Astronomy is something that has always fascinated me. My only problem is…** I know nothing about conducting my own research . I really enjoy watching photo’s that everyone else has taken and reading about everyone elses acconplishments, but how do I begin star searching on my own. I want to begin with a ** GOOD telescope, and I also want to learn how to locate and identify everything from stars, to planets, to meteors, to comets. Are there any good books or classes that I can take that would boost my education in this field of study?
Start with the basics, and you will gain more and more knowledge. Kids books are an awesome place to start. Become familiar with the major constellations for each season by using a field guide such as Zim-Baker’s “Stars”, IIRC. (They wrote many on Birds, Trees, etc.) Also, H.A. Rey wrote an excellent book for pre-teens called “The Stars”. It shows side-by-side maps of the constellations with and without the lines. It helps you practice recognizing the images.
With time, you will easily recognize the star patterns, regardless of orientation, as they change position as the earth rotates, and as the seasons change. If a concept seems difficult to understand, it will come with time. Read as much as you can at your library. (As a kid, I read all I could - even adult books, if only looking at the photos, which I eventually grew into.)
As for those glitzy astro-photos. It’s not as easy they make it sound. Don’t rush out and buy a telescope; you’ll be disheartened. Check around for clubs and organizations to stargaze with them (also: colleges and science centers). Many may let you get the feel for handling a telescope - and actually observing, of course. Note what kind of scope and the power. Then, make mental note if the image of say, Saturn. Is it what you expected, or is it disappointing? Astronomy is a lot of cold nights by a scope struggling to locate an object fighting the limits of your numb fingers, etc.
That’s it in a nutshell. I grew into the hobby from a very young age. It is rewarding, in a pain-in-the-butt kinda way! One article describes it as “The Universe is a Harsh Mistress”. You learn by trial and error. COnsider a subscription to one of the astro magazines, too - they cover topics at all levels of interest and knowledge.
Good luck, and I’ll post again if I think of other pointers, too. (Make sure you have decent skies, too…away from major cities.)
The book I was given as a young teenager was “Exploring the night sky:the equinox astronomy guide for beginners” by Terrence Dickinson. It’s a great book.
I like “Starry Night” software. You can set it to display the sky at any time and location (most likely your location in real time), including from the surface of other planets.
It shows comets, asteroids, planets, satellites, galaxies, etc. as well. Printed charts won’t show you the planet locations day to day like the software will.
Don’t get a telescope (yet). Start with a good pair of binoculars. 7x35 or 7x50. That way you can still see an entire constellation in the field of view.
Move up to a scope like Jinx said.
Current points of interest:
Venus is high in the evening sky. You can’t miss it in the south-western sky.
Pleiades is also high (great cluster for binoculars).
My least favorite constellation, Orion, is visible most of the night. It is my least-fav because it means it’s winter
Jupiter & Saturn are also visible now.
I’d recommend Ken Fulton’s The Light-Hearted Astronomer, considered by many to be the best book for beginning amatuer astronomers. It’s out of print now, but usually pretty easy to find on Amazon, eBay, etc., and most of the information is general enough that it hasn’t become outdated over the years. I liked it because the author doesn’t assume you already have a doctorate in astrophysics . . . just that you want to be awed by the beauty of the universe. Plus it’s pretty damn funny.
This can’t be emphasized enough. Those amazing photos you’ve seen of colorful nebulas are not only taken on telescopes far larger than you’ll ever get your hands on, but also the exposures themselves are usually taken over period of hours in darkness you’re unlikely to have access to unless you’re an hour away from your nearest neighbor.
You can see some interesting stuff with your average backyard telescope, however. Quite a bit of detail can be seen on the moon’s surface - this is the first thing I’ll show anyone who wants a look through my 6-inch reflector. You can also make out some features of the major planets (Saturn’s rings, Jupiter’s clouds) but just barely, quite honestly.
Your best bet is to find the local astronomy club. Usually they’ll meet at a nearby park every month or so and set up their telescopes for everyone to have a look. Beyond that, a good pair of binoculars and a good “field guide to the stars” is all you need for the time being (though a spot away from city lights will also be quite helpful).
Well you’ve got a quaint little planetarium right there in town. Actually the mega-big domes sometimes tend to forget about teaching constellations and planet-finding and will focus on full dome video whiz-bangerry instead, but it looks like they do offer some classes that might be helpful.
Don’t overlook the smaller planetariums that can often provide a more personal touch. (I don’t know anything about the particular dome I linked to, other than it’s in Joliet, IL. Not too far away, right? There are undoubtedly more like it in your area.)
Find a local astronomy club and meet some people. Go with them to observing sessions and see the different kinds of scopes and binoculars. Our astronomy club here in Nashville even has a mentoring program.
Subscribe to Astronomy or Sky & Telescope. There’s stuff in both magazines for people at all levels of interest, so don’t get discouraged if some of it doesn’t make sense immediately.
Whatever you do, don’t buy the first telescope that goes on sale at Wal-Mart. Do the research first, with help from that astronomy club. Don’t get something you’re unwilling to drag out of the closet, stuff in the car trunk and spend an hour assembling every time you want to check something out. Don’t get something with a wobbly mount. Don’t get something that claims on the box “MAGNIFIES 600X!!!”. Trust me, it’s crap. Binoculars are a good place to start.
Best of all, go get a star chart (shameless plug) or a planisphere, grab a flashlight with a red filter, go outside, and just LOOK UP. It doesn’t take a telescope to find stars, constellations or planets, and you don’t have to spend all night. It’s winter now, so find Orion next time you’re walking the dog after dark. Next night, look for one or two of Orion’s neighbors. Patience and practice go a long way.
