Steve Owens

Cheat Sheet / Updated 07-03-2024

Stargazing is a fascinating hobby, but there’s an awful lot to gaze at up there. Eighty-eight constellations and hundreds of other objects both bright and faint mean that wherever you look when you’re stargazing, there’s something to see. If you want to make sense of it all, and make sure that your kit is properly set up, this Cheat Sheet is here to help.

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

As an excited newcomer to stargazing, you’ll want to get outside and start straight away. Here’s a quick list of targets that you can tick off on your way to mastering the night sky. If you’re hunting dark-sky targets, you’ll need to wait for a night when the Moon isn’t in the sky.

Step by Step / Updated 03-27-2016

Following are ten things to look for the next time you’re lucky enough to be out stargazing under a dark sky. You will have to travel to see everything discussed here: some are only visible from certain parts of the Earth and at certain times of year.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

The first time you take your binoculars out stargazing, you may be disappointed to find that all the stars, planets and faint fuzzies that you’d planned on observing are dancing all over the place when you look through the eyepieces. Don’t worry, the universe isn’t moving; it’s just you. No matter how still you try to hold your binoculars, small wobbles in your arm, hands or head, and even your breathing, will cause the stars to move to such an extent that you may struggle to see much. So you need to find a way of steadying your binoculars to reduce the wobble. You can try balancing your binoculars on a nearby wall or perhaps your car roof or some other solid surface, but even these steady surfaces won’t cure the view of all wobbles. You’ll still have to hold your binoculars with your hands, and that means you’re the limiting factor. Some high-tech binoculars have image-stabilising hardware that reduces the wobble, giving you a stiller image. Imagestabilised (IS) binoculars aren’t cheap. However, you may be able to find a small pair of IS binoculars that give you a better view than a non-IS pair. If you can afford a lower-power set, which saves a bit of money over a high-power set, that’s the way to go. Tripods for stargazing: Three legs to stand on Tripods are great additions to your stargazing kit, especially if you’re using binoculars. By attaching your binoculars to a tripod, you instantly steady the image, because you don’t have to touch the binoculars at all. You can’t attach all binoculars to a tripod, though, so you need to find out whether you’ll be able to fix yours on or not. Some binoculars have a screw thread with which you can use an adaptor to attach them to a tripod. To find this screw thread, you may need to remove a small plastic covering cap, which will be hiding it from view. Most often, you can find the screw thread in the central bar of the telescope at the front, between the two objective lenses. If your binoculars don’t have a screw thread to attach them to a tripod, you may be able to use an adaptor that clamps onto the pivot bar between both barrels of the binoculars. If the surface your tripod is standing on isn’t solid, or if it’s windy, you still may have a bit of a wobble. The best place for binoculars on tripods is somewhere sheltered that’s firm underfoot. Monopods for stargazing: One leg to stand on In some cases, a tripod can be a bit awkward to manoeuvre around, especially if you’re planning on observing lots of different targets in the sky. The next best thing to a tripod is a monopod, which is really just a one-legged tripod. ‘But won’t it fall over?’ I hear you ask. No, not if you hold onto it! But if you’re holding the monopod, you may wobble and cause the image to jump about, and keeping the monopod steady is far more difficult that keeping a tripod steady. Having said that, monopods do have their uses. They: Are lighter and more portable than tripods Allow you to take the weight of your binoculars off your arms Steady the image more than you can just by holding the binoculars Make it easier to pivot the binoculars around to look at many different objects Binocular stargazing with a tripod or monopod After you’ve mounted your binoculars on a tripod or monopod, you’re almost ready to start some serious stargazing! One final thing you’ll have to consider is how to get comfortable looking through the eyepieces. Most tripods won’t extend high enough to raise the eyepieces to a comfortable height, so you’ll have to stoop. And if the thing you’re looking at is high overhead, you may have to simultaneously stoop and crane your neck, which isn’t exactly a comfortable position to be in. One of the best ways to overcome this awkwardness is to stargaze while sitting or lying on a reclining outdoor chair. Now that’s stargazing in comfort! This position is where a monopod comes into its own, as it’s much easier to move around than a tripod. If you’re stargazing from a chair, make sure that you dress warmly and put a blanket between yourself and the chair for insulation. If you’re not moving about much, you can cool down pretty quickly.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Maybe you have two different stargazing sites in mind and want to figure out which one will work best. Or perhaps you want to keep a record of how your sky quality changes over time. You can, of course, buy a light meter and take measurements, but a much simpler way of calculating sky quality is to count stars. The more stars you can see, the darker your sky is, but counting all the stars visible in your sky – even if you’re observing from a bright inner city – can be a daunting task. Here’s how to make the process simpler: Find the constellation of Orion. You’ll have to wait until Orion is above the horizon to find it. The months of January through March are best because Orion is visible in the early evening, but you should be able to find Orion by staying up late during October through December, too. Orion has lots of stars in it, but the basic shape is made up of four stars in a rectangle, with three fainter stars in a diagonal line in the centre of this rectangle. The best time to observe Orion is January through March, although you’ll be able to see it from October through December. After you find Orion, wait for your eyes to adapt to the dark and then count how many stars you can see inside the main rectangle. One way of estimating the darkness of your night sky is to use the Bortle Scale, a nine-point scale of sky quality running from 1 (excellent dark-sky sites) to 9 (the brightest inner-city skies). The table shows what each rating means based on how many stars you can count. This number gives you an indication of how good your sky is. The more stars you can see, the better! The gives you the approximate number of stars you can expect to count in different stargazing sites. Number of Stars in Different Sites Bortle Rating Approximate Number of Stars What It Means 1 Far too many to count! Excellent dark-sky site 2 Too many to count! Typical truly dark site 3 More than 30 stars Rural sky 4 Around 30 stars Rural–suburban transition 5 Around 20 stars Suburban sky 6 Around 12 stars Bright suburban sky 7 Around 6 stars Suburban–urban transition or full Moon 8 Around 3 stars (the belt stars) City sky 9 One or 2 stars Inner-city sky

