Be An Astronomer In Your Own House With Beginner Telescopes!

The planet Jupiter recently passed closer to the earth than at any time since 1951. The giant ball of gas came within 368 million miles of the earth, making it a memorable event for many amateur astronomers. Until last week, I was not an astronomer, professional or amateur. But, I was invited to a Jupiter-viewing party at a colleague's house last week, and had a chance to use some of his amateur equipment. I have been bitten by the astronomy bug ever since, you might say.

My friend had gotten into amateur astronomy a few years back. He got his first telescopes and other optical equipment through Optics Planet. I was quite impressed with the quality of the telescopes we used during the party. One of them was a beginner dobsonian telescope that was extremely portable. We used it from the balcony of his home initially. Later, when we wanted to look at other things, we just carried it out to his yard and used it on his lawn.

My friend also has a Celestron PowerSeeker which comes with a tripod and a motorized drive. It is the perfect beginner telescope for budding astronomers who want a high-quality telescope to observe the heavens without burning a hole in their wallets. My friend has really gotten into astronomy over the years and had a lot more expensive equipment also.

But these beginner telescopes were very exciting for me because they convinced me that I don't have to take out a new home mortgage to convert my home into an observatory and install expensive gadgets to start observing and learning about the night skies! And the night skies are really worth observing more closely, there is so much you can't see with your naked eyes.