Space, The Final Frontier.

So at the beginning of the year I finally (over almost a year of deliberation) purchased my very own Telescope. A Skywatcher Explorer 130p (see image left) with a SynScan mount. I must say it is a pretty sweet bit of kit. Boasting an impressive 130mm (aprox.5 inches) mirror and a 650mm focal length (f/5), and attached is a GoTo mount that allows me to track objects in the sky.

Jupiter with all four moons - taken with iPhone

So far I have observed three objects in the sky. During the Stargazing Live sessions on the BBC a few weeks back I managed to observe Jupiter and all four of its moons (see image right), plus I managed to see Betelgeuse (seen in the constellation of Orion), which was just a pin of bright orange/red light. It is astronomers hope that one day, in the not to distant future that Betelgeuse will meet a stunning demise as she'll go supernova, which in tern will give us one amazing sight to see. When she does then it'll be the second brightest light in the sky for about two weeks. When she will blow, no one knows, it could be tomorrow, next month or even a decade from now.

Next I observed the Moon, our closest astronomical neighbor. It was a breathtaking sight, seeing the moons' partially visible surface (about 25% ) with a multitude of scars from hundreds of meteor impacts. I managed to observe for a little under an hour before the clouds started to obscure my vision. Nevertheless it was a pretty impressive sight for this armature astronomer!

Before I head out again I will be purchasing a new and stronger Barlow lens, which will give me a magnification of 5x instead of my current magnification at 2x. I will also be buying a T-Mount which will allow me to attach my Digital SLR camera onto my telescope, this way I am hoping I will get some even more stunning images. So watch this space.