Matt Adores... Astronomy

Matt Adores... Astronomy

From my earlier posts, you'll probably be aware that I like being outside. I appreciate being out in the open air without the restrictions of four walls and a roof to hinder my view of the world.

A few months ago, myself and several friends were planning a camping trip. Nothing over-the-top and nothing too adventurous. We'd book a campsite, get a fire going, and settle in for an evening of light-hearted conversation and good company.

As it was early in the year,I thought to myself that this would be a great opportunity to do some stargazing. The nights would draw in relatively early compared to the peak of the summer and it would give us the chance to look upon the stars before it got too late.

On the evening of our arrival I noticed that the sky was clear, or at least as clear as it gets in the usually cloudy skies of Britain! I went to my car and returned with a small portable telescope.

Manufactured by Celestron; it's a small spotting scope. Its lightweight and compact, and unlike celestial telescopes, the image in the eyepiece is the correct way up. This made it easy to align the telescope with the planet Jupiter and to keep track of it as the Earth rotated.

The four big moons of Jupiter were clearly visible even when using a low magnification of 50x. Some of my friends had never seen a planet through the lens of a telescope before and were impressed.

The conversation ebbed and flowed and during the quieter moments I'd have a look around the sky and enjoy the views of the stars.

I adore observing nature up close and also at a distance. When Winter returns to the Northern Hemisphere I'm looking forward to taking more time to observe the stars and constellations above us.