Astronomy

 Well, as if I didn't have enough things to keep me busy, I seem to be picking up a new hobby, astronomy. For the last couple of months I have been watching courses on astronomy. Also, thanks to Facebook, I have been watching free live chats about the science. These chats have mostly been resented by Astronomy clubs in California.

   I won't even pretend to tell you I know that much yet. For one thing, when I go outside I have too much light pollution to see all the constellations near my house. However, I can see the bright stars and planets. Other than Orion and the Big Dipper I didn't know what any of the stars/constellations in the winter sky. Now I can pick out the stars in the Winter Hexagon, I know where the Pleiades are and where to find the Orion Nebula. All of these discoveries have been fun and fascinating. 

   If you look at the second star in the handle of the Big Dipper through binoculars you can easily see it isn't one star but actually two! The star you can see naked eye is Mizar and the other one is Alcor. If you follow the arc of the handle and keep going past the last star across the sky you will see a bright red star that is Arcturus. The way you find it is you "arc to Arcturus". Learning things like this really made my winter go by so much faster. I am really looking forward to seeing how the sky is going to change throughout the year.  Since everything is new to me, it feels like I am looking at the heavens through the eyes of a child. 

   A friend of mine offered to sell me his telescope for a good price. His scope is a professional one not the kind you would buy at Dick's sporting goods. I would never need to buy another one. However, I m so new at this, that I still have plenty to find in binoculars. But I am looking forward to the point where I graduate up to his ten inch refractor telescope!