The classical way to make a spectrum - ala Isaac Newton - is to stick an optical prism into sunlight and twist it about until you get your rainbow. However, you might be disappointed the first time you try this, especially if you're thinking of the cover art of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon'! Here are some tips for you.

There's a couple of major differences between telescopes designed for terrestrial and astronomical viewing. The first concerns how they are mounted on their tripod. 'Regular' (i.e. terrestrial) telescopes can be swivelled horizontally, or vertically - just like a camera on a tripod. This is called an altazimuth mount, or AZ for short. But astronomical telescopes generally use what is called an equatorial mount, or EQ, which has the vertical axis tilted over 23.5 degrees so its parallel with the Earth's axis of rotation. This makes it easier to track stars as they move across the sky, and you can find an object of interest by setting its coordinates (RA & Dec) on the axes' scales.

Nasa Solar System Buy this Art Print at AllPosters.com

The solar system consists of the Sun; the eight planets, 168 satellites of the planets, a large number of small bodies (the comets and asteroids), and the interplanetary medium.

A planet is any of the eight major celestial bodies (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune) that orbit the sun and shine by reflecting its light. Smaller bodies that also have the sun as their primary (that is, are not satellites of a planet) are called asteroids or planetoids.

The inner solar system contains the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars; The planets of the outer solar system are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

The orbits of the planets are ellipses with the Sun at one focus, though all except Mercury are very nearly circular. The orbits of the planets are all more or less in the same plane (called the ecliptic and defined by the plane of the Earth's orbit). The ecliptic is inclined only 7 degrees from the plane of the Sun's equator. They all orbit in the same direction (counter-clockwise looking down from above the Sun's north pole); all but Venus, Uranus and Pluto also rotate in that same sense.

Generally, a computer is any electronic data-processing device that performs tasks, such as mathematical calculations or electronic communication, under the control of a set of instructions called a program. Programs usually reside within the computer's main memory and are retrieved and processed by the computer's electronics, and the program results are stored or routed to output devices, such as video display monitors or printers.

Science is the objective pursuit of reliable knowledge. Although one might "know" something through authority, faith, or intuition, scientific method is distinct in that it must be possible for other investigators to ascertain the truth of scientific theories. Its founded on objective observation, the formulation of hypotheses that fit the data and predict other posibilities, repeatable experiments that can fail as well as succeed, and analysis and review by the scientific community.

Mathematics is the study of numbers, sets of points, and various abstract elements, together with relations between them and operations performed on them. Originally mathematics was concerned with the properties of numbers and space, as the science of quantity, whether of magnitudes, as in geometry, or of numbers, as in arithmetic, or the generalization of these two fields, as in algebra.

Archaeology is the science of unearthing sites containing remains of ancient habitation, with the goal of learning about culture, society, ecology, intellectual life and beliefs; modern archaeology employs the tools of history, anthropology, geology, and biology to recover the hidden past.

Photography is the technique of recording, by chemical or mechanical means, a permanent image on a layer of material sensitive to light exposure. The understanding that prevails today assumes the use of a camera or camera obscura as the image forming device, and of photographic film as the recording medium, but it doesn't have to be the case.

From pictures on the wall to statues in public spaces to jewellery, we are surrounded by the visual arts. People have been using visual art for centuries to beautify their lives, give pleasure and inspiration, and for personal expression. Visual artists use different media to express ideas, concepts and opinions and to reflect aspects of our lives. Looking at a work of art and asking, what is this about? what is the artist trying to express? why have they chosen to present it in this way? - can help us to see things in a different light.

The Humanities are the subjects about people and Society, the things they have done, the things they believe, and the things they have created. The Humanities were originally restricted to the study of classical (ie Greek and Roman) language and literature. Later it encompased a wider variety of topics and is sometimes defined as those subjects that are not considered to be science. Business, Economics, Education, Family, Geography, Language, Philosophy.