Have you ever stood outside your house in The Pointe, looked up and wondered what you were looking at? I have, and you should, too. I have my very own telescope; it’s a Celestron telescope called Inspire 90AZ. My telescope allows me to take amazing pictures of what I see in the sky. You don’t need an expensive telescope to see the wonderful things in the night sky, and sometimes you don’t even need one. You can see amazing things with just your eyes.

With a telescope, you can see the wonders of the world outside Earth, like the moon and the planets. The best time to look at the moon with a telescope is when it is not a full moon; when the moon is full, it is very bright and you can’t see all the details. The planets are pretty hard to find because on Earth, they look just like bright stars, so I recommend using the SkyView app. It is an app that shows you where everything is all the time.   

              

In June, the planets aligned themselves in their order for the first time in 18 years. I went outside in my front yard right here in The Pointe, and I got to see Venus, the moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn just with my naked eyes and my telescope. Last year on Dec. 23, I went into my backyard and saw the Star of David without my telescope. Also, from my backyard, I have seen the wonderful Big Dipper and Little Dipper.

There are also beautiful things you can see without a telescope, like falling stars. The night I saw the planets align, I also saw a falling star. They are beautiful, and it happens fast, so be sure to make a wish! You can also see other things without a telescope here in our neighborhood, like a rainbow. On July 1 from my front porch, we saw a beautiful full, bright rainbow. So you can see many amazing things in the sky from right here in our neighborhood with or without a telescope. Anything from the moon to a rainbow. So next time you’re outside, try taking some time to look up and enjoy the wonders of the sky.