But that fact does not seem to discourage the tens of thousands to get into astronomy each year and the huge interest worldwide with the stars, the planets and the universe. There may be no other universal human fascination that does so much to make national boundaries and even international animosity seem to evaporate. Was it a planet that traveled too close to Earth and was captured in our orbit? Actually, the prevailing theory of modern science is that the moon was the result of a large scale collision with the still developing Earth early in its development which caused this large chuck to spin off into an orbiting body. So you have to wonder, what is it that makes something a planet and what happened to Pluto? It didn t just go away so it must still be out there. A planet, by scientific definition is any object in orbit around a sun, that has formed into some kind of round object is a planet as long as it has cleared away any other orbiting items around it. In fact, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and discovered America, he could not have done it without astronomy and the help of navigation of the cosmos, much of which is made possible because of the important constellations. When learning to find the great constellations in the sky, we use the find one, you found them all system. Their input is a hundred times more reliable than what a sales brochure or that salesman might have to say because the telescope geeks have been where you are, made the mistakes and are eager to help you avoid those same mistakes. Size Matters In the world of telescopes, the sales people see, to try to baffle us with all the bells and whistles of their hottest selling model. The mount is the actual tripod and the wedge is the device that lets you attach the telescope to the mount. The mount and the wedge are there to assist you with a superior viewing session and to keep your expensive telescope safe from a fall. - An Altazimuth Mount refers to the tripod of the telescope that holds the device in place and makes it useful during a star gazing session.