Your telescope will open up many worlds for you. Here’s a quick sample of what’s possible for you to see when looking at the sky or the earth with your scope.
THE MOON
Prepare for an awesome spectacle. The moon's disk has a pastel-cream and gray background, streamers of material from impact craters stretch halfway across the lunar surface, river-like rills wind for hundreds of miles, numerous mountain ranges and craters are available for inspection. At low or high power the moon is continually changing as it goes through its phases. Occasionally you will be treated to a lunar eclipse. Imagine all the colors of all the sunrises and sunsets in the world at once – that’s what you’ll see during a total lunar eclipse!
THE SUN
It is quite safe to view the sun if you use a proper solar filter. The sun is fascinating as you watch the ever-changing sunspot activity. Special solar filters will allow you to see details like prominences, granules and plages. If you are fortunate enough and you are willing to travel to remote locations, you may experience a solar eclipse. It's an awesome phenomenon as darkness falls from the moon’s shadow sweeping across the earth’s surface at 1500 miles per hour, then the beautiful diamond ring gleams as the last sunlight winks out behind the moon and the ethereal coronal halo appears.
THE PLANETS
Observation of planets will keep you very busy. You can see Jupiter with its great red spot change hourly, study the cloud bands and watch its moons shuttle back and forth. Study spellbinding Saturn and its splendid ring structure, watch Venus and Mercury as they go through their moon-like phases. Observe Mars and see its polar cap changes or watch the dust storms and deserts bloom with life. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto can be seen easily with 8" or larger telescopes.
STAR CLUSTERS
A group of many stars that are gravitationally bound to each other. There are two types of star clusters: open star clusters (also called galactic clusters), which are loosely arranged groups of stars and globular star clusters, which are tightly packed groups of many millions of stars. You’ll get hooked on the jewel boxes of open clusters and resolving globulars into individual faint stars.
NEBULAE
These glowing clouds of gas come in two major types: planetary nebulae, which are relatively small ball-shaped clouds of expanding gases and are believed to be the remnants of stellar explosions and diffuse nebulae, which are vast, irregularly-shaped clouds of gas and dust. Their unusual shapes and faintness will challenge beginning and advanced observers alike.
GALAXIES
These vast, remote "island universes," each composed of many billions of stars, exist in a variety of sizes with regular and irregular shapes. The shapes of elliptical galaxies are easy to see even in smaller scopes, while the arms of spiral galaxies can be discerned with larger instruments.
COMETS
Magnificent comets are routinely visible through telescopes. The names of the bright ones are legendary: Halley, Hale-Bopp, McNaught. After you’ve been a skywatcher for several years, you too will be able to have your own memories of seeing a famous name comet.
DOUBLE AND BINARY STARS
These are close pairs of stars. A double star can also be a binary star. A binary star’s components are orbiting around a common center of gravity. Doubles often have different and contrasting colors. You’ll always remember the first time you saw gold and blue-green Albireo through your telescope.
What you can see with your telescope is dependent on a lot of factors. For astronomy, the most important factor is aperture. Optical quality, steadiness of your tripod and mount, seeing conditions, your location (city or rural), brightness of the object and your experience are also important. You won't be able to see the American flag on the surface of the moon or black holes. You won't see as much color as you see in astrophotographs (photos of celestial objects) because these utilize long exposure times which allow the light and color to build up on the film.
Most telescopes can be used to see things on the Earth (terrestrial viewing). You can use them for nature study, sports action, surveillance or landscapes. You can also easily photograph terrestrial objects since a telescope can be used as a long telephoto lens by attaching your camera.
Astrophotography is also a rich and rewarding experience. With many telescopes it is relatively easy, but takes patience and experience to produce excellent results whether digital or on film. Taking your own astrophotographs is a thrill as you can share the results, even post them on Celestron’s website.
