【明報專訊】Why are the Smarties going uphill at night? It is because stargazing must be done in a place with little light pollution!

◆Tools

Choosing the right astronomical telescope (天文望遠鏡) may be difficult for beginners. You can learn more about the stars visible in your neighbourhood first. (picture 1)

．lens cone 鏡筒

．mount 架台

．tripod 三腳架

◆The trend

Stargazing has become a hit since star trail photography gained popularity. In some countries, Astrotourism (天文旅遊) is also becoming increasingly popular. Tourists enjoy the sight of particular astronomical events such as eclipses or meteor showers (流星雨).(photo.2)

◆Did you know?

The light we see from the stars are not how they look the moment we see them. It takes the light a long time to travel to Earth. For instance, Alioth (玉衡), the brightest star of the Big Dipper (北斗七星), is about 80 light-years away from Earth. (picture 3)

◆Check-in

Check out the Hong Kong Space Museum Astropark (天文公園) in Sai Kung. Open to public since 2010, the park is equipped with binoculars, star trackers (追星儀), sundials (日晷) and a mini-planetarium (小型天象廳).

■Glossary

visible (adj) 可見的

eclipse (n) 日/月食

light-year (n) 光年

equip (v) 裝備

[Smarties' Power English 第213期]