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Before you dash out and buy a telescope
In today’s blog I would like to share a tip that was given
to me at the very start of my astronomy/astrophotography learning journey three
years ago. It was to be fair, a simple,
quite obvious tip. I followed part of it and messed up the rest!
The tip given:
“Don’t dash off and buy any gear in a bout of over
enthusiasm for a new hobby.”
No seriously don’t! Not yet anyway!
Astronomy and astrophotography are a deep rabbit hole to
dive down and it is easy in a spurt of enthusiasm to go buy a telescope or
other gear that ends up not meeting your needs.
So, stop, pause, reflect! And breathe!
Instead, I advise you do what I did after this tip:
One of two approaches here:
1) go do some basic stargazing yourself – preferably with a
friend(s) to see if it is something you could become passionate about or
2) use these websites to find when an astronomy society local to you is doing a stargazing event and go visit them on the night. The websites are:
https://www.darkskiesnationalparks.org.uk/
https://gostargazing.co.uk/events-map/
Approach 1: do some initial stargazing with friends
and on your own
Wait for that clear night. They do occasionally happen. Then
wrap up warm and step outside. By ‘wrap up warm’ I mean several layers; woolly
hat and gloves, warm walking socks, thick soled walking boots! If you have a head torch with red light facility, all the better!
By ‘step outside’, I hope you live in a darkish sky area.
If not, use these websites to try and locate an area with a car park and
dark skies in your locality!
https://darksitefinder.com/map/
https://lightpollutionmap.info
Before you set off outside, turn down the screen
brightness on your smartphone, for later! You will thank me for reminding
you to do it now, promise!
When at your location, wait. No torches, resist that
temptation to start smartphone scrolling! It takes around 15 – 20 minutes
for your eyes to acclimatise to the dark.
Twenty minutes gone by now?
OK, look up! Your now dark-adapted eyes should see far more
stars than you think! Hopefully it is a truly amazing, awe-inspiring sight.
Maybe you can see white/blue incredibly hot stars (10,000C). Some colour ones –
reddish? (3000C). Some faint shimmering, twinkling stars. Whatever type are
above you, I always find I am blown away when I look up at the night sky,
whether it be down my local Bortle 4 beach area or deep out in Bortle 1
conditions in the Serengeti or Death Valley National Parks. Every single star you
see is a gassy ball of enormous heat, a distant sun, just like ours. Some are
close and bright but surprisingly low energy.
Others, distant and faint to us, but bizarrely in their neighbourhood,
incredibly high energy bright stars.
As I write this now (summer 2022), sat outside Bryony our motorhome, high above and behind me, I can see the Milky Way Galactic Core. If I swivel around slightly, I can just make out with my naked eye, the very distant smudge that is possibly the Andromeda galaxy. Where am I? Down on a cliff top farm campsite in deepest darkest Cornwall.
So, you are warm, ‘dark eye adapted’ and starting to look
upwards in fascination, it is time to use that stargazing smartphone app.
Glad you turned down the screen brightness earlier? Be a pity to ruin that long
waited for dark adapted eyesight now!
There are several star chart apps to choose from for both iOS
and android, but the two I like are Stellarium and Sky Safari. Download
free versions or pay for the full ones. Using
your phone GPS to work out where you, these apps show you a star chart of the
skies above you. As you move your phone around, the chart re-orientates itself.
‘Red light night mode’ protects that precious dark-adapted eyesight although to
be honest if you have dimmed your phone screen sufficiently it shouldn’t be a
problem. I rarely use ‘Red night’ mode. Hold it up to the sky above you and
what do you know, the stars and constellations above match the app and you can
start identifying the stars and patterns above your head.
Exciting isn’t it. Your first mapping of the heavens above!
(Quick tip here: Start using the app during the
daytime to work out its quirks, processes and functions. That way, you don’t
waste valuable night sky observing time later.)
So, lets go on a first tour of the sky above you. And lets start with some obvious constellations. Look up and move the star chart on your phone around until you are standing facing The Plough. Then, depending on your season, try and find Orion – the one with the three star belt. Cassiopeia next? Search out that distinct W shaped constellation.
Three constellations down already! Boom. Mic drop! Success!
Head back to the Plough and go searching for our north star Polaris!
The outer two stars that form the square bit of the Plough are the ‘pointer’
stars you need. Line them up and draw an imaginary line upwards from them. The
next star up will be Polaris. Vital to know where that one is, especially if
you start to get into telescopes and need to polar align instruments in the
future.
Why is Polaris so special? In the northern hemisphere it is only
star above you that doesn’t actually move. Why? Because it is positioned
directly above the Earth’s northern rotational axis, all other stars above
rotate around it. Great for doing photography star trails!
Here is the difficult visualisation bit. The constellations
above you seem to be moving. And, they never remain the same throughout the
year’s changing seasons. So clearly the heaven above are rotating? Er, no! The
heavens above are static. It is our planet that is rotating; and of course,
tilting on its axis throughout the year according to the seasons.
So, hang on, we have winter and summer specific
constellations! Yup, but don’t fret, Stellarium and Sky Safari show you the
years changes. What you can see each night, each month, each season. The more
you use them, the more familiar you become with the constellation patterns.
A pair of binoculars always aid a stargazing session.
