h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How about a link to the article on Jodrel Bank Observatory. http://www.h2g2.com/A400852 It would seem an appropriate place to link to as it's talking about one of the largest fully steerable single dish radio telescopes in the world.

Can anyone suggest a simple way an amateur can take pictures through a telescope without it costing a fortune. Are there adaptors that fit normal cameras?

And is there a simple star map that can be understood by a rank novice like me. Most star maps presuppose that you have some knowledge. Is it possible to have instructions without having to where the different constellations are. For example last week the London Evening Standard published an article which mentioned that if we looked in the sky at 6pm in the south west just above the horizon we could see the space station which had just opened its mirrors and was very bright. With an ordinary pair of binoculars I got a wonderfull view of the space station.

The instructions were then to turn half left an see another bright light at the same elevation. This I did and "bingo" I saw my first planet Venus

Hi Spud,

I'm a middle school science teacher, also very interested in astronomy. Your entry caught my eye because, like you, although I tried to consume all the info. on the constellations, planets, etc., and how to read star maps, it wasn't until I fully understood the significance of the ecliptic, that I understood why I needed to know where the constellations of the zodiac were.
that little dotted line on most star maps show the "pathway of the planets" and they always pass through the zodiac constellations. Because of the shape of our gallaxy (spiral) and the shape of our solar system (basically like a plate full of marbles rolling around a center point), the "view" we see of our nearest neighbors always has the same backdrop of stars....the zodiac. Learn them and you'll always know where to look for the planets.
PS. Sky & Telescope magazine has a wonderful web sight, which you can subscribe to for free emails about what's in the sky at your site every week. good luck! cosmo