I love astronomy. I first saw Saturn through a telescope in 1993 at a local star party here in Memphis. A few years later I bought a used 60 mm refractor. I've spent a few years now (off and on) learning the discipline of observation. It's a hobby that demands the willingness to study and the capacity for patience; if you've neither, you are better off not starting.
photos by NASA or determined to be public domain.
© 1997 mthomasr@internetmci.com
A lunar eclipse is one of my favorite things to see through a telescope. I've stayed up ALL night in the middle of a workweek looking at a good one. In August of 1989 I saw the best one I've ever seen.
You need to have patience, and "learn to see" as they say. A good bit of astronomy is quite up to you, and your two eyes-- believe it or not.
A solar eclipse is also nice, but you have to be careful with it. I don't watch it through a telescope, having little faith in the filters out there. I once knew a guy who burned his eyes badly watching a solar eclipse through a telescope. Even though he had a filter-- he wore sunglasses ALL the time after that.
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