Hello Friend,

          Several years ago I was invited to do a presentation at Gordon's Park on Manitoulin Island, in
northern Ontario.

  It's about 7 hours northwest of Toronto.

        Gordons Park is run by Rita and Terry Gordon, who have worked very hard to create a
"dark sky preserve" on their property, which includes campsites for visitors.

 In fact, it is now one of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada's designated "Dark Sky preserves".

Essentially, that's a place you can go and expect to  get reasonably pristine dark skies.

There are several of them in Canada.

       After falling in love with the island, I bought some property there and spend time there on a regular basis.

What I've come to realize though is that it is far
easier to be connected to the night sky when you are in a dark sky location to begin with.

It's a bit tougher when in the city, because it's so much harder to see the night sky.

      Regardless, when I take a walk I always look up and can spot the brighter constellations and planets
naked eye.  (Even last night in the freezing cold here in Toronto. The  Moon was in all it's glory)

So even if you do live in a city, it's still worth while to go out and take a look once in a while.

Don't get discouraged and think that you need a dark sky to stargaze.

You don't.

Clear Skies,

Ray Khan

PS This month we are featuring some really high quality optics on Sale from Celestron; The CPC Edge HD series
      of telescopes....available in 3 sizes: 8", 10" and 11".  Go check them out here: 

http://khanscope.com/newEquipList.cfm?catID=1&subCatID=1&manID=2