The Stars, My Destination

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I have always loved to look at the stars. From early age I was taught the basic star map and as I grew older and chose to invest time and effort in learning all I could about amateur astronomy it has been at the top of the list of hobbies I’ve become proficient in. Did you know that on any clear night you can see a galaxy 2½ million light-years away with your unaided eyes? How about craters on the Moon with just a pair of binoculars? It’s possible to do this and much more with just a little time spent learning the patterns of the stars and, much closer to home, our solar system .What’s more exciting than a first glimpse at an alien world like red Mars, home of the ancient Greek and Roman gods of war, or more recent in our imagination, envious and invasion bent multi tentacle Martians of literature and film legend? When imaging with a telescope, the soft sepia glow of ringed Saturn at ‘opposition’ (its closest orbit to earth) a mere 746 million miles away, offers beauty that to my mind makes star gazing a singular experience. That is why I am one of thousands of amateur astronomers in the United States who regularly turn our eyes and telescopes to the night skies. It’s a bitingly cold and very early morning in April out in the desert, far from the glare of city light approximately 30 miles give or take. I and twenty three other hobbyists are sipping mugs of hot cocoa with just a touch of amaretto to ward of the chill as we patiently await the first well seen appearance of Saturn this year. We share a growing excitement as the horizon reveals the march of her pageantry across the sky. There are eight of us who have medium sized telescopes locked onto a piece of the sky from where magnificent views of Saturn’s rings and a few of her moons can be seen. The real beauty of star gazing is that you don’t even need to own a scope at all. Expressing an interest in the sky is

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