My post today will be about astronomy. It is one of the oldest
sciences, dating back to some of the earliest world civilizations.
This natural science is a study of celestial objects such as stars, galaxies,
planets, moons, asteroids, comets and nebulae, as well as of the physics,
chemistry and evolution that help to explain their existence (modified from Wikipedia). I am not sure
when my interest in astronomy really took hold, but it has developed and grown
during the past year, and reached the point where I decided I wanted to buy a
telescope so that I could begin to gaze at the sky. Lucky me--my husband decided
to make that purchase my Christmas present. So I am now the happy owner of a
Skywatcher BK 705 AZ3 Telescope. It is a great telescope for beginners; you can
gain more information about it by watching this excellent video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0YK9968ubY.
This telescope costs about three hundred dollars, and allows camera attachment
so that photos can be taken if desired. In order to get good camera focus
though, you will need to purchase an adapter and an attachment ring, which I
have now done. I am waiting for clear skies again in order to take some photos
of the moon. Because this telescope has already provided excellent viewing of
the full moon this past week; you can see the craters and the lunar landscape.
Very cool! We have also managed to view Jupiter with two of its moons (most
likely Ganymedes and Europa), but not with great resolution since this planet
is quite far from earth and the moons were really just pricks of light; when the two planets are at their closest point, the
distance to Jupiter is 365,000,000 miles. The distance between the moon and
earth is 225,623 miles at the moon’s closest approach. My husband, who studied
physics before moving into biology, has provided me with the mathematical
formula to calculate the angular resolution needed to see the moon. It stands
to reason that since the moon is closer to the earth than Jupiter, the
resolution is better for the moon than for Jupiter. I will eventually take some
photos of both and post them here, so you will see what I mean. I would need a
much more powerful telescope to get high-resolution views of Jupiter, and it
would cost a small fortune.
Interestingly, but perhaps not unexpectedly, there is
suddenly a plethora of programs and news articles about astronomy, the planets
and moons, space travel, the current space missions—all of which I find so
interesting and timely. Here are some links to some great programs and sites if
you are interested in finding out more about the ‘wonders of the universe’:
- Wonders of the Solar System TV series from 2010 with professor Brian Cox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonders_of_the_Solar_System (excellent series—I cannot recommend it highly enough)
- AstroViewer: http://www.astroviewer.com/index.php
- Universe Today website: http://www.universetoday.com/
- NASA’s website: http://www.nasa.gov/ (excellent website)
- SkyWatcher telescopes: http://www.skywatcher.com/products.php?cat=1
