50 Things To See With A Small Telescope Read online

  Tracking an aircraft is easier, or harder, depending on the type of mount you are using. A Lazy-Susan mount (called a Dobsonian), or alt-azimuth mount, will be easier, whereas an equatorial mount will be difficult, as movement is restricted.

  Chasing jet aircraft is a great star party activity for children, before it gets dark. Just make sure the Sun has set, so you don’t accidently point the scope in that direction. When I work with students, we sometimes play a game to see who can guess which airline the plane belongs to. Then, we look in the telescope to find out!

  50. The International Space Station

  Dubbed “ISS” by those in the space community, the International Space Station can be seen at least a few times per week, from almost every location on Earth. It is visible either in the morning before sunrise, or in the evening shortly after sunset.

  Viewing the Space Station with your telescope can be tough, especially if you have an equatorial mount, but with a Dobsonian or tabletop design, it can be a relatively easy target. Search the internet, or use the NASA app, to determine when the International Space Station will pass over your location.

  To see the ISS in your scope, use an eyepiece that provides medium magnification. Track the station in your finder (ideally a red dot finder or Telrad; one that doesn’t magnify the image) and then switch to the eyepiece. If you are lucky, you may be able to make out the solar panels.

  With a DSLR (digital camera) adapted to your telescope, it’s possible to see much more detail, since you’re able to zoom into the image (I used an exposure of 1600 and 6400 ISO to get the images on the right). How is it possible to see so much detail? The ISS is orbiting only a few hundred miles above the Earth, and is the size of a football field. This means the Station can appear three times as large as Saturn!

  Acquiring the ISS in your scope is much easier with two people: one to track the space station in the finder scope, and one person to observe the station through the eyepiece.

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of 50 Things to See with a Small Telescope! If I’ve accomplished what I laid out in the introduction, your telescope will never see the back of a closet, or the bottom of a cellar (my telescope has a prominent place in our living room).

  If you enjoyed this book, please consider the sequel, 50 Targets for the Mid-Sized Telescope. This edition features 50 new targets, organized by season, so that you’ll always have plenty of excitement for any stargazing excursion.

  http://amzn.com/0692858415

  Appendices