How To Learn The Skies?

[Gissajob]

As I'm just about the most beginnerish of beginners imagineable, I'm having trouble deciding exactly where to begin (there's an awful lot of stuff up there). So, I've got two questions which I'd be extremely grateful for views on. And it's cloudy out, so what else are you going to do?

First, what should a beginner's observing toolkit contain? I'm thinking decent bins, a copy of Turn Left At Orion, a planisphere. But what else is essential? It's my birhday soon, so I'll be dropping hints to the family.

Second, where to start in learning the skies? One suggestion I've read around here is to pick a constellation and get to know it thoroughly, then move on to the next one in a few week's time when everything has moved round a bit. As I have a pretty good outlook to the S and E over countryside, perhaps Leo would be a good place to start?

All suggestions gratefully received.

Alan

[nephilim]

This is invaluble http://www.stellarium.org/ just put in your location & it will tell you whats in the sky at any time of night, great for planning observing sessions.......And its free!!

Steve

[Stargazer_00]

Hi Alan,

From my own experience I found Turn Left at Orion a fantastic way to get into learning the sky, which is a wonderful skill by the way. It impresses a great many people when you can point things out to them.

Turn Left as a book will introduce you to the main constellations in the sky as the seasons move along. It gives you a good methodology to identify constellations and use the stars within them as sign posts to hop to the featured targets. If you are fortunate to get clear nights and you work with the book it will gradually ease you in slowly enough that you pick up knowlege at a nice pace and build confidence.

You can not learn it all in one go and I feel the way Turn Left guides you is very appropriately written to bring you in.

Only 18 months since I started and I dont use Turn Left at all any more, I navigate entiely either from memory or using a star atlas and red torch and I owe all that confidence to the way in which Turn Left instructued me to think about learning the sky. the book will always have a spot on my shelf.

[scarp15]

Hi

Absolutely correct, get a comfy outdoor chair and use your planisphere to familiarise and orientate yourself. Permit your eyes to become dark adapted, so immersing into the current constellations from your view point. From this learn some of the key brighter stars, such as currently Arcturus, Regulus etc.

Leo is a good starting point, as is Ursa Major. Hercules will begin to make its presence felt in the Eastern sky to.

Down load www.stellarium.org

A red light torch would come in useful to.

[brantuk]

Yup - Leo is a good place to start being as it's current. You can also check out Ursa Major and Cassiopiea which are always there. Familiarise yourself with the Polaris and the Ecliptic. These are all guides to where stuff is, what's coming round each season so you can read up and have a list of stuff to view in advance.

The way I did it was mostly reading SaN and AN center pages each month for a year where they highlight all the current interesting objects, where they are, how to find them, and which equipment to use. Don't restrict yourself to a scope only - a cheap pair of well collimated binocs is always useful for wide field scanning and rough positional info.

Keep an eye on Stellarium each week and watch how the Ecliptic changes angle and where rising and setting positions are - there are also free applications like Skyviewcafe which shows the moons phases, angle of Saturns rings, Jupiters rotation, planet transits and occultations, GRS timings, daylight and night time phases on Earth, and shadow movements across the Earth.

All interesting stuff to build your knowledge and enhance your perception of what's up there. Hth

[LukeSkywatcher]

I honestly cant think of a better way to start learning the night sky other then buy yourself a planisphere and get outside on a clear night and start using it. Because of hows it is used, it shows you real positions of constellations as they appear in the sky. Books give you a flatened version of the same thing and are not as easy to read (starcharts etc).

You will be amazed at just how quickly using a planisphere, how many constellations you will learn and be able to spot without using the planisphere. I agree with others who say Leo is a good place to start. It (the lions head) looks very much like a back to front question mark.

[DaveS]

When I was learning the constellations a *long* time ago I think I had a little Hamlyn guide and I set myself to learn a new constellation each clear night, though it sometimes took one-or-two clear nights. I didn't have anything beyond the mk1 eyeball at the time.

Nowadays I would add a pair of 7x50 bins and look within the main stars as well.

In addition to Stellarium and Turn Left at Orion I'd add a good paper chart, I've used both Norton's and The Cambridge Star Atlas but others will also have their favorites.

[Stargazer_00]

I've never once used a planisphere. I think the way turn left at orion gets you to a constellation and then makes you burrow into it almost forces you to learn the shape of the constellation you are in quicker. And learn them at a slower pace. A planisphere will show you alot more sky all at once and may make it more difficult to remember individual constellations and the component DSOs within them.

I've just realised now that you havent said you have a scope. So a planisphere and a pair of binoculars is probably better than turn left at orion at this point. id only get turn left once you have a telescope.

