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Nine Planets - One of the first - and still the best online Solar System resource. |
[photo - me, checking out Saturn on a chilly February night] In a very real way, we can divide the Universe up into two pieces: Our Solar System, and everything else. Or, equivalently, stuff that matters and stuff that doesn't. Things outsite our Solar System are interesting only on an abstract, theoretical basis. We won't interact with them in my lifetime, and probably not in the lifetimes of my great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids either. I view deep-sky stuff sometimes... like the Andromeda Galaxy. Andromeda is about 2.2 million light-years away - just over 13000000000000000000 miles. But seriously - would it matter much if there were a couple more zeros in that number? It is *so* far away that it just doesn't matter! And Andromeda is a relatively nearby galaxy. It's a different story in the Solar System. Objects within the solar system are close enough to interact with, in human timescales. They move with respect to background stars. We've sent probes to many places, and we've even sent people to one other place. We can interact with them, we can dream of going there... (like we should be doing with Mars!). This is why I'm into Solar System observing much more than deep-sky. I view the planets whenever they're out, and I love seeing how many moons I can spot. Here's my current list: Earth: Moon Mars: Deimos Jupiter: Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto Saturn: Titan, Dione, Tethys, Rhea, Iapetus, Enceladus Uranus: Titania, Oberon, Umbriel Neptune: Triton There's a couple more I could dream of adding to this list someday with my current equipment. I'll have to get into Asteroid spotting too, that would be fun. To me, glimpsing these things is cool because they increase my personal connection with them. I know Tethys really exists, not just from Voyager photos, but because I've personally seen it, and tracked its orbit. If that sounds excessivly romantic - it is. But, deep down, all amateur astronomers are romantics; if we weren't, we'd stay indoors and download Hubble pictures rather than drag the scope out and look ourselves. |
