A Beginner’s View of the Universe (Ongoing Notes from an Astronomy student and lazy Amateur Astronomer)

 

Hi all,

As some of you know, I’m currently studying astronomy at the University of Lancashire. Coming to this later in life has been both challenging and genuinely fascinating — there’s something quite humbling about realising how much there is to learn about the universe.

Rather than writing separate posts every time I come across something interesting, I thought I’d try something different: a single, evolving post that I’ll keep updating as I go.

This will be a mix of:

• things I’m learning
• observations from my own imaging
• and the occasional “10 things about…” style notes

I’ll update this regularly, so feel free to check back in from time to time.

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🔭 Current Setup

I’m using a Seestar S30, which has been a great entry point into imaging.

So far I’ve been using it for:

• Solar imaging
• Lunar shots
• Deep Sky Objects (DSOs)

It’s surprisingly capable for something so compact, and ideal for someone like me who’s still learning the ropes without wanting to get buried in overly complex setups (yet).

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🚀 Why You Can't Travel at the Speed of Light

It's not just difficult. It's impossible.

🌌 One of the most common questions in science fiction is simple:

"Why can't we just build a faster spaceship and eventually reach the speed of light?"

After all, light travels at an incredible 299,792 km/s (186,282 miles/s). At that speed you could circle Earth more than seven times in a single second. Yet according to Einstein's theory of relativity, there is a fundamental problem.The closer an object with mass gets to the speed of light, the more energy it requires to keep accelerating.

At first the increase is manageable. Then it becomes enormous.

As you approach the speed of light, the required energy rises toward infinity and infinite energy is something our universe simply doesn't provide.

🔬 Einstein's Unbreakable Rule:

In everyday life we assume that if you want to go faster, you simply use more fuel.

Cars do it.

Aircraft do it.

Rockets do it.

But the universe changes the rules when velocities become extremely high.Einstein showed that as an object's velocity approaches the speed of light, its relativistic effects become more and more extreme.

The result?

A spacecraft could get closer and closer to light speed...

But it could never actually reach it.

Not 100%.

Not even 99.999999999%.

Only closer and closer forever.

🌠 Looking Out Into Space:

One of the things I enjoy about amateur astronomy is that it constantly reminds me how vast the universe really is.

The objects in the following photographs are unimaginably distant, yet the light from them is still governed by the same cosmic speed limit.

🔭 M109 – A Galaxy 83 Million Light Years Away

This spiral galaxy, known as M109, lies approximately 83 million light years from Earth.

The light captured in this image began its journey before humans even existed in anything like our modern form.

That faint glow has been travelling through intergalactic space at the maximum speed allowed by nature for tens of millions of years before finally arriving at my telescope.

🪐 Jupiter and Its Moons

Even objects within our own solar system help demonstrate the scale of space.

This image shows Jupiter alongside several of its largest moons.

Although Jupiter is one of our nearest planetary neighbours, its light still takes around 30 to 50 minutes to reach Earth depending on where the planets are in their orbits.

Nothing carrying mass can beat that signal.

🌌 The Orion Nebula:

The Orion Nebula is one of the most spectacular sights in the winter sky.

Located around 1,344 light years from Earth, it is an active stellar nursery where new stars are still being born.

Every photon captured in this image has travelled for more than a millennium before reaching my telescope.

And even travelling at light speed, it still took over a thousand years.

 My favourite-Kepler's 3 laws

🌌 The Discovery That Changed Astronomy

In the early 1600s, Johannes Kepler transformed our understanding of the Solar System by discovering three mathematical laws that describe how planets move around the Sun. His work replaced centuries of assumptions and became the foundation of modern astronomy.

🪐 Law One: Orbits Are Ellipses

Kepler showed that planets do not travel in perfect circles. Instead, they follow elliptical paths with the Sun located at one focus of the ellipse. This explained why planets are sometimes closer to the Sun and sometimes farther away.

⚡ Law Two: Planets Change Speed

A planet moves faster when it is closer to the Sun and slower when it is farther away. This means planetary motion is constantly changing rather than remaining at a fixed speed.

⏳ Law Three: Farther Means Longer

The farther a planet is from the Sun, the longer it takes to complete an orbit. This relationship helps astronomers calculate orbital periods throughout the Solar System and around distant stars.

🚀 Why Kepler Still Matters

Kepler's laws are still used today to predict planetary positions, guide spacecraft, and study exoplanets. More than 400 years after their discovery, they remain among the most important ideas in astronomy.

☀️ 10 Things About the Sun

1. The Sun accounts for about 99.8% of the mass in the entire solar system.
2. It’s around 4.6 billion years old — roughly halfway through its life.
3. The core temperature is about 15 million °C.
4. Light from the Sun takes about 8 minutes to reach Earth.
5. The Sun is mostly hydrogen and helium.
6. Nuclear fusion in the core converts hydrogen into helium.
7. Sunspots are cooler areas caused by magnetic activity.
8. Solar flares can disrupt communications on Earth.
9. The Sun has an 11-year activity cycle.
10. One day, it will expand into a red giant.

(I’ll add more sections like this over time for other objects.)

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🌙 Recent Observations – Moon

[Update this section regularly]

I have spent some time capturing the Moon recently using my SeeStar S30.

Conditions were:

• Seeing: Fair to Good (≈ 5–7/10)
• Transparency: Moderate
• Conditions: A relatively stable evening with some high-level haze at times. Seeing was decent enough for lunar detail, though not perfectly steady — occasional atmospheric shimmer noticeable at higher magnifications.

What stood out most was the level of surface detail — craters and shadow contrast were particularly sharp.

Things I’m learning:

• Timing really matters (early vs late phase)
• Even small changes in conditions make a big difference

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🌌 Deep Sky Objects (DSOs)

[Ongoing section]

I’ve started experimenting with DSOs — still early days.

Targets so far:

• IC1318
• M31
• M42
• M101

Challenges:

• Light pollution
• Tracking limitations
• Processing (still learning!)

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🧠 Things I’m Learning (and Re-learning)

• Patience matters more than equipment
• Conditions often matter more than settings
• You don’t need perfect gear to get started
• Half the battle is just going outside and trying

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🔄 This Post Will Evolve

I’ll keep updating this with:

• new observations
• new images
• short “10 things about…” sections (planets, galaxies, etc.)

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❓ Question

For those of you interested in space or photography:

What would you like me to try and capture next — the Moon, planets, or more deep sky objects?

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More updates soon.