DOWNLOAD ORION'S FREE SOLAR ECLIPSE VIEWER'S GUIDE

Cart
0

{"closeOnBackgroundClick":true,"bindings":{"bind0":{"fn":"function(){$.fnProxy(arguments,\'#headerOverlay\',OverlayWidget.show,\'OverlayWidget.show\');}","type":"quicklookselected","element":".ql-thumbnail .Quicklook .trigger"}},"effectOnShowSpeed":"1200","dragByBody":false,"dragByHandle":true,"effectOnHide":"fade","effectOnShow":"fade","cssSelector":"ql-thumbnail","effectOnHideSpeed":"1200","allowOffScreenOverlay":false,"effectOnShowOptions":"{}","effectOnHideOptions":"{}","widgetClass":"OverlayWidget","captureClicks":true,"onScreenPadding":10}

Enjoying Astronomy
Enjoying Astronomy

For anyone who has dared to look up and wonder at the splendor of a starry sky, the appeal of astronomy may be beckoning. Submit to it in the slightest and you may get hooked! Once you do, the universe, and your place in it, will never look the same. And the more you learn, the more the picture changes. Astronomy is a hobby that allows you to pace yourself, so take heart, you can go as slowly or as quickly as you like. The universe is a patient place — one that doesn’t mind waiting while you take the first steps toward understanding.

The Milky Way, in all its glory, reveals itself wondrously to the naked eye. To experience the full impact of a meteor shower, the best optics in town are still two eyeballs. If you stare into the night long enough, gaseous nebulas, glittering star clusters, and curious fuzzy patches begin to emerge, and a blazing fireball may suddenly interrupt the calm. The stellar patterns of constellations take shape. Stars appear not just as uniform white specks, but as variously hued light sources, from barely perceptible to boldly bright.

Through a pair of binoculars, hundreds of stars appear suddenly where there was only darkness a moment ago. Colors jump out at you as you scan for red giant stars such as Betelgeuse or hot blue stars like Sirius. Dense star clouds and tight knots intermingle with inky, starless voids. It’s a view you’ll be drawn to again and again.

Even more compelling is a good long look through a telescope. Sure we’ve all seen the pictures, but nothing quite compares to seeing the ice crystal rings of Saturn for the first time, or Jupiter with its four perfectly aligned moons. Our closest satellite, the Moon, will stun even the most skeptical beginner with magnificent views of its rugged, crater-laden terrain.

And it gets better. The bigger the telescope, the more light it gathers, allowing you to see even deeper into space. Suddenly, the Great Red Spot of Jupiter appears in color, and the cloud belts in its upper atmosphere take on definition. Star clusters resolve into distinct stellar groupings, like snowflakes, no two of which look the same. Ghostly puffs of gas and dust called nebulas mark both the birthplaces and deathbeds of far-away suns. And a myriad of faint, mysterious "island universes," or galaxies, challenge our powers of perception as they reveal a multitude of different shapes and subtle structural intricacies.

Astronomy is truly a fascinating hobby. From your backyard, and with nothing more than your own two eyes and, if you wish, an ordinary pair of household binoculars or an inexpensive telescope, you can travel, visually, farther out into space than you ever dreamed, discovering wonders that boggle the mind. It’s a hobby you can enjoy by yourself in quiet contemplation, or together with family and friends.

So go ahead and take a look. You have nothing to lose, and literally a universe to gain.

Details
Date Taken: 03/15/2011
Author: Denise H
Category: Astronomy

{"closeOnBackgroundClick":true,"bindings":{"bind1":{"fn":"function(event, startIndex, itemCount, newItems) { QuickLookWidget.assignEvents(newItems); $(\".Quicklook > .trigger\", newItems).bind(\"quicklookselected\", function(event, source, x, y) { OverlayWidget.show(\'#_widget249000664056\', event, source, x, y); }); }","type":"itemsloaded","element":".PagedDataSetFilmstripLoader > .trigger"},"bind0":{"fn":"function(){$.fnProxy(arguments,\'#_widget249000664056\',OverlayWidget.show,\'OverlayWidget.show\');}","type":"quicklookselected","element":".Quicklook > .trigger"}},"effectOnShowSpeed":"","dragByBody":false,"dragByHandle":true,"effectOnHide":"fade","effectOnShow":"fade","cssSelector":"ql-category","effectOnHideSpeed":"1200","allowOffScreenOverlay":false,"effectOnShowOptions":"{}","effectOnHideOptions":"{}","widgetClass":"OverlayWidget","captureClicks":true,"onScreenPadding":10}