THE WONDERS OF THE NIGHT SKY

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Jupiter is the giant among the planets and also very well visible from earth.
See the thick cloud bands across its surface and the great red spot (GRS), a perpetual storm on its
surface. The GRS is 3 times larger than the earth.

Photo courtesy, Dr. Suresh Mohan, Tamil Nadu.

ASTRONOMY AS A HOBBY

Watching the night sky is not exactly the common man's idea of a hobby. But if you look at what
is waiting in the dark depths of space, you might jolly well have a different outlook.
Have a look at some of the splendid photographs captured by budding astro-enthusiasts the world over..
and you might never be the same...
You could always watch the night sky with the naked eye and yet be left spellbound.
But there is no limit to what you can see with the aid of a binocular or a good telescope.
If, in addition to a telescope, you have a reasonably good digital camera, you could take pictures
(astrophotographs) of objects as faint as the nebulae or distant galaxies.
My good friend Dr.Suresh Mohan from Tamil Nadu has done just that and the results... well
.. I leave it to you judge.. I call them spectacular.
Observe M51 (also called the Whirlpool galaxy):
This is a spiral galaxy appx. 37 million light years from earth. A smaller galaxy is seen near the main spiral galaxy. (see picture above).
Or Look at the picture below:
It shows M42 or the Great Nebula in Orion...The fuzzy cloud, glowing around the central stars
is a cloud of burning gas. It is the remnant of a star that exploded (supernova) ages ago.
The amazing thing about these photos is the amount of detail visible from earth, through
a good digital camera.