrument I have used the most to study baby stars is an astronomy satellite called the International Ultraviolet Explorer spacecraft. I studied the ultraviolet light from my baby stars with it for many years to try to understand how they behave. Ultraviolet light is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere, so the only way to measure it is by using a satellite.
Spectroscopes are a very important tool used by astronomers.
As you probably realize, astronomers must rely on the light that we can measure from the various astronomical objects. The spectrum of a star can tell us the temperature, size, and composition of the star. It can also tell us how fast it is moving. We can tell if the star has strong magnetic fields. Sometimes we can get the age of the star.