Learning the skys from the comfort of your own computer

[dragonlord]

I don't know if anyone's seen this, but I found a link on another forum and I think it would be a good way for beginners to learn how to recognise the constellations

http://petapixel.com/2011/05/04/amateur-photographer-shoots-largest-ever-photo-of-the-night-sky/

I have to admit that I couldn't find any of the constellations I know without switching on the constellation viewer.

[JamesM]

Well that was certainly an impressive bit of imaging there and it is surprising how much detail there is to pick out - when you have worked out where to look. Not sure if beginners will find it any more helpful than say Stellarium, though of course it does show the sky as it really is and I would think that you would need a little bit of experience to be able to pick out some of the main constellations against so many background stars. I don't think I have ever seen a 'real' sky like the one shown though I have got close when camping in Exmoor where it was difficult making out the plough let alone any other constellations :grin:.

Thanks for posting the link and I'm sure others will enjoy the view!

James

[cotterless45]

Neat picture. I learnt the sky laying flat on my back in the garden with a red torch and star charts over the course of a few months. It's amazing how the constellations move. I was completely lost looking at the sky from pristine sites on Skye and the islands. Just so many stars make the constellations a challenge !

Nick.

[damnut]

Hi Dragonlord,

I learnt the sky like Cotterless45, very dark skies in North Wales then!! Then I borrowed a copy of Norton Star Atlas, not very beginner friendly though.

If you can get a couple of books try 'turn left at orion' and 'sky & telescope pocket star atlas'. Both will help yoou round the sky, next is a planetarium program, as above try stellarium its free ! and can be found here :-- http://www.stellarium.org/

[LukeSkywatcher]

I learned as much as i know mainly as a child with a planisphere held up to the night sky. Everything was exactly where it should have been at the time of night and time of year.

Its all about repetition. The more often you are outside at night, you will very quickly learn to recognise constellations and at some point it (they) will become very clear to you and when you look at the night sky, the first thing you will notice is the brightest stars in the constellations which make the outline. They will just pop out at you, above anything else.

[Nibor]

That is some image - thanks for sharing - I have "favourited" the page for later consideration!!

[glowjet]

Remarkable image indeed, but IMHO there is only one real way to learn the night sky, and that is to get out underneath the stars, when it stops raining

[Knight of Clear Skies]

That's an absolutely fantastic image, thanks for posting it. However, I'd say it's a particularly poor one for learning the constellations, as it's very difficult to pick out the naked-eye visible stars against the mass of stars. The best method I've found is taking Stellarium outside on a dark night.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

I meant to add, it is a great tool for putting some DSOs in context. For example, I'd only vaguely heard of the Gum Nebula before, but I see it covers 40 degrees of the Southern Sky!

[MYLUCKYSTARS]

I started off with a Planisphere & an app called SkyMap though since I've used Stellarium I stop using SkyMap all together & less use of the Planisphere. I like how on Stellarium you can turn on/off the lines of the constellations. Great for the positions of the Moon, Planets, DSOs & tracking Artificial Satellites. I'm going to hold on to my Planisphere as it something physical, more portable, & special to me even though I've owned/used for only 4 or 5 months lol.

[AlexB67]

That's a beautiful shot.. bookmarked . As some already said however. I am finding stellarium easy to work with and would not see this as a replacement for that as a learning tool, since you can turn on effects such as the atmosphere and light pollution levels, and thus match what you see, compared to the zillions of stars in the photo.

In my brief start in astronomy so far I'd have to say I have hardly picked up the planishpere at all, not brought it outside, did all my planning beforehand inside on stellarium and then try to put it in practice outside in my back garden, without any charts or programs, just me and the scope.

Thus far I'd have to say this has been a great success to the such a degree that I can safely say stellarium is the ultimate star simulator in a way you do your homework inside, the going outside is like the exam, the test if you like, Try and find it and if I failed to find it, go back inside afterwards, look again in stellarium and you'll remember why and where you went wrong.

Perhaps a cruel way of doing it and a way of torturing the brain, but in a space of the week or more I've managed to memorise a lot of sky, so no issue recognising many constellations now and finding my way around. I did practice that for quite a few hours now doing so on an off, as it is so much fun anyway and it is really paying off for example, I saw some images of the M81/M82 the other day in a thread somewhere, I have not even seen them in real life yet, but I recognised them straight away.

I am sure for precision work and other things you'd want some tools charts at hand, but to start out I've had great fun this way to familiarise myself with the sky.