ASTRONOMY
Astronomy is basically the study of the universe. It is the scientific study of celestrial objects, including stars, planets, comets, asteroids and galaxies. Astronomy (sometimes referred to as astrophysics) emcompasses all the basis sciences, such as physics, mathematics and chemistry. Historically, the science of astronomy dates back to the days of Galileo, who invented the telescope ( a refractor). Now in the computer age and the advanced technologies that have been developed, the tools available to scientist have many aspects, such as radio astronomy, computerization and satellites (such as the Hubble Space Telescope). Observational astronomy (telescopes) is focused on the aquistion of data and the analytical interpretation of that data (optics). Theroetical astronomy is analytical interpretation of the observational data. Amateur astronomers have contributed greatly to the science, especially in comet discovery and variable star research. The primary tool in skywatching is the telescope. Starscapescientific gernerally offers four basic types of telescopes as captioned above, the refractor, reflector, compound telescope and dobsoian. All used a system of mirrors and lenses, or a combination of both. The refractor telescope relies soley on lenses and is the more historical telescope. Light travels through the main lense were it is foused into an eyepiece. The reflector (usually a Newtonian) named after the inventor) uses a system of mirrors, the primary and secondary, which focuses light to the eyepiece. The compound telescope (cassegrain) is a combination of a corrector plate, a type of lense, which sends the light to a primary mirror and on to the eyepiece. The dobsoian is typically a larger reflector telescope, and generally is referred to as a "light bucket", due to it's short focal length. This typically is referred to as a "richfield" telescope. The refactor, reflector and compound telescopes can be short focal length or long focal length. Short focal length telescopes of any type of telescope are generally better for deep space objects. Longer focal length telescopes are better suited for solar system objects. Both can be used in any manner. Just as important as the actual scope, the type of mount is important. There are two basic types, the altizamuth and the german equatorial. With the altizamuth the mount moves in an up/down, side to side manner. The german equatorial mount has a polar axis which moves the telescope in right ascension relative to the equator, and a declenation shaft which moves the telescope according to the celestrial coordinates. Both types can used a clock drive which is used to keep the viewed object centered in the eyepiece. For just "star hopping", the clock drive is not really necessary, unless your interest is in astrophtogaphy, by which it is a must. You will discover that many of the telescopes offerred by Starscapescientific include some computerized mounts. Once aligned, the celestrial coordinates are simply keyed into the computer, and the telescope navigates to that coordinate. Found below is an affiliate search bar for the Scientific EducationalAffiliate Network (SEAN). By using the drop down arrow, a list of products they provide is displayed. By clicking GO, you will be directed back to the top of the astronomy page, where you then scroll back down and you will see small item pictures of items from the categories you selected. By clicking on the picture, you will be redirected to the particular webpage of the affiliate which shows a detailed description of the item and cost. You can purchase on that page or continue shopping their web page, and then you will be redirected back to the starscapescientific webpage. Otherwise, simply go to the online store page and choose a category with selected items for the main store categories.Good star hopping!
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