I was in the same boat, and I’m currently taking an astronomy class at my community college. It’s fascinating! I’m really enjoying it, and I would recomend it to anyone.
Gee, I’m about as experienced at trying to figure out the lyrics on their early albums as anybody and I gotta admit they’ve got me stumped. There are a couple lines that tie together then BAM! you’re through a wormhole and in another part of the universe.
I mean, what the heck does the dog have to do with anything? And I had to capitalize “Four Winds Bar,” unlike the guy at that website, because I’m pretty sure it’s a tavern on a beach someplace cuz that’s the only way it comes close to making sense, but who knows?
Huh? You’re talking about the science? Then why is this in Cafe Society and not General Questions? (shrugging) Go to Phil’s site and buy Phil’s book and the books he recommends. His online name is a total lie and he won’t steer you wrong. Then you can tell your friends you’re learning Astronomy from a star of TV and radio and they’ll either be jealous or conclude you are a total geek who should spend more time getting drunk and listening to Blue Oyster Cult.
I agree with Lux_Interior about binoculars being a good first “telescope”.
If you don’t know about binoculars, here’s a “Cliff’s Notes” version of what you need to know.
When you see a term such as 7x50, the first number is the magnifying power and the second is the diameter of the objective lens (the front lens) in millimeters. So 7x50 binoculars have a magnifying power of 7 and the front lenses are 50 millimeters (about 2 inches) in diameter.
I’d recommend the 7x50 over 7x35 for astronomy. Due to the larger objective lenses, you’ll have twice the light-gathering power, which is almost a full magnitude difference. The disadvantage of the 7x50 is that it is much heavier than the 7x35. If you plan on using the binoculars for all-around purposes (sporting events, sightseeing, etc) you might want to consider the lighter weight 7x35.
The diameter of light coming from each of the eyepieces is called the exit pupil, and in the case of 7x50 binoculars it is 7 millimeters. The fully dark-apdated human eye also has a diameter of 7 millimeters. However, it is difficult to have “fully dark-adapted” eyes in observing conditions that are anything other than pitch black. Maybe your eye pupils will only expand to 5 millimeters in suburban viewing conditions. In that case, some of the light from the eyepiece is falling outside the pupil and is being wasted. Also, as a person gets older (40 and over) the eye pupils cannot expand to 7 millimeters and the maximum expansion is usually around 5 millimeters. Therefore, 10x50 binoculars have an exit pupil of 5 millimeters and might be the best choice for suburban viewing or for older folks such as myself. Plus the fact, you’ll get a little more magnification for a loss in brightness that your eyes may never have been able to use in the first place.
So, my recommendations for astronomy binoculars are
Before you get too confused, check out this new magazine for beginners. nightsky from the publishers of Sky and Telescope
We can get pretty caught up in all sorts of things that strike our fancy, but basics are basics. You might want to start out naked eye, learn the basics, go from there. Above all else, HAVE FUN.
And when you do get that first telescope (after going down the binocular route) get or build a really stiff and stable base. Good optics are wasted by the slightest jitter.
Be advised, about the only kind of “research” an astronomer can do without access to one of those huge observatory-mounted telescopes is comet hunting. If you’re very lucky, you might get to glimpse a new comet before anyone else does, and get the comet named after you – but this is a very difficult feat. You have to find the comet when it’s on its way into the inner solar system, before it forms a tail, because by the time it’s formed a tail some other comet hunter will have seen it.
Oh – and get used to terms like “right ascension” and “declination”, and how to convert both of those figures into azimuth and elevation given your geographic location and the time of night (and time of year). You’ll need it when someone tells you to point your 'scope at RA 12h15m47s DEC +37°56’04".
I agree that your first purchase should probably be binoculars, but for when (if) you do end up getting your own scope, let me elaborate on this. Once you have your scope, you can get any magnification you want just by putting in a different eyepiece. Magnification is easy. What’s not so easy are resolution and brightness.
Resolution is basically the level of detail you can see. If you have low resolution but high magnification, then you’ll just be turning small fuzzy blobs into large fuzzy blobs. With good resolution, though, that fuzzy blob may turn into a shotgun pattern of points of light, or a spiral, or other interesting and detailed shapes.
Resolution is actually also somewhat easy, if you have a good quality telescope. Being in the Earth’s atmosphere, there’s an absolute limit to how good your resolution can get, and a decent quality telescope will probably be able to get you close to that limit. Where there’s always room for improvement is brightness. The most important factor here is the aperature of the scope, or the diameter of the main lens/mirror. With a larger aperature, you can see dimmer objects. A larger aperature will also help your resolution. Really, the only limiting factors on your aperature are your budget and convenience: A larger scope will cost more, and it’ll be more bulky and awkward to transport or set up.
But before you buy even binoculars, it can’t be stressed enough that you should look up your local astronomy club. Many of the members will have scopes and binoculars of their own, and they’ll have star parties every so often where the members will be glad to let you try out their scopes. Once you’ve looked through a variety of instruments, and seen what sort of things you can see through them, and at what quality, you’ll be able to make a much better decision as to what sort of instument (if any) you want to buy. Astronomy clubs are also a great resource for learning about new and interesting objects to look at: Every amateur astronomer has a favorite object, and they love to show them off to anyone who’ll listen.
A new magazine for beginners in astronomy is coming out very soon. It’s called “Night Sky”, and it’s by the Sky and Telescope folks. I haven’t seen it yet (except for one particular article in it) but the editor tells me it’ll be great for the very beginner in the hobby.
