Since I was a child I was fascinating with looking up and gazing at the night sky, seeing all of the stars, and always wondered just how much stars and other stuff is out there. When I was 6 my dad found me a cheap telescope for sale at a local pawn shop, and from then on, I was hooked on astronomy. The thing about astronomy and viewing the night sky is, that the average person does not really know how huge it is out there, and how small our puny little world is compared to the rest of the cosmos.
Those that live in the city will rarely get to see the full view of the night sky light up, unless they leave the city where these is less light pollution. Everything from street lights to car lights, will pollute the air with light, making stars and planets less visible. So being that I was growing up in the city, I really didn’t have too much fun with my new telescope as I would have liked. It was only until I got out into the country mountains of Georgia, nowhere near civilization that I could truly appreciate the night sky and use my telescope to view the stars and even other galaxies.
But what exactly is out there in the clear night sky that makes astronomers so fascinated by using their telescopes? Just think that we are on the outskirts of the Milky Way galaxy, which is estimated to have 3 billion stars or more, some of them just like our sun, some of them 1000’s of times more massive than our sun, and we just keep spinning in a circle around the center of the milky way, which holds a massive black hole, which is probably around the same size as earth (hasn’t been proven by no means), but is millions of times more dense, if not more.
This is just one galaxy, out of billions, and billions, and it is estimated that it is around 14 billion years old. Talk about something sticking around for a long time. So next time that you are out on a clear night, take the time to think about what is really up there. If you want to take a closer look at what is really up there, then you may want to invest in a cheap pair of astronomy binoculars, and then take it even a step further and start looking for telescopes for sale.
Astronomy is definitely not for everybody, but for those that want to take on a new hobby, especially those that are not surrounded by light pollution from big cities, then you may want to invest in a telescope and open up your eyes and get a closer look at what is around you.