Philips Stargazing with Binoculars is a great book, i found. Sky at Night magazine has just started doing a ful page spread for binocular tour as well (written by one of our board members no less!) and includes a plainsphere set up for the current month.

[scarp15]

If you already have, or are in the process of getting a pair of binoculars, then perhaps aim to locate and check out M44 Beehive Cluster (The western end of Leo is a good starting point) - refer to your copy of Turn Left at Orion.

[nytecam]

Best to learn the sky [when clear!] by the month from magazine articles or online sources and build your knowledge from there - good luck;-)

[bingevader]

Time!

Honestly!

AND this is a hobby, not an exam.

Rather than trying to learn a constellation at a time, find things that you want to observe and then go looking for them!

As people have already said, TLAO or some of the monthly mags (S@N) give guides to interesting things to spot and how to navigate to them starting off at their neighbouring constellations and hopping via the brightest stars, all named for you, to your destination!

Much more fun!

Then again, if you've got the kind of brain and mentality that finds it easier to learn them off one at a time then of course, I take it all back, go right ahead!

Each to his own, what ever does it for you is fine by me.

Cheers

[LukeSkywatcher]

Whatever way you choose to learn your way around the night sky is the right way. Bingevader is correct........... Time is the best thing. Its not an exam. You dont need to cram for it. Its like studying and learning anything...............time and also repetativeness(sp?). The more you look over time, you just become very familiar with the shapes and honestly there will come a day (or a night rather) when you look up and you will know at a single glance at least 4-5 of the main constellations in the night sky at any given time of year. It really does become second nature and the constellations you know JUMP out at you, while the rest of the sky somehow seems to remain in the background.

The summer sky is the one i know least of, simply because i dont normally observe in the summer months, so i am not familiar with its skies. So, i still use reference maps etc to find my way around from maybe June-Sept. Nothing wrong with that. Thats why such books,maps are published.

Go-To technology in scopes has basically taken away the need for anyone to know anything about the night sky apart from maybe knowing the name and location of 3 bright stars in the night sky at any time of the year, which you will need to align the Go-To system. You dont even have to know 3 stars. That also is fine.

The ONE thing we ALL agree on here is that astronomy should be fun and enjoyable, no matter what way you do it or what you use to do it.

So have fun and enjoy it at whatever pace you are happy with.

[skir]

These are the things I found useful when I started not all that long ago.

My first buy would be a book called the stars by h a rey. This book simplifies everything and uses simple language and well drawn diagrams to show were the constellations are in the sky and when they will be in a particular position, by orienting the book as described you see the constellations as they are in the sky. I'd also get some 10x50 binoculars to use with the book and a red head torch. This is invaluable as it keeps your hands free to do other stuff with. You could actually start with just the book and the torch tbh.

Then get a scope once you have some familiarity with the sky. I went the GOTO route and don't regret it but it was a steep learning curve initially. When you've got the scope go for ltao. Other books I have found very useful are sky and telescopes pocket atlas and 365 starry nights which shows you how to see something new on every night of the year. I also have an app called sky safari on my tablet and this is one of my best purchases I've found. Its basically an interactive sky chart and is superb. I just point it at the sky I'm looking at and I can see on the asp what I'm looking at.

Whilst some of these resources duplicate each other to a degree I find they compliment each other really well and give me different perspectives which improves my knowledge.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Torin]

I know how you feel Gissajob - just starting all this myself. I'm going to get 'Turn Left at Orion' soon but in the meantime I'm trying to get out there as much as possible (way too cold a wind tonight!) and try to identify at least one bright star and ideally a constellation per session. Then on the following night I'm revising the previous night and finding another.

It's slow but with each night I'm hoping to learn a little and hopefully soon I'll be confident to at least find the major constellations.

[JamesM]

The one advantage that Stellarium offers in helping you to learn the night sky (...apart from being free, easy to use and can be calibrated it to your viewing location) is that it always presents you with a clear night. Seriously, nothing more frustrating when trying to learn where everything is when you have to deal with many weeks worth of cloudy nights. This link will allow you to explore some of the Turn Left at Orion book and you can see that not only is it well laid out but that there are also great instructions (visual & written) on how to find objects of interest. If you use stellarium as your night sky, it is will become very easy to rehearse these instructions contained in this book and by coincidence, will also be learning the constellations too. Patrick Moore described looking up at the night sky as like looking at a tangle mess where there is no initial form or structure but, with a little patience, can very quickly, "...bring order to the scene" and he is right and only requires a bit of practice. The funny thing is that once you have learnt just a few of the main constellations, the difference it makes to what you see and how you then navigate the remaining part of the night sky can only get easier. Stellarium is so useful here because you can initially set it up with all the cardinal lines etc indicating the constellations main shape but as yur understanding progresses, you can very easily start reducing the labelling until you reach a point where you are able to identify the constellation without any assistance. Of course if you can use the real night sky is the preferred option by Stellarium is more predictable.

