Roland's Introductory Guide to Practical Astronomy.

Introduction

With pretty "Hubble" picture books, Armchair astronomy might hold my attention a few evenings a year, but with the possibility of seeing what is actually "out there", I feel my attention increase 100 fold. Believe me, Practical Astronomy is the only Astronomy, and I'm going to tell you how I got started in my new hobby ! If you like, you can follow my same path, or deviate. I only hope to give good common sense clues along the way.

Get a good pair of glasses !

This may sound silly, but I bought my equipment in the opposite order ; telescope, binoculars, glasses. Glasses are my best instrument, and actually I have seen more with my glasses than I have with all my binoculars and telescopes combined. My eyes pass the eye test for driving without glasses, but apparently, this test is not that stringent. To see stars and constellations as really fine pinpoints of light I need minus a quarter of a diopter correction in one eye and minus a half in the other, with a fair amount of astigmatic correction especially in my right eye. So, a good pair of glasses is my first instrument. They cost a little bit more than a good pair of binoculars ( £300 for 2 pairs ), but I can see fainter stars with glasses. The constellation of the Dolphin is really easy to spot with my glasses on, whereas before to see the Dolphin I needed to use a technique called averted vision, whereby you look at something "out of the corner of your eye". Actually, I spent a dozen nights sky watching without glasses before I realized that I really needed glasses. So I threw my 15 year old ones away, and made the trip to the optician for a new prescription.

Know your Constellations !

Now I can systematically scan the whole sky for every visible constellation, to get the "big picture", before zooming in with a pair of binoculars. It might take you 5 or 6 hourly sessions carefully identifying the constellations, but by the end, you'll be pointing out and naming tens of stars with your eyes closed. The Cambridge Star Atlas or Norton's Star Chart are good beginner atlases, and all you need is a red torch to light them up as you scan the sky in a reclined deck chair. Wear warm clothes and a scarf if it's windy. The red torch ( some red nail varnish might come in handy ) will help you to retain as much night vision as possible. Get away from street lights as much as possible, if you can, and tell the family not to turn on the kitchen light if you're in your own backyard ! You've got to make the effort to get outside, even to some country side south of any city you might live in if you want the best view of that recently discovered comet that's passing by. Try not to go alone though ! If you are enjoying your constellations and their respective mythology then read on !

Join your local Society and go out to a Star party !

Got a friend or two interested in Astronomy ? Then get together ! You can get a serious amount of practical advice and tips from going to a local star party. Check the Web for a list of local societies. If you want telescope buying ideas, amateurs are usually only too happy to show off a few sights in their scopes. You could save yourself a lot of money if such a session puts you off that big cumbersome Newtonian that you had your eyes on. Or maybe you thought such and such a scope was too big, until you saw a kid set it up in 3 minutes flat.

Get some Astronomy magazines, and lots of good books. See what you can find in your local library. Look up some sites, and read the newsgroups on Amateur Astronomy. Tune in to "The Sky at Night", or put one of those awesome BBC "Planets" DVDs on. Chat to your friends, and get one of those fantastic Planetarium type programs for your PC. You'll be hooked in no time.

7x50 Binoculars !

A good pair of binoculars are an essential piece of equipment ( even if you have 4 telescopes ). Binoculars compliment a telescope nicely, and will show you millions of stars. Get a good pair of Japanese Optricon 7x45 or Chinese Pentax 10x50 binoculars for about £130 each. The 10x50s give a little more detail, but the 7x45s are nice and light. These are what I have, though many amateurs also have Russian Helios 15x70 s. Bigger binoculars are expensive and require tripods, though I mount my 10x50 s on a tripod. Only my 7x45s are light enough to be hand held. The Pleiades and Hyades are excellent through binoculars. What, never heard of them ? Go back to stage one : Getting to know the Constellations. Binoculars are easy and pleasant to use, and won't frustrate you ( unlike many telescopes ! ) 

All sorts of Telescopes

Don't get one just yet. Spend ages researching it, because whatever you buy could last you a life time. Telescopes do not have to be replaced every other year, like PCs do. You can buy a good telescope for anything from £250 to £2500 GBP. If that's too cheap for you, you can buy a 16 inch SCT for about £17,000. The Russian Tal 2 looks like a good 6 inch reflector for £420. I have a British Orion Optics 10 inch Newtonian, and I'm getting a smaller 5.5 inch Matsukov by the same firm. Meade make a nice LX10 entry SCT scope for £1100 and Helios have a good selection of £300+ instruments. Celestron are another good US firm, with a nice Nexstar 5 or 8 Goto SCTs. You can look up all these and other scopes on the net. Try to get a telescope that is portable, and can be easily stored. A good telescope is one you use often, not one that gathers dust in the garage. Get a scope with a 1.25" focuser, for a nice selection of eyepieces. Get a good mount, too, not something flimsy with a wobble. Forget motors and computerized Goto scopes, if you want to save money or use your money towards better optics. Finding stars yourself is half the challenge.

Messier Marathon

Well, when you're finally kitted out, to become a good amateur astronomer ( or an advanced one ) you will have to track down the 110 Messier Objects. Seeing 90 - 100 of them is possible in something called the March Messier Marathon. There is a book called the "Messier Marathon", which describes how you can do this, and also how it needn't be considered all that advanced ! After "Turn Left at Orion" I recommend the "Messier Marathon" as it continues in much the same practical style.

Notebook & Conclusion

Get the book "The Sky, a user's guide" by David Levy. It is a magnificent book for £13, and will tell you how to observe the sky. You need to get a soft pencil, sketchbook and notepad to record your observations, otherwise you will accumulate very little other than faint fuzzy memories and impressions of what you see. You will have to take notes and learn for example how to record your "limiting magnitude", but the book explains all. Good luck, and let me know how you are getting on, or what other useful tips I can include in my article !

 

 

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Last modified: December 28, 2000