Exploring the stars

An instrument that makes distant objects like stars look bigger and brighter.

The observatory is located in clean clear air because it is built on high land 350 km from the nearest city. This means it is high in the atmosphere and far from the lights and pollution of the city.

The mirrors collect and focus the light from distant stars so that images can be taken.

There are some parts of the Universe that astronomers can only see from the southern hemisphere. Also, the southern hemisphere is not as built up and polluted as the northern hemisphere so the sky is cleaner and images are clearer.

An astronomer studies the stars in galaxies in the universe. They use optical telescopes to see stars far away. The Sun appears to rise above the horizon at sunrise and move across the sky to sink down below the horizon at sunset.

The days are getting longer.

Winter

Summer, because the Earth will have revolved further in its orbit around the Sun and in July Jamaica will have summer because it is in the northern Hemisphere.

An optical telescope, rover, probe

An optical telescope makes distant objects like stars look bigger and brighter. Mirrors inside the telescope collect and focus the light to make images. that travels to different planets or moons taking images and collecting information.