Want tot learn to read the sky, wherre do I start?

[coffee_prince]

I have a planisphere and star chat and know where north is, but tbh it all looks ridiulously complex to a newbie.

My garden is pretty dark, there are tonnes of stars outside with the naked eye, and there is one really bright star on its own, I am not sure if it is jupiter but it seems to be in the right location to the link below

To find polaris I need to face north, and then look up 45 degrees (my latitude) and there should be polaris somewhere :s But tbh nothing stands out, just stars everywhere

Astronomy Bristol Home Page

this is what my sky should roughly look like ^

-

What else is there to do?

I cant see the full sky in my garden, but the front of the house is just full of street lighting

[dobserver]

Hi....I am also new to astronomy

It all seems a bit overwhelming to me - there is just so much to know about!!!

I decided to take it in little chunks....I find a constellation I can recognise and look at the stars in it to get familiar with them and then I use Stellarium (free software - Google it) to see if there is anything interesting nearby.

Maybe you should concentrate on the Plough as this will lead you to Polaris.

I don't have any form of guidance on my scope so I need to be able to pick things out. I use the red dot finder to get to near where I need to be, then scan around a bit. Usually I end up finding what I was looking for.

Each time I find a new object I keep going back to it to well and truly learn how to find it again. This seems to be working - I can now go to 6 Messier objects at will and the veil nebula too

It is fun to learn how to find things for myself, but it is a very gradual process I think.

There are many very friendly and helpful people here who I'm sure will make much wiser statements than mine

I hope you have fun learning about this fascinating (if expensive!) hobby.

Steph

[dobserver]

lol - just looked at your link and it has a link to Stellarium on it. It really is easy to navigate and shows you what is what

[brianb]

It is fun to learn how to find things for myself, but it is a very gradual process I think.

Indeed. I've loads of experience, but I'm still learning - practically every time I go out.

[InterGalacticTez]

Great post steph thats exactly what im doing at the minute.

It is indeed very gradual but fun to learn at the same time and in my oppinion it makes it much more rewarding to find something this way than punching in numbers on a goto.

[Talitha]

Hi CP, it takes a while to learn your way around.. took me over a year but it was time well spent.

Polaris isn't too difficult to locate. Face north and find the two right-hand stars of the Plough's 'box'. Follow their angle approximately the width of three fists at arms' length (each fist is about 10 degrees) and you'll see Polaris.

Remember too that the Earth is rotating, which means that the stellar scene is constantly changing, with new scenery rising in the east every minute. Slow down, take your time, and pretty soon it'll all begin to make sense, honest it will.

[Doc]

Excellent advice.

I learnt to star hop from light polluted skies no more then mag4. I found this pretty easy as I wasn't getting confused. When I went down to my first star party at Salisbury to mag 5.5 skkies and seeing the milky way which I cannot see from my garden, I found star hopping really hard, there was just to many stars.

This is why you are getting confused all constellations are merging into one with no clear borders. Take your time it will come. It's a hobby where there is no rush.

[coffee_prince]

Thanks for the advice.

Do I need a full view of the sky, it seems half the sky is all I can see form my garden, would it help if I went to the nearby field as then I should be able to see better?

[kniclander]

I have a planisphere and star chat and know where north is, but tbh it all looks ridiulously complex to a newbie.

i'll ask god to make it a bit simpler next time around

(sorry but I've never heard anyone complain that they can see too many stars)

[coffee_prince]

for someone new to it, it can be hard, I am just looking with the naked eye, please try to think in my shoes

When i say too many stars, I mean it makes it hard to discern constellations etc if I can't see any patterns

[kniclander]

for someone new to it, it can be hard, I am just looking with the naked eye, please try to think in my shoes

When i say too many stars, I mean it makes it hard to discern constellations etc if I can't see any patterns

I know what you mean - sorry if was being flippant etc. maybe the easiest way to start is to find Polaris which shouldn't be too hard beasue it is due north, about 50 deg up (if you're in london) and doesn't move at all. Also, two of the stars in the big dipper (I can't remember which two) point right at it.

I always found planispheres a right pain cos you're always looking at it upside down so a simple star chart is probably easier.

good luck

[Capricorn]

Best I can suggest is one of those little used things called a book. I use the monthly sky guide and somewhere I have TLAO.

First read through a few in a book shop and pick one that suits you. Makes life easier if the book explains things the way you understand them.

Start with the following constellations:

Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, Draco, Cassiopeia, Lynx, Cepheus, Leo Minor, Camelopardalis, Triangulum.

Reason is that they are circumpolar and so do not go below the horizon and therefore you should be able to see them at any time of the year if it is clear.

Once found look at the book and see what other items are up there and then see if lines 2 stars in a constellation will act as suitable pointers to them. 2 stars in Casseiopia point back to Pegasus. Another 2 stars in Casseiopia point nicely to the double cluster NGC884 & 869.

First thing has to be to find the Plough then use the pointers to find polaris. Then you have found north. Facing north and looking up will simply show several stars in the sky as polaris isn't sat there all on its own. Actually it isn't all the bright.

If you find the plough then follow the curve of the handle round and along the path is a nice bright star called Arcturus.

So to start: The plough, pointers to Polaris, after that the handle to Arcturus. Casseiopia is the reasonably bright "W" fairly high up. Just about straight overhead now is Daneb and off to one side is Vega, both nice bright stars. Read the book and see which constellations these are part of and you have 2 more constellations.

