Getting Started with Amateur Astronomy

Anyone can get into amateur astronomy at any time in their lives. Appreciating the beauty and wonder of our universe is not reserved for the professionals and scientists. There are many ways to get started too, from humble naked eye observing, to simple binoculars, to high power telescopes. Joining a club, talking with the members and trying out various equipment is a great way to supercharge your interest and experience with amateur astronomy, but it is also possible to explore it on your own, at your own pace, especially with all of the resources available online

Getting the Most Out of the Night Sky

Finding a nice dark area and letting your eyes adapt will greatly improve how much you can see, no matter what you start with. When looking for a good dark site try to avoid direct light coming from buildings, streetlights, and headlights. Without bight glaring lights, your eyes will slowly start to adapt to the dark, significantly increasing your low-light sensitivity over the course of 10-30 minutes. Once you’re dark adapted you will want to keep it that way by using only dim red light for paper charts, or a dim red filter over a screen.

Beyond our eye’s dark adaption, the sky brightness will be the next limiting factor. Near big cities and urban sprawl, the excessive light that shines up into the sky disperses into an obscuring sky glow which makes seeing dimmer objects like nebulae, galaxies, and fainter stars very difficult. Fortunately the moon and planets shine through with no problem, so they can be viewed from anywhere. If you want to hunt for the dimmer stuff, then traveling away from the city to darker areas will make a huge difference. If you want to help protect the sky above your neighborhood you can check out our [light pollution page].

Naked Eye Astronomy

There is plenty to see and learn with just the naked eyes. Learning the constellations and their most prominent stars is a great way to start, and it will form a solid foundation to build on. With the naked eye you can track the movements of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn as they drift across the sky over the weeks and years. You can follow the phases of the moon as it orbits around Earth. Under darker skies you can see the milky way and under very, very dark skies you can even detect the biggest and brightest galaxies, star clusters and nebulae with just the naked eye! Even if you have a telescope or binoculars, meteor showers will always be best experienced with just the naked eye.  

Binocular Astronomy

Binoculars are a great way to get into astronomy. Most binoculars work just as well on the night sky, and you may already have a pair at home. 7X35, 8x42, 10x50 and 7x50 are ideal sizes for astronomy. Higher magnifications are not recommended without a tripod, because it gets very hard to hold steady over time. Binoculars are great for surfing around the night sky, getting to see many more stars than the naked eye alone. With 7X to10X magnification and a very steady hand(or better yet a tripod) you can also see some of the larger craters, rays and other features on the moon. You can also start to detect the moons of Jupiter! With binoculars under a darker sky and with a good sky chart you will be able to discover some of the largest and brightest galaxies, clusters and nebulae. In order to find these dimmer and more challenging objects a star map or guide book can be very useful. Here are some binocular sky guides.

• Gary Seronick's book “Binocular Highlights” is a great guided tour of the best objects to view with binoculars year round.
• SkyMaps.com offers a free monthly sky chart, with a section specifically for Binocular objects.

One of the very few downsides of binocular observing is it can be a literal pain in the neck to look up for a long time. It becomes a lot more comfortable if you can recline, “Zero-G” chairs are great for long binocular viewing. Beach chairs are comfortable too, and easier to pack up. Even laying on a blanket can be a great way to reduce neck strain while using binoculars.

Telescope Astronomy

It’s hard to think about amateur astronomy without also envisioning a telescope. It is very tempting to run out and buy a telescope as the first step into astronomy, but that’s usually not recommended. There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a telescope, far too many to detail here. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, so learning as much as you can and getting hands on experience will greatly help in deciding on a telescope. Here are some helpful resources when it comes to choosing a telescope

How To Choose A Telescope -by Sky And Telescope

How To Buy Your First Telescope -by Astronomy Magazine

With a small 3 to 6 inch aperture telescope you will be able to see hundreds of deep sky objects in the night sky, like double stars, open star clusters, globular clusters, nebulae and galaxies. Small telescopes can show amazing details on the moon’s sprawling surface, and as their shadows move with the phases, each formation can look different under new light. The planets’ details will start to be visible, crescent Venus, mottled Mars, striped Jupiter and its point like moons, and the awe inspiring rings of Saturn are well within the grasp of the smallest telescope.

Going to star parties or astronomy club outings is THE best way to try out many types of scopes and ask the fellow amateurs what they like or dislike about them. It is also a good place to see what various objects look like through telescopes, which can help to set your expectations if you do decide to get your own telescope. Our club also has some telescopes available for members to take home on loan, which can be a fantastic way to try one before you buy one.

Better Beginner Resources

This was just a very brief intro into amateur astronomy. Here are some much more detailed and informative resources for starting your journey into astronomy.

Books:

NightWatch – A complete soup to nuts guide for getting into astronomy.

Turn Left at Orion- A classic beginner’s guide to astronomy

Pocket Sky Atlas – A great paper star chart for use in the field

Software:

SkySafari - Smart Phone Planetarium/Skymap

Stellarium- Free planetarium for PC, Aroid, Ipne and Web browser

Webpages:

ATMoB pamphlet

Astronomy for beginners – Sky and telescope

CloudyNights -Astronomy fourm

Astrospheric – weather for astronomers