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Both northern and southern hemisphere stargazers are treated to many striking constellations that are visible any night of the year – the northern and southern polar constellations. These constellations are what’s called circumpolar, meaning they never rise or set. That’s very handy, since it means they are above the horizon all year, and are visible all night, so you’ll soon get used to finding them and using them as signposts to other constellations. Stargazing: Northern polar constellations The six northern polar constellations are near the North Star, so you’ll only be able to see all of them if you’re stargazing in the northern hemisphere. If you were at the North Pole, they’d be spinning directly overhead, but for northern hemisphere observers they spin in an anticlockwise direction around the North Star. The six northern polar constellations, as shown in the figure, include: Ursa Major, the Great Bear Cassiopeia the Queen Ursa Minor, the Little Bear Draco the Dragon Cepheus the King Camelopardalis the Giraffe These constellations, when observed from northern latitudes, are circumpolar, meaning they never rise or set. That’s very handy because it means they’re above the horizon year-round and are visible all night, so you’ll soon get used to finding them and using them as signposts to other constellations. Where in the sky you have to look depends on where on Earth you’re stargazing. The northern polar constellations all appear towards the north of the sky, but the closer you are to the North Pole, the higher they are. In fact, the North Star’s altitude above the northern horizon is equal to the latitude you’re stargazing from. Stargazing: Southern polar constellations The stars around the southern pole form some striking constellations, such as the Southern Cross, and there are a wealth of great objects to look for, like the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. The figure shows a map of these constellations, which include the following: Crux (Southern Cross) Apus Chamaeleon Circinus Dorado Hydrus Mensa Musca Norma Octans Pavo Triangulum Australe Tucana Volans Remember that as the Earth spins, the position and orientation of the constellations changes. The maps show their relative positions next to one another. Check monthly star maps for your location to find out where in the sky the constellations actually appear.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Just as you can mark the Moon’s position each night against the fixed stars and constellation patterns, you can mark the planets, too. The planets also make paths against the fixed stars. Over the course of a year, these paths join into one line that circles the entire sky. This line is known as the zodiac, and its more scientific name is the ecliptic. This ecliptic line passes through the signs of the zodiac, which comprises 12 familiar constellations as shown in the figure: Aries Taurus Gemini Cancer Leo Virgo Libra Scorpius Sagittarius Capricornus Aquarius Pisces Contrary to popular belief, however, the zodiac actually has 13 signs, not 12. The thirteenth sign is called Ophiuchus the Serpent-bearer. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of him – most people haven’t! He sits between Scorpius and Sagittarius, and so the Sun, Moon and planets all spend a bit of time in Ophiuchus each time they move around the sky. Whenever you see a planet, the Sun or the Moon in the sky, it always lies somewhere in one of the signs of the zodiac. You can find out where a planet is on the ecliptic by looking it up online – a search for ‘Jupiter position April’ should give you lots of websites that will tell you where to look for Jupiter in April. Alternatively, you may want to subscribe to an astronomy magazine. These monthly publications list all the planets that are up in the sky for the particular month, and feature maps that show you where to find them.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Stargazing through binoculars or a telescope is hugely rewarding, but imagine if you could capture stunning images of what you see to share with the world. Astrophotography awaits, and with recent developments in equipment, amateur stargazers are beginning to obtain images that rival those that were possible with professional telescopes only decades ago. The only hardware that’s absolutely essential for astrophotography is a camera, but to help you get a good image, you may want to use some of the following kit, too: Camera tripod: A tripod allows you to fix your camera to a solid base so that you don’t have to hold it in your hand. If you take exposures much slower than 1⁄60 second, then the image becomes blurry because your hands shake, no matter how still you think you’re holding the camera. Camera cable release or remote control: A cable release or remote control allows you to take images without touching the camera, which also helps reduce camera shake and image blurring. Most cable releases or remote controls allow you to lock the shutter open, meaning that you can start the image and leave the camera for the duration of the exposure. Range of lenses for your camera: If you’re hoping to catch very faint objects with your camera, then consider getting a hold of a very fast lens – one in which you can open the aperture as wide as possible, which allows your camera to collect more light. Fast lenses, such as f/1.2 or f/1.4, can be very expensive, but the images you get are amazing. Another useful lens is a fish-eye. These fish-eye lenses have huge fields of view, so they’re great if you’re hoping to get a wide-angled shot with a lot of stars in it. Telescope with a camera-mounting bracket: Many telescopes, like the one in the figure. come with a mounting bracket that lets you piggyback your camera on the body or mount of the telescope, basically letting you use your telescope as a very expensive tripod! Telescope with motorised star tracking drive: If your telescope has a motorised tracking drive, then you can afford to make much longer exposures of objects in the sky, without getting star trails. Telescope with eyepiece adaptor: For serious astrophotography of the planets or of deep-sky objects like galaxies and nebulae, you have to attach your camera to the eyepiece socket of your telescope. You’ll need to get a special adaptor that fixes onto your camera in place of your camera lens and then slots into the eyepiece socket in place of an eyepiece. You essentially convert your telescope into one very powerful camera lens. If you plan on deep-sky astrophotography, then you’ll need long exposure times as well as a telescope that tracks the stars automatically. Filters: Astronomers often use filters to block out unwanted light. Filters that block out light pollution can enhance your image a great deal, but you may find other filters are better for the image you want to capture.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