[Bizibilder]

Coffee Prince

You don't need to be able to see the whole sky! If you look at one area of sky the Earth's rotation will bring a sucession of stars into your chosen area. In my own garden I have a poor view to the west and North west (neighbours houses) so I don't bother with that area. I have a good view East and South so I concentrate on objects that are in that area.

I would certainly recomend downloading Stellarium - this will give a very realistic view of the sky. You can easily change the settings to show a sky with YOUR level of light polution and therefore the "right" number of visible stars etc. You can also easily "spin" it around to show exactly what you can see by standing in your garden looking in a particular direction.

Hope this helps

[Talitha]

This may sound a bit odd, but you might want to try putting on a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses. They might dim the stellar congestion a bit while still allowing you to see the brighter stars which make up the familiar asterisms we recognize as the constellation outlines.

[brianb]

This may sound a bit odd, but you might want to try putting on a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses.

Does sound crazy, but the theory is sound - it's the same problem that makes it hard to accurately estimate variable stars which are too far above the threshold.

If you can get sunglasses with didymium filtered lenses (glass blower's goggles?) these will also absorb almost all the orange barf glow from street lights in the next county.

[crovax]

I surprisingly found that experience in finding constellations really matters. Several moths ago I knew only one constellation - Big Dipper. I started learning skies and it was veeeery hard to find anything. I have dark skies too so I understand you quite well. I struggled much to find my first constellations. But then it was getting better and better and better. I still don't know all the constelltions but now when I want to find a new constellations it tooks around 15 seconds to get it - I look at starry night (analogue of stellarium), then at sky and the stars combine into constellation. Unfortunately right now I am limited by my not very strong eyes and I am struggling with dim constellations like Scutum.

I remember that when got lost in all these numerous stars I decided to base on stars. Try looking at the whole night sky and check the brightest stars. Then check stellarium and find their names. Those will be Arcturus (now look above it and you'll see Bootes constellation). Then check other 3 big stars forming a huge triangle over your head. Thouse are Vega, Altair and Deneb. Each of these stars are in a constellation which you can try to find. When you have cleared all the bright stars you can try finding the rest basing on what you already know. Like finding Hercules which lies on the line joining Vega and Arcturus.

Have fun and clear skies!

[brianb]

I am struggling with dim constellations like Scutum.

Don't bother, it may look great from further south but from the UK it's hardly worth bothering with as a recognisable object, just go down a bit from Aquila.

Many of the "newer" constellations are ridiculous, I challenge anyone to see a pattern of any sort in Camelopardis, in fact many people in suburban locations won't be able to see any of its stars at all without optical aid!

You only need about two dozen "signpost" constellations & asterisms to be able to find your way around the rest pretty well.

[TheThing]

Yup, second what brianb said! Some constellations are so frustratingly faint from town sites, they're just now worth bothering with!

As long as you can recognise the brighter stars and more obvious constellations, you should be able to work your way around the sky, no bother!

[iamjulian]

This may sound a bit odd, but you might want to try putting on a pair of lightly tinted sunglasses. They might dim the stellar congestion a bit while still allowing you to see the brighter stars which make up the familiar asterisms we recognize as the constellation outlines.

oo, great tip! I shall try that.

[dobserver]

It would make life a lot easier if we could turn on the constellation lines and labels in the sky like we can in Stellarium!

[coffee_prince]

great advice people. Will try tonight. Last night was cloudy

[Mikea]

I remember when I was learning to spot constellations (many, many years ago..), the thing that I found that was most difficult was the actual scale of the patterns in the sky. I was working from tiny "Night Sky" maps printed in the newspaper at the time. Orion was the first one I spotted because it was so distinctive.

The Plough is pretty distinctive too - even at this time of year - so I would try to see this one first. When you do, there will be a big "oh there it is!" moment, and then you are off! Cassiopeia is quite an easy spot too.

I also agree with brianb about the major "signpost" constellations. I have never bothered with Camelopardalis (or his chums) either (I have only just learnt how to spell it!)

Good luck, let us know how you get on.

[Jake Bullit]

The neighbours think I`m nuts anyway.If I went out observing in sunglasses,I think they`d cart me off to the funny farm.

But I`ll give it a go:rolleyes:

[crovax]

The problem with Scutum is the amount of M-objects located near it. That's the only reason I went for it. Well, also I wanted to get known with one more constellation but the main goal were Ms. I am located in Ukraine (not UK) but still Scutum is very low. I can clearly see all the Aquila but everything that is below is very hard to see. I've been waiting for a Moonless night and if the weather is fine this weekend I'll give Scutum another try. I am observing from country house (so I have low light pollution) and moonless nights are just amazing. The problem is that I totally forgot about Scutum the last Moonless night. I was amazed that I can see Andromeda, Double Cluster and millions of stars with just naked eyes. Also Perseids were still falling down leaving awesome trails behind them. This all kept me occupied and somehow I forgout about dim constellations. However this time I placed a reminder in the phone and I definitely won't forget about it. If I won't be able to see it even in such conditiond, I guess I'll give up and will have to search those Ms starting from the bottom of Aquilla.

By the way I've found another fun that you can go for when you know all the constellations. In Starry Night (and may be in Stellarium) you can set different types of constellations. I've been learning "Astronomical" ones. But when I set "Reyhs", I found out that some of them look funnier. So in Astronomical version Hercules looks like a square with 4 lines (which are probably legs and arms) going from corners. And in Reyhs this constellation looks like a guy with a club. And Reyhs Perseus looks like a man in triangle hat which is more nice then astronomical version. So now I am learning alternative versions of known constellations.

[coffee_prince]

I've been trying to get the artwork up for other constellations but can't seem to do it, are there none available except for the western constellations?