CYPRUS ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY - Cyprus, Astronomy, About Astronomy, Getting Started in Astronomy

Getting Started in Astronomy

Astronomy is a fascinating lifetime hobby enjoyed by young children to centenarians, by people from all walks of life and with varied interests. You can observe or photograph the heavens on a casual or serious basis, undertake scientific study or marvel at the wonderment of our existence. Astronomy can be a fun and relaxing way to soothe our minds and bodies from our hectic everyday life. It is a way to enjoy nature, being outside and marveling at the night sky. Astronomy is fun and easy to learn! You don't have to be a scholar in physics or math to enjoy our universe.

Observing the night sky on a clear, moonless night can be an enjoyable and even inspiring activity for people of all ages. It is an experience that is particularly rewarding if you observe from a location away from the glare of city lights. Using binoculars or a small telescope can also greatly increase your enjoyment of the starry sky.
Just plain star gazing without optical aid is also a lot of fun. Making friends with the brighter stars and constellations, watching the seasonal changes in the sky, and observing the five naked eye planets and their movements is a fascinating activity. The occasional eclipse of the moon or sun, an auroral display, or a meteor shower add extra excitement to visual observing.

Find a location that's dark

Try to get as far away from city lights as possible. The problem here is that glare from lights, even if it's not direct to where you're standing, really messes up the night sky, making it look more and more like the daytime sky.

Any type of light shining on you gets in the way by preventing your eyes from adjusting to the dark. Be particularly wary of street lights Also try to stay away from roads where cars are going to drive past with headlights. One stray beam of light for less than a second can destroy an hour of eye adjustment. Don't forget that your eyes need about 30 minutes to get used to the dark.

Try to get to a place from where you can see the entire sky. For example, unless you know you're not going to want to look behind you, standing on the side of a hill is preferably avoided. Being able to see from one horizon to another in all directions is excellent.DO NOT use a torch. If and when you need a source of light, use red light - which has less of an effect on eyes than other colours.

Don't go and buy a red torch. You will be lucky if you get one. Don't buy from the Internet either, they are expensive. I wouldn't give $36 for a red tourch. What I have is a torch filtered with red plastic cut out of a cheese! Or you can get a red shopping bag from a department store and wrap it in front of the torch.

About telescopes

Never buy an astronomical telescope from a department store or TV shopping network. Department stores, discount stores, generally sell low quality telescopes at inflated prices. They make outlandish claims about the "power" of their cheaply made telescopes, because high power sounds impressive. Images through such telescopes are nearly always fuzzy and disappointing. After using such telescopes a few times, many owners simply give up in dispair.

The places that sell such telescopes generally know little or nothing about them. The best place to buy a telescope for star gazing is from a dealer who specializes in astronomy. Not only will you get a better value, but you'll establish a relationship with a vendor who can provide advice, accessories, and service (should it ever be needed). Dealers are generally quite willing to explain things and recommend a scope that is right for you.

Many people think the best first telescope is a pair of 7X50 binoculars. A telescope isn't a substitute for binoculars since binoculars show a wider field of view than most telescopes.Binoculars are relatively inexpensive. They offer far greater light gathering capability than your eyes. They are light, easy to transport, and easy to use. Best of all, they offer very wide field upright views of the sky allowing you to view large objects all at once. Binoculars are one of the most popular instruments with experienced amateur and professional astronomers. Finally, you might even already own a pair. Several popular astronomical objects are too large for most telescopes such as Andromeda galaxy and nearby bright comets.

Don't buy a telescope before you can read a sky map. Don't spend lots of money buying a telescope and then discover you can't use it, it will have been a waste of money.

The most popular amateur telescope is of the reflecting (Reflectors) type. It use a precisely curved mirror as the main optical element to collect light and form an image. Replaceable eyepieces are used to enlarge the image, each eyepiece producing a specific magnification. The most important criteria of an astronomical telescope is its diameter. The larger the diameter of the mirror (or lens in the case of a refracting type telescope), the more light collected and the brighter and sharper the image becomes. Typical amateur telescopes are 4 to 8 inches in diameter and use magnifications of from 25 to 200 times. To be useful, a telescope must be easy to point at an object while being rigidly supported. For visual observing,the Dobsonian mount is the least expensive way to meet this criteria.

Read the Choosing the right telescope page.

Plan your night

You will probably have the most fun if you know what you're going to do before you try to do it. Whether it's well in advance or a few minutes beforehand, work out a plan of what you're actually going to look at when you go outside. Otherwise you might end up wondering why you went outside in the first place.

Learn the constellations

Knowing the night sky is one of the most rewarding aspects of being an amateur astronomer. It is also the basis of much that you will do. Knowing the constellations will help you find objects in telescopes and binoculars. Besides, you will be able to impress friends and relatives as you point out the wonders of the universe! All you need is your eyes and a simple star chart. The charts printed in the monthly astronomy magazines (Sky and Telescope or Astronomy Magazine) or a simple planisphere are great for this purpose.

If you're planning on looking for something specific, make sure you know where to look. There are lots of star maps available. They can be found in most astronomy books which are available in bookshops. There are also other types of maps, such as planispheres which can rotate and show exactly what is in the sky at the current time. What do I do? Well...before I go out, I use RedShift program to see what deep sky objects are visible for that night. Then when I go out I use a planisphere to see what constellations are above me.Alternatively you could use any of a lot of computer programs currently available for tracking stars and planets. One of the most popular shareware programs to do this, is Skymap.

Prepare for the cold. What to do to stay warm

The aim is to get as many layers of clothing as possible (within reason) and still stay mobile and unhindered. The more layers, the more dry air is trapped within what you're wearing, and dry air is what keeps you warm. Wool and nylon are both great for this and some people haul out sleeping bags or blankets. In particular, try to get a hat of some sort to keep your ears warm. Gloves also also useful if you're planning on just lying around, otherwise your hands can go a bit numb.

Its nice if you get some hot chocolate or coffee with you. Chocolates keeps you warm.

Read more at Sky & Telescope on Tips section

Don't forget, before you go out, check for the weather for your location.

It's all about having fun and learning.

Clear Skies.