gr
ouping of s
tar
s, c
ont
aining millions or
e
ven billions of s
tar
s. Some galaxies f
orm a
spir
al (lik
e our galaxy, the Milky W
ay) and
other galaxies l
ook mor
e lik
e a lar
ge f
ootball
and ar
e c
all
ed elliptic
al galaxies. Ther
e ar
e
many galaxies that ar
e irr
egularl
y shaped
and ar
e thought t
o
hav
e been pull
ed apart
bec
ause the
y pas
sed t
oo cl
ose t
o—or e
ven
thr
ough—a lar
ger galaxy
.
You may be abl
e t
o
see the Andr
omeda
galaxy and se
ve
ral other
s in y
our t
e
lesc
ope.
The
y will appear as small, fuzzy cl
ouds. Onl
y
very lar
ge t
e
lesc
ope will r
e
veal spir
al or
elliptic
al det
ails.
You will also be abl
e t
o
see some nebulas
with y
our sc
ope. Nebula means cl
oud. Mos
t
nebulas ar
e cl
ouds of gas. The two easies
t t
o
see in the Northern Hemispher
e ar
e the
Orion nebula during the wint
er and the
T
riffid nebula during the summer
. These ar
e
lar
ge cl
ouds of gas in which new s
tar
s ar
e
being born. Some nebulas ar
e the r
emains
of s
tar
s e
xpl
oding. These e
xpl
osions ar
e
c
all
ed superno
va
s.
When y
ou bec
ome an adv
anc
ed observ
er y
o
u
c
an l
ook f
or other types of objects such as
as
te
roids, planet
ary nebula and gl
obular
clus
te
rs. And if y
ou’r
e lucky, e
very so oft
en a
bright c
omet appear
s in the sky, pr
esenting
an unf
or
gett
abl
e sight.
The mor
e y
ou l
earn about objects in the sky,
the mor
e y
ou will l
earn t
o
appr
eciat
e the
sights y
ou see in y
our t
e
lesc
ope. St
art a
not
ebook and writ
e down the observ
ations
you mak
e each night. Not
e the time and the
dat
e.
Use a c
ompas
s t
o
mak
e a cir
cl
e, or tr
ac
e
ar
ound the lid of a jar
. Dr
aw what y
ou see in
yo
ur e
yepiec
e inside the cir
cl
e. The bes
t
e
xer
cise f
or dr
awing is t
o
observ
e the moons
of Jupit
er e
very night or so. T
ry t
o
mak
e
Jupit
er and the moons appr
o
ximat
el
y the
same size as the
y l
ook in y
our e
yepiec
e. Y
o
u
will see that the moons ar
e in a diff
er
ent
position e
very night. As y
ou get bett
er at
dr
awing, try mor
e chall
enging sights, lik
e
a
cr
at
er sys
tem on the moon or e
ven a nebula.
Go y
our libr
ary or check out the int
ernet f
o
r
mor
e inf
ormation about as
tr
onomy
. Learn
about the basics: light y
ear
s, orbits, s
tar
c
o
lo
rs, how s
tar
s and planets ar
e f
ormed,
red shift, the big bang, what ar
e the diff
er
ent
SURF THE WEB
•
The Meade 4M Community:
http://www
.meade4m.or
g
•
Sky &
Telescope
:
http://www
.sky
andt
el
esc
ope.c
om
•
Astronomy
:
http://www
.as
tr
onomy
.c
om
•
A
s
tr
onomy Pictur
e of the Day:
http://antwrp.gsf
c.nasa.goc/apod
•
Phot
ogr
aphic Atlas of the Moon:
http://www
.lpi.ur
sa.edu/r
esear
ch/lunar_orbit
er
•
Hubbl
e Spac
e T
e
lesc
ope Public Pictur
es:
http://oposit
e.s
tsci.edu/pubinf
o/pictur
es.html
kinds of nebula, what ar
e c
omets,
as
te
roids and met
eor
s and what is a
black hol
e. The mor
e y
ou l
earn about
as
tr
onomy, the mor
e fun, and the
mor
e r
e
war
ding y
our t
e
lesc
ope will
bec
ome.
SOME OBSERVING TIPS
Ey
epiec
es
: Al
ways begin y
our observ
ations
using the 25mm l
o
w-pow
er e
yepiec
e. The
25mm e
yepiec
e deliv
er
s a bright, wide field
of view and is the bes
t t
o
use f
or mos
t
viewing c
onditions. Use the high-pow
er 9mm
e
ye
piec
e t
o
view det
ails when observing the
Moon and planets. If the image bec
ome
fuzzy, swit
ch back down t
o
a l
o
w
er pow
e
r.
9
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