Here are a few interesting cellestial tidbits:
You can see a few of Jupiter's moons even with a pair of binoculars.
Venus, because of it's rotation on its axis, goes through similar phases much like our moon. It can appear as "full" and "crescent" depending when it's viewed.
A good telescope (I'm not talking NASA caliber, just good for amatuer viewers) will allow you to see things most people on this planet have NEVER seen.
I have a old Celestron, and a number of different optical lens for various viewing scenarios, and 2 2x Barlow multiplier lens that double the magnification of whatever optical lens you choose.
In a nut shell, I have found that by carefully "piggy-backing" the 2x Barrlow lens, I can quadruple the magnification. In a sense, I can practically look into the craters on the moon, see Jupters visibale moons in all their glory, see Saturn's rings, the Andromeda Galacy and the gas nebula that make up part of the constellation Orion.
I've see the trailing edge of the shadow on a lunar eclipse and the iceball that made up the last major comet to come our way in the past 20 years.
I don't use it as much as I used to, but I would never part with it because it's easy to use, and you can ALWAYS learn something from it.
Remember the atronomer's motto: "Always keep looking up!"
Hybrid Mode
