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 >Tips and Advice
Amateur astronomy tips and advice
Getting started
One day you wake up and decide, "I want a closer look at the stars." If you were like me, you were lucky enough to come to this decision when you had a financial surplus. If not, then you will probably have to be dedicated to maintain the interest when you have no means to view the stars up close. This does not mean however, that you have to give it all away until you save up. This is your opportunity to prepare! Pray to God to help out with the rest. If it's in His will, nothing will stop Him!
Know your sky first
Get yourself outside at night. Go as many times as you can. Note prominent stars and patterns. Look at where certain stars are at certain times. You will very quickly start to see how the sky moves through the night, through the week, month and year. Seeing these things will give you a real sense of where you are in the solar system. You will notice things like planets and the moon, the line they all seem to follow. Like runners all on different lanes of a circular track, except viewed from the side, the planets seem to catch up to each other, lap each other, stop and even seem to go backwards at times. See how the milky way rotates through the night as well, and how you can only see some parts of it for only part of the year.
A star chart or wheel (planisphere) is a very inexpensive way to learn the sky. These are easily found in shops and can even be found on the internet. Start with the simple things, like identifying the phases of the moon. Find and use a major constellation (easily recognisable one) to find north or south. Some constellations are hard to identify and visualise. a lot of them don't look anything like what they say they represent. All you need to do here is find one that you do recognise. Find it on your chart and find it in the sky. Turn your chart and orientate it to face the same way. Like some people I know turn their street directory when they turn a corner and change direction. It is a good way to begin to get your bearings. Once you are more familiar with the sky, you won't need to rotate your chart.
Getting to know the sky with the naked eye is also a great start, because it will help you later when you want to navigate to other objects using binoculars or a telescope. You will appreciate what you see far more when you do.
Reference books and sites
Make sure you buy up to date books. Pictures are fine and helpful but make sure the information is detailed and up-to-date! Don't worry too much if you can't grasp a lot of the stuff in the books at first. You will learn a lot from them and grow into them. There's nothing worse than buying astronomy for dummies and finding that you learn the book in a day. I recommend a good star-hopping guide at least. There are online star catalogues like the Messier catalogue http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/history/m-cat.html , Caldwell catalogue http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/similar/caldwell.html and NGC catalogue http://www.astrosurf.com/benoit/ngc.html . Shop around on the net. You don't have to pay full price in a shop for a paper dust cover that is not torn. You will probably get it wet, dirty and all sorts in your first night outside anyway. I also got a lot of good info from news agency magazines. Go and have a browse there too.
Cold nights
Nothing kills interest more than discomfort. If you freeze your bottom off, then chances are, you will not enjoy yourself and neither will anyone with you. You and they will be far less inclined to come back to it and learn more next time. Remember to rug up in layers. If you are going long distance to get away from city lights, take as many comforts with you as you can lay your hands on. A thermos flask full of hot chocolate, coffee or soup makes a world of difference and partaking in it only adds to the pleasant experience. Some background music coming from your car (quietly) can also provide a bit of a social atmosphere. Don't light a fire though, as looking at it will ruin your night vision. DO NOT TAKE ALCOHOL! Alcohol seriously affects your vision when it comes to astronomy. Some very faint objects viewed through a telescope are hard enough to see with normal vision. Besides, chances are that you drove to your viewing site.
Best conditions
Ideal observing conditions are as follows:
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No moon, unless you specifically wanted to observe the moon.
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No city lights. Get as far away from all artificial light sources as possible. Light refracts off all small particles in the air, like humidity, smoke, fog, smog and dust. Even though the sky may look dark, the light is still there. You will notice if you do any photography that the light will wash out the picture the longer the shutter is left open. Light is bad for astronomy, so get away from it if you can.
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