I thought all you astronomers would like to know (if you didn't already) that Mars will be closer then usual this Winter, so get your telescopes ready!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070928/s...wsbrighter

The birding scope (which substitutes as a reasonably good telescope) is permanently mounted, and we are just waiting for clear skies next week.

Kingfisher

I'm hoping for clear skies too, although at the moment that doesn't seem very likely!

Thanks for the notice! Ive only ever been able to see Saturn so far and as lovely as it looks, a different planet would be interesting too!

Saturns rings make it the most spectacular planet to see through a telescope. Other planets often don't look quite as good, but if you use your imagination a bit about what you are looking at then they are brilliant to see.

The first time I saw Saturn through my telescope, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was the year of the total eclipse and we were down in Cornwall. One particular clear night I lined up on a bright object in the sky and wound the magnification up to 60x, then wondered what I was looking at because I had an eliptical object in view. A tweak of the focus and suddenly there it was, very small in the scope but unmistakeable, Saturn and its rings, it was an awesome experience