of planets, it’s time to really travel far
from home and look at stars and other
objects.
You can observe thousands of stars
with your telescope. At first, you may think
stars are just pinpoints of light and aren’t very
interesting. But look again. There is much
information that is revealed in stars.
The first thing you will notice is that not all
stars are the same colors. See if you can find
blue, orange, yellow, white and red stars. The
color of stars sometimes can tell you about
the age of a star and the temperature that
they burn at.
Other stars to look for are multiple stars. Very
often, you can find double (or binary) stars,
stars that are very close together. These
stars orbit each other. What do you notice
about these stars? Are they different colors?
Does one seem brighter than the other?
Almost all the stars you can see in the
sky are part of our galaxy. A galaxy is a
12
large grouping of stars, containing millions
or even billions of stars. Some galaxies form
a spiral (like our galaxy, the Milky Way) and
other galaxies look more like a large football
and are called elliptical galaxies. There are
many galaxies that are irregularly shaped
and are thought to have been pulled apart
because they passed too close to—or even
through—a larger galaxy.
You may be able to see the Andromeda
galaxy and several others in your telescope.
They will appear as small, fuzzy clouds.
Only very large telescope will reveal spiral or
elliptical details.
You will also be able to see some nebulas
with your scope. Nebula means cloud. Most
nebulas are clouds of gas. The two easiest
to see in the Northern Hemisphere are the
Orion nebula during the winter and the Triffid
nebula during the summer. These are large
clouds of gas in which new stars are being
born. Some nebulas are the remains of
stars exploding. These explosions are called
supernovas.
When you become an advanced observer
you can look for other types of objects such
as asteroids, planetary nebula and globular
clusters. And if you’re lucky, every so often a
bright comet appears in the sky, presenting
an unforgettable sight.
The more you learn about objects in the
sky, the more you will learn to appreciate
the sights you see in your telescope. Start
a notebook and write down the observations
you make each night. Note the time and the
date.
SURF THE WEB
• The Meade 4M Community:
http://www.meade4m.com
• Sky & Telescope:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com
• Astronomy:
http://www.astronomy.com
• Astronomy Picture of the Day:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.goc/apod
• Photographic Atlas of the Moon:
http://www.lpi.ursa.edu/research/lunar_orbiter
• Hubble Space Telescope Public Pictures:
http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html
(c) nimax GmbH