Clear skies

James

[todd8137]

One at a time spend a couple of nights if not a full week on each one ,learn there named trs and what goodies they have dsos ect

pat

[Ohmless]

http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/SkyCalendar/ they have a subscription if you want them sent to you, but they do offer the current month for free if you print it out. I like these a bit more than a planisphere for an absolute beginner because it doesn't show the dimmer constellations. IMO makes it a bit easier to learn/less to be confused with. I started with these and am self taught, and after a year bought a planisphere.

[Gissajob]

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I've already installed Stellarium, but some good suggestions on how to put it to use. And I already own one of those stupid-looking headtorches which happens to have a red setting. I do own a telescope, but it's a cheap and basic one which was bought for me by a loving wife, so I can't upgrade just yet! I'm just going to use it as a a way of finding out how serious I am about this new hobby.

I'm not really looking at this as a test or exam, but my sessions so far have been a bit unfocussed (ooh, a bright thing, what is it - ooh another sparkly smudgy thing over there!). I'm an organised sort of person, so I just want to have some sort of order to what I'm doing.

Thanks for your advice. It's dark out...

Alan

[jimmyjamjoejoe]

I started with just a pair of bins and stellarium. I always found cassiopea easy to spot, a big W in the sky, so i learned my way around using that as my starting reference.

I'd just learn a constellation near it using stellarium, then go outside and match the shape. I think the first real wow i had was finding m31 by following the slightly wider point of the W as an arrow.

Just pick one thats obvious to you, and slowly venture outwards as you learn and as things move about. Ursa major is another good one, since it is always about, and its orientation is easy to translate as it rotates.

At first, just learn to spot them, once you get a few under your belt, then maybe think about learning targets within them.

[blueroom]

I'm a beginner also but I found the Orion constellation a fantastic starting place, there is so much to look at there, but its quite low in the sky at this time of year now.

If you have an ipad there are some fantastic astronomy apps available, Sky Safari, Star Walk, Go Sky Watch to name just a few. These are similar to Stellarium but the advantage with an ipad is you can hold it up to the sky and it gives you a real-time star map. I also have Google Sky Map on my mobile phone but the GPS isn't as accurate as my ipad, but still works quite well.

[ollypenrice]

Good advice above. As a first step towards using a sky Atlas this book is brilliant; http://www.amazon.fr/Photographic-Atlas-Stars-H-J-P-Arnold/dp/0750306548 Sorry the Amazon link is in French but the book's the right one!

On one page a star chart. On the opposite page a photo of the same stretch of sky down to about the magnitudes you can see from a very dark site. When teaching beginners I use this book every day, suggesting that a bit of practice at going between chart and photo in the daytime is useful. It also gets you mentally rehearsed and orientated before going outside. The book gets very positive feedback from all who use it. I should have bought more while they were on offer at Astrofest.

Olly

[ronl]

Try this site http://binocularsky.com/ it's a great site to help you

find your way around, help choosing bin's and help with observing.

Good Luck and Clear Sky's

[Gissajob]

I'm a beginner also but I found the Orion constellation a fantastic starting place, there is so much to look at there, but its quite low in the sky at this time of year now.

If you have an ipad there are some fantastic astronomy apps available, Sky Safari, Star Walk, Go Sky Watch to name just a few. These are similar to Stellarium but the advantage with an ipad is you can hold it up to the sky and it gives you a real-time star map. I also have Google Sky Map on my mobile phone but the GPS isn't as accurate as my ipad, but still works quite well.

Don't have an ipad, but do have a Samsung smartphone on which I've installed Google Sky. I've found it's sometimes very inaccurate - for instance telling me that the moon was in a completely different part of the sky. I might be a beginner, but I'm pretty sure I can spot the moon! Back in January I was spending quite a bit of time looking round Orion and Jupiter. I was fairly stunned at the sight of the Orion Nebula, but so far I've failed to get any other Messiers through a combination of cloudy nights, inexperience and my pretty basic scope.

Alan

[Gissajob]

Try this site http://binocularsky.com/ it's a great site to help you

find your way around, help choosing bin's and help with observing.

Good Luck and Clear Sky's

Thanks for the top Ronl - I have a pair of small binoculars but I'll definitely be needing something more suitable.

Alan

[deerdude68]

just don't rush it dude just keep trying and you'll get there.