So long as you know what you’re buying, there’s no such thing as a bad telescope. If you’re on a limited budget, then a cheap, light telescope may be just the thing for you, allowing you to explore the Moon’s surface and a few other bright objects. If you’re planning to spend a bit more on a telescope, then you can start to overcome some of the problems associated with cheaper models. Even on a budget, you’ll want to avoid telescopes that have: Plastic lenses: Plastic lenses are cheap, and so you sometimes find them in very small, cheap telescopes.Plastic lenses don’t give nearly as clear an image as glass lenses do. Too-high magnifying powers: You may also find small, cheap telescopes advertising themselves by their magnifying power (for example, 100 x magnification!), but that number alone isn’t important. You want a good balance between light-gathering power and magnification, so a larger telescope with lower magnification is usually far more useful than a small telescope with high magnification. Shaky mounts: In short, avoid them. Poor build quality: You’ll also want to check the whole telescope for build quality. If any part of your telescope is very low quality, then you’ll end up getting frustrated with it when it doesn’t perform as you’d expect it to.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Stargazing at the Sun is incredibly dangerous. You should never look at the Sun directly, even with your naked eyes, and especially not with a telescope or binoculars. If you do, you can easily blind yourself. So how can you observe the Sun safely? The best way is to join a local astronomical society or club and get the members to show you the Sun through their telescopes. So that they can see the Sun safely, these astronomers fit their telescopes with a solar filter that blocks out almost all the Sun’s light, with only a tiny bit getting through. Filters are best fitted at the front of a telescope; you can get filters that go onto the eyepiece, but they can often overheat and crack – and you don’t want that to happen while you’re looking through them! Another good way of observing the Sun is by using a telescope to project an image onto a piece of paper or card, as shown in the figure. If you point a telescope at the Sun, don’t look through the telescope! You can hold a sheet of paper far from the eyepiece and see a round image of the Sun. This works using binoculars too. You can buy specialist telescopes for observing the Sun safely that have built-in filters to block out most of the light. These are great for observing the Sun, but can’t be used for anything else.