I won’t get into binoculars for stargazing but this site gives a good overview:
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/stargazing-with-binoculars-a-guide and https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/tips-binoculars-astronomy
I don't have a good set of binoculars. I tend to use my
birdwatching ones or my marine boat binos. I do have a telescope though. It
travels in a plastic crate, wrapped in giant bubble wrap with some foam swimming
noodles cut up and lining the sides to keep it securely in place. Foam either
end cushions the optical tube. It is stored in the shower when we are on the
move in the motorhome.
Back to the stargazing session. I was digressing a bit.
Sorry!
Look out for any planets. Sky Safari ’search’ icon
will give you a list of ‘tonight’s best views’ and they change nightly, weekly
and monthly. How do you recognise planets? Look for very bright shining ‘stars’
(which of course they are not – but that is how they will ‘appear’).
I will never forget
the first time I saw the banding of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn through my
telescope. I was so elated and excited, I fell over my little astronomy table
which holds all my various bits and pieces and almost woke up an entire
campsite as I scrambled around!
Shooting stars are always exciting to see. Try not to
confuse them with rapidly orbiting space stations or satellites! I always
manage to see a few on most observation nights. They are of course meteors,
space dust, space junk, asteroids, burning up in the upper layers of the
atmosphere above us. Mid-August brings us the Perseid meteor showers and
if I remember correctly October brings the Orionids. It is always useful to try
and follow a website which gives monthly ‘what to see in the night sky’
reports. I follow: https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/stargazing-tonight-what-see-night-sky or https://cosmicpursuits.com/night-sky-this-month/
and https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/astronomy/guide-night-sky
but there are plenty of others out there.
Got those binoculars? Got a half-moon coming up? See if you can pick out various craters and
mountain ranges. Those darker patches are the ‘Mares’ or various seas on the
Moon. There are moon phase apps and apps about the landscapes of the
moon which can be downloaded to inform you. For example: 'moon phase
calendar', 'my moon phase' or 'daff moon phase'.
And according to one of my favourite scientists, Prof. Brian
Cox, it is likely that within our own spiral galaxy, there are just five
planets like ours that have a ‘civilisation’ and such diversity of
life. Our planet and the life on it is part of his ‘Goldilocks
theory’ of the universe!
Six months on and my first attempt at imaging another
galaxy:
Approach 2; go attend a local stargazing event
https://gostargazing.co.uk/stargazing-events/
I have attended a few of my local astronomy society outdoor
events and they are great fun. Members turn up with various telescopes and give
tours of the evening’s night sky. It is a great way of finding out more about
the hobby and also about types of telescopes and what might be appropriate for
your particular needs.
I cannot stress enough that if you are thinking of getting a
telescope, then attend one of these events. Don’t make the mistake I did buy
buying the wrong telescope at the start! (see my blog posts on buying your
first telescope for further details of that debacle but essentially I got great one for visual observation but totally
useless for any imaging!)
Anyway, the website above, which have updated from my original posting of this
blog on my motorhome site, gives upcoming dates for 2025. Hope you find it
useful.
If you are thinking of buying a new telescope but don’t know
much about the various types, then my series of blogs on telescopes, mounts,
and eyepieces – all for beginners like yourself, and me, for that matter, may
help you start your thinking. But I cannot emphasise enough. When you have done
this thinking, go talk to members of your local astronomy club. It can save you
a lot of pain and money in the long run! Go on, ask me how I know!
You will also find some blog posts, again written for
beginners like you and me, on equipment to begin astrophotography. You can
start with some basics. You may already have a DSLR camera and kit lenses. If
you have a good tripod, you can start trying to get some milky way photos. See
my blog on shooting tips for your first milky way image. If you have a modern
smartphone – well some of them have night mode and can take some stunning night
time images as well. Check out YouTube for your type of phone and ‘night time
shooting’.
Want to go one stage further and get yourself a star tracker
so you can shoot deep space objects? I may well have a blog or two for you on
that as well!
Hope this has whetted your appetite. Clear skies!
Steve
I am now assuming you have done your first stargazing session. I hope you enjoyed it. I find that often my mind will wander as I gaze upwards at the heavens.
“Is someone or something out there watching me watching them?” is a
common thought, most nights! As is “What would it be like to walk on the
moon?” and my current favourite now having read ‘Orbit’ by Samantha Harvey
“Is it ethical for humans to leave a planet they are destroying to try and
establish a new base on another distant planet in our solar system (Mars)?” Last
night I even found myself pondering the sheer overwhelming coincidences that
had to happen for life just to exist on our own planet! Deep stuff!
Oh and my favourite topic to ponder on those starry nights when I am waiting for my astrophotography gear to carry out its shooting plan "What would I do and how would I respond if an alien space ship landed in the car park in front of me?" Your answers to this question in the comment box below? 😂
PS 2: up for more on your next stargazing session?
Another possible tour to do on your next night of stargazing –
look for and identify the brightest stars in the night sky above you. It is a
great one to do if you live in a light polluted area, as these stars will show
through it most nights. Many, conveniently, outline the constellations above.
Bright stars have an ‘apparent visual magnitude’. On
the magnitude scale the brighter the star, the lower the number it is given. So,
a star of mag. +2.0 is therefore brighter than one that’s mag. +5.0. It takes a
few seconds to get your head around that doesn’t it. It feels counterintuitive!
But there is more! Hang onto your hat. Stars can have a 0
magnification. Really bright stars can have minus number! Venus, when at its
brightest – mag -4.7! A star with a mag +5.0 is far dimmer! Confused? Yep! I
still get confused on this!
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