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Venus is seen before dawn or after sunset,
because it is close to the Sun. You can
observe Venus going through crescent
phases. But you cannot see any surface
detail on Venus because it has a very thick
atmosphere of gas.
When Mars is close to the Earth, you can see
some details on Mars, and sometimes even
Mars' polar caps. But quite often, Mars is
further away and just appears as a red dot
with some dark lines crisscrossing it.
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune
comprise the outer planets. These planets,
Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving.
are made mostly of gases and are
sometimes called gas giants. If they had
grown much bigger, they may have become
stars.
Jupiter is quite interesting to observe. You
can see bands across the face of Jupiter. The
more time you spend observing these bands,
the more detail you will be able to see.
One of the most fascinating sights of Jupiter
are its moons. The four largest moons are
called the Galilean moons, after the
astronomer Galileo, who observed them for
the first time. If you've never watched the
Galilean moons in your telescope
before, you're missing a real treat!
Each night, the moons appear in
different positions around the Jovian
sky. This is sometimes called the Galilean
dance. On any given night, you might be able
to see the shadow of a moon on the face of
Jupiter, see one moon eclipse another or
even see a moon emerge from behind
Jupiter's giant disk. Drawing the positions of
the moons each night is an excellent
exercise for novice astronomers.
Any small telescope can see the four
Galilean moons of Jupiter (Fig. 6), plus a few
others, but how many moons does Jupiter
actually have? No one knows for sure! Nor
Fig. 6
are we sure how many Saturn has either. At
last count, Jupiter had over 60 moons, and
held a small lead over Saturn. Most of these
moons are very small and can only be seen
with very large telescopes.
Probably the most memorable sight you will
see in your telescope is Saturn. Although you
may not see many features on the surface of
Saturn, its ring structure will steal your
breath away. You will probably be able to see
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