We dont just sell Telescopes, we use them! This regularly updated section explains what can be seen from the UK with a variety of instruments as well as showcasing new ideas in astronomy.
Celestronimages.com - new interactive images for the astronomer
Jupiter - visible for the rest of 2010
Jupiter the giant of our Solar system makes a welcome return to the night sky for the rest of 2010.
Reaching opposition in September Jupiter is well placed and high enough to reveal lots of detail in telescopes from 60mm and larger right through this year and looks strange with only one major belt showing well at present, the four prominent moons can be tracked in their fast orbit around the planet easily and are even visible in binoculars.
Instruments from around 100mm and larger will reveal the great red spot when at the meridian along with the ever changing cloud belts.
The "Double Double"
The double double or as it should be described Epsilon Lyra is one of the best tests for your Telescope and your eyes through the summer and autumn. This fantastic pair of close even double stars are just a short finder hop from Vega the bright blue star that dominates Lyra.
Both pairs are around 2.3 arc seconds apart and resolve as fine stars with black space between in Telescopes from around 70mm upwards, try seeing how low you can magnify these but still split them..
The image here on the right is how they can look in excellent conditions at high magnification.
Norwegian Lights in the Sky
The strange lights seen December 9th in the skies over Norway sparked theories of UFO activity, the spectacular light show was seen by thousands and was widely reported by news organisations worldwide.
Russia have confirmed that a missile test had taken place and is the likely cause for the phenomenon, Norway and many Scandanavian countries are often subject to natures own lights in the sky with the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis.
International Space Station
The International space station has been a bright naked eye object from the UK recently, moving quite slowly from west to east outshining all the stars visible. Timings vary of sightings but pre dawn and after dark passes are very regular.
We managed to see the solar panels Friday 20th November through an 80mm refractor at just 50x magnification and the shuttle Atlantis could be seen in close proximity for a couple of days after.
There are many satellites visible to the naked eye, even the shuttle itself can be spotted but most move too fast to catch in a telescope. Many modern goto telescopes use a system that allows you to see them pass through by means of a countdown timer.
Click here to visit the NASA ISS website for sighting predictions.
Full Moon Dates 2010
The full Moon is interesting to view as the Sun shines directly on the Lunar surface and we see Tycho rays stretching hundreds of miles.
For astronomers interested in deep sky observing the full Moon tends to wash out views of fainter objects, below are the 2010 dates for the full Moon which should help you plan your observing this year.
Tuesday 30 March 2010 Wednesday 28 April 2010 Thursday 27 May 2010 Saturday 26 June 2010 Monday 26 July 2010 Tuesday 24 August 2010 Thursday 23 September 2010 Saturday 23 October 2010 Sunday 21 November 2010 Tuesday 21 December 2010
