Astronomy for everyone

You don’t need an expensive telescope to enjoy astronomy. There is a lot to see and view with the naked aye or with a good pair of binoculars. This is how Corné and I also started, just looking up at the sky and curious to learn more about it.

Before you go out to look at the stars, take a little time to prepare. You will need to find a dark place, as far away from artificial lights as possible or at least shielded from direct light. Before you set out, have a good look at the star chart or planisphere so you have an idea of what you can see. For special phenomena, like eclipses and meteor showers etc. there are sky guides available or you can look at the internet. Your eyes will need about 20 minutes to fully adapt to the darkness and, as the pupil opens, more detail and fainter objects will become

visible. If you need to use a torch, use a red filter, this will help you to keep your eyes adapted to the darkness. Although the Moon is beautiful to look at on its own, for stargazing it is best to avoid nights with bright Moon. The best way to get to know the night sky is to start with a few bright stars in a familiar constellation. From there you can work your way out to other constellations, using the star chart as a guideline. With the naked eye you can get to know the constellations, trace the paths of the Moon and the planets, and observe the brightest of the deep sky objects. Once you know your way around the constellations a bit, you can start using binoculars to expand your view.

The most important quality when choosing binoculars are the two main numbers describing the optical qualities; for example 7 x 50. The first number is the magnification, for a newcomer a magnification of 7 or 10 times is adequate. A bigger magnification only makes it harder to find objects. The second number is the aperture, or diameter of the objective lens, measured in millimetres. This tells you how much light the binoculars will gather, which is important for seeing faint objects. For night-sky viewing, an aperture of at least 50 millimetres is preferable.
When looking through binoculars you can steady them by letting your elbows rest on something. With binoculars you can look at the Milky Way, the Pleiades, the Orion nebula or the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) for instance. You can also observe the Moon, Jupiter and its moons and the phases of Venus. It is an excellent way to practice finding objects in the sky and it will be very helpful if you want to start using a telescope.

Whether you are an enthusiast starting amateur or just interested in the beauty of the stars, try visiting a nearby observatory or planetarium, it will be worth your wile.

Happy stargazing
Miriam