You are about to embark upon a Grand Tour, a journey of both the eye and mind that will take you to our Moon, several planets within our solar system, and beyond. You will visit the birth places of stars, enjoy the visual splendor of star clusters, double stars, and even dying stars. You may even venture beyond the confines of our own Milky Way Galaxy to visit other, far distant, “island universes”. This Grand Tour of the Universe will hopefully expand both your mind and consciousness as you traverse the immensity of time and space.
Your “starship” for this voyage is a telescope, specifically a 4.5-inch aperture reflector telescope made available to you by the Central Arkansas Library System (and funded in part by the UALR Space Grant Consortium). This video tutorial below was made with the intent of providing you with a “quick start” guide on how to get you outside and venturing upon your Grand Tour ASAP. But keep in mind, that to get even more out of this scope you should dig deeper. Read over the manual provided and make full use of the constellation guide to help you find even more spectacular cosmic tourist destinations. Utilize the “Getting Started Stargazing” section on this web page and be sure to check out our videos for further astronomy information. Visit the Central Arkansas Astronomical Society’s web page for even more info and take your scope to one of their free star party events to learn how to find various constellations and deep sky objects.
I envy you this journey if you are just starting out in learning to become a citizen of the cosmos. Such voyages of discovery can be hugely transformative as well as being fun and exciting. I hope your experiences with this telescope are filled with much awe and wonder.
Darrell Heath
