![]() When close to the Sun, the warmth evaporates the ice in the nucleus to form a coma (cloud of gas) and a tail. Most reflectors and compound telescopes require occasional collimation in order to produce the best possible images.Ī comet is a “dirty snowball” of ice and rocky debris, typically a few miles across, that orbits the Sun in a long ellipse. Declination and right ascension are the celestial equivalents of latitude and longitude.ĭenotes an object near a celestial pole that never dips below the horizon as Earth rotates and thus does not rise or set.Īligning the optical elements of a telescope so that they all point in the proper direction. It’s anchored to the celestial poles (directly above Earth’s north and south poles) and the celestial equator (directly above Earth’s equator). More recently, this has come to mean the second full Moon in a single calendar month.Ī grid system for locating things in the sky. Traditionally, something that happens rarely or never. Want to know more? Check out our FREE ebook on black holes. Many galaxies (including ours) have supermassive black holes at their centers. This technique can help you detect faint objects that are invisible when you stare directly at them.Ī few "beads" of sunlight, shining between mountain peaks and through the valleys along the Moon's edge in the moment before totality.Ī lens that’s placed into the focusing tube to effectively double or triple a telescope’s focal length and, in turn, the magnification of any eyepiece used with it.Ī concentration of mass so dense that nothing - not even light - can escape its gravitational pull once swallowed up. Viewing an object by looking slightly to its side. The average distance from Earth to the Sun, slightly less than 93 million miles (150 million kilometers). ![]() ![]() A few venture closer to the Sun and cross Earth’s orbit. Most are only a few miles in diameter and are found between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, too small and far away to be seen easily in a small telescope. As a rule of thumb, a telescope’s maximum useful magnification is 50 times its aperture in inches (or twice its aperture in millimeters).Īny prominent star pattern that isn’t a whole constellation, such as the Northern Cross or the Big Dipper.Ī solid body orbiting the Sun that consists of metal and rock. The diameter of a telescope’s main lens or mirror - and the scope’s most important attribute. Your index finger held at arm’s length spans about 1°, your fist about 10°. But eyepieces, especially premium eyepieces, are expensive, and many new astronomers wonder how to choose the best eyepiece for their budget and their telescope without wasting time and money.The apparent size of an object in the sky, or the distance between two objects, measured as an angle. After getting a new telescope, most amateur astronomers soon want to acquire more eyepieces, or better eyepieces, to enhance the visual observing experience. While that's a nice gesture, these eyepieces are usually of modest quality and capability, and they are rarely suited to the full range of observing you are likely to encounter in the night sky. ![]() Most telescope makers supply one or two eyepieces with their new telescopes to help you get started observing right away. From left to right, the Starguider 25mm eyepiece, Nikon 17.5mm 72-degree eyepiece, 9mm Nagler eyepiece, and the Explore Scientific 10mm 52-degree eyepiece.
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