Astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy has been an interest of mine since a childhood visit to a planetarium at the City of London Polytechnic. This helped to fuel my enthusiasm and I was amazed with the number of stars and constellations I could see from my back garden, once my eyes became accustomed to the dark.
It is fascinating to think that there are countless objects in space and the light from many of them emitted long before mankind walked the Earth.
Light travels at approximately 300,000,000 metres per second, which means that the light from our nearest star, the Sun, takes about 8½ minutes to reach Earth and our eyes. This implies that any view of any object in space, is history, and just how far in the past depends on how far away the object is. The Universe is so vast that the mile or kilometre is too small a unit for distance, therefore the larger "Light Year" is used. This is defined as the distance light travels in one year which equates to approximately 6 trillion miles(6,000,000,000,000,000).
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is the most distant object we can see with the naked eye. Lying approximately 2,200,000 light years from the Earth, the light from the broad, hazy white cloud is visible in a dark sky, though city observers will need binoculars to catch a satisfying view.
To see even further into space requires the use of a telescope, which magnifies and collects far more light than the naked eye can - even a 6-inch diameter telescope can collect 500 times more light !
Pictured above is the Meade ETX 90 RA 90mm Maksutov-Cassegrain catadioptric telescope (Mak) with right ascension drive, now available as the EC version with dual axis drive. This telescope is very portable, and although it is suggested by many that the largest diameter telescope affordable should be purchased, the telescope that is most likely to be used is the best buy. The advantages of smaller telescopes are that they are easily stored, easy to set up and transportable in your average motor car - useful to those living in heavily light polluted skies (Capital Effect).
With my ETX, I often go mobile, either on foot, with my telescope over my shoulder, or in my car, with telescope on the back seat.
This telescope is quite new to me, but due to the ease in setting up I've had a lot of fun observing the Planets, with our Moon, Jupiter and its four moons, Saturn with rings clearly visible, Venus and Uranus all logged. I've also recently been interested in viewing Nebulae with the Great Nebula in Orion being popular as it rises during early evening in the winter months.
Click on images below for more detailed views
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