Telescopes
What Will You See Through a Telescope?
The Moon Even the smallest telescope will reveal breathtaking close-ups of the Moon's rugged, battered surface. Craters, smooth lava plains, and jagged mountains abound, providing endless fascination.
Planets Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter make great subjects for study with a telescope. Any size telescope can show Mars' pale red disk (and often a polar ice cap), Saturn's pale yellow orb and picturesque rings, and Jupiter and its bright moons. In good seeing conditions you'll see Jupiter's colorful cloud bands and its Great Red Spot.
Nebulas Like snowflakes, no two of these ghostly clouds of gas and dust look alike. All are faint and in a telescope will appear mostly gray or greenish in color. But their shapes and structure are revealed with patient observing. Dark-sky observing sites will let you see much more.
Galaxies Incredibly distant and challenging faint subjects, dozens of galaxies are visible in backyard telescopes of modest size, hundreds or thousands in bigger models. In dark skies with a 6" scope, you can discern hints of structure in the brightest galaxies.
