Telescoping
Having freed myself a little of the restraints of keeping personal information personal (in my About page) I feel I can discuss a broader array of topics. I’m going to start with my stargazing.
I had acquired a telescope not long ago. The story goes something like this:
I had access to a 15 dollar telescope. So what can you see with a 15 dollar 2 inch scope? Not much as it happens but at the highest magnification you could see the moon very well. I never got around to trying to see the planets. As I was sold on the idea of a telescope from viewing the moon alone.
This of course served to only make me want more. I secured for myself a used telescope (pic). And so since then I’ve been checking out the sky. Unfortunately I haven’t been out of town to do it yet but what I have seen is simply breathtaking.
Recently I’ve purchased a 5.7mm eyepiece to help in the viewing of planets. The 650mm focal length of the telescope means that the 5.7mm with a 2X Barlow gives me a 228X magnification (which is a lot).
So what do I see, picture Jupiter at about 8mm diameter. Four or five of the cloud bands are clearly visible. On a clear night, that is, one without atmospheric interference I’m going to attempt to see the great storm. Four of Jupiter’s moons are also visible. On the whole, easy to see and incredibly amazing.
Saturn and her rings are also very easy to see. This is a sight that is truly wonderful. To think that there’s a planet out there, looping the sun just as we are and looks as beautiful as Saturn, it brings of a feeling of semi-reverence to the whole activity. Saturn is about 5mm with the rings.
Venus is also visible very well, rightly so as it is the brightest thing in the sky.
Its funny how much a person can learn when they take up a new hobby. I’ve added a completely new vocabulary (one needs to know the difference between a day and a sidereal day) and taken on a new appreciation for the motion of our planet in relation to the rest of the universe.
Lovely lovely. I plan on leaving the light pollution of the city and driving a ways to get a dark sky on the 19th so I will let you know how that goes.