Telescopic viewing of the Sun, Moon and Planets is rewarding for the amount of detail that can be observed and the ever changing appearance of the bodies as they rotate and orbit around the Sun. An added benefit is that you do not need to travel to remote dark sky sites to observe these objects as they are bright enough to observe through suburban light pollution from the comfort of your own back yard.
If the Moon is visible in the early evening of our monthly meetings, Lunar observing is often included in any post-meeting observing, along with any planets that are visible from the city location.
Articles
Saturn in 2024/2025 – the rings edge-on
by Peter Anderson Approximately every 15 years, Saturn’s rings are presented edgewise as the Earth and the Sun pass through the plane of the rings. In the planet’s 29.4 year orbit, we first see one face of the rings and then 15 years later the other, after passing through the plane of the rings. As […]