reply to post by ian990003100
I don't get everyone's disappointment, but then again I'm used to being wowed by "faint fuzzies" in the eyepiece, just a blur of a distant galaxy
takes my breath away. The most exciting astronomy isn't done with grandiose pictures that satisfy the stereotypical aesthetic of a "beautiful space
image." Think of what that dot of light represents, an entirely new world 25 light years away! Sure it's just another gas giant, but the amazing
thing is that we can see it at all, and in fact, until now man has been unable to directly view planets in other solar systems. Even though it's a
dot, the meaning behind it is incredible. I'm similarly blown away by amateur images of quasars, billions of light years away. They're just dots
too, but what they represent is light from a distant galaxy that's been traveling in space for about the same length of time as our entire solar
system's life, only to be caught by the small telescope of an amateur. To amateur astronomers, even a dot can be breathtaking.
[edit on 14-11-2008 by ngchunter]

