The four planets closest to the Sun are
rocky and are called the inner planets.
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars
comprise the inner planets. Venus and
Mars can be easily seen in your telescope.
Venus is seen before dawn or after sunset,
because it is close to the Sun. You can
observe Venus going through crescent
phases. But you cannot see any surface
detail on Venus because it has a very thick
atmosphere of gas.
Looking at or near the
Sun
will cause
irreversible
damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving.
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When Mars is close to the Earth, you can
see some details on Mars, and sometimes
even Mars’ polar caps. But quite often, Mars
is further away and just appears as a red dot
with some dark lines crisscrossing it.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
comprise the outer planets. These planets
are made mostly of gases and are sometimes
called gas giants. If they had grown much
bigger, they may have become stars.
Jupiter is quite interesting to observe. You
can see bands across the face of Jupiter. The
more time you spend observing these bands,
the more detail you will be able to see.
One of the most fascinating sights of Jupiter
are its moons. The four largest moons
are called the Galilean moons, after the
astronomer Galileo, who observed them for
the first time. If you’ve never watched the
Galilean moons in your telescope before,
you’re missing a real treat! Each night, the
moons appear in different positions around
the Jovian sky. This is sometimes called
the Galilean dance. On any given night,
you might be able to see the shadow of a
moon on the face of Jupiter, see one moon
eclipse another or even see a moon emerge
from behind Jupiter’s giant disk. Drawing
the positions of the moons each night is an
excellent exercise for novice astronomers.
Any small telescope can see the four Galilean
moons of Jupiter, plus a few others, but how
many moons does Jupiter actually have? No
one knows for sure! Nor are we sure how
