A Beginner’s Guide to Garden Astronomy

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If you’re one of the millions of Americans who watched this week’s eclipse and wondered what other cool things there might be to see in the sky, this guide is for you. Whether you want to spy on distant planets, supernovae, constellations, galaxies, or visit the International Space Station, astronomy can be a lifelong passion that requires nothing more than a little knowledge and a little equipment. began.

Find out what you see when you look at the sky

What separates astronomy from simply craning your neck upward is understanding what you see, so learning is an important part of getting started. Here are the first steps to gaining practical knowledge about the observable space.

Books : There are libraries full of textbooks and popular publications on astronomy, but a good starting point is The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide by Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer. An essential guide for generations of amateur astronomers, this book is useful for the beginner but will likely remain useful throughout your life.

Planisphere : There’s something really cool about using an instrument that hasn’t changed much since 1624 , so if you’re looking to bring an analog style to your stargazing operations, the planisphere is the right choice. A planisphere is just two disks of cardboard or plastic held together with a pin, but it can detect any visible star. You can buy it for a very small amount or make it yourself by printing out the discs you need.

Apps : I admit, I like the idea of ​​using a planisphere, but in practice I’m hopeless with charts and maps, so I use an app. There are many astronomy apps out there, each with a different focus or function, but for beginners , Star Walk 2 is a great choice. Available on iPhone and Android , Star Walk 2 is free with ads, the full version costs $5.99, and its database contains more than 200,000 stars, eight planets, 27 asteroids and comets, and 10,000 satellites—virtually everything there is on sky. Using it couldn’t be easier: you point your phone at the sky and it tells you what you see.

Necessary equipment for a beginner astronomer

Find a good spot for stargazing

Finding a good place to crane your neck upward is the first step in the astronomy game. Here’s what to look for in a stargazing spot:

Distance from cities . Unless you’re doing daytime astronomy (more on that below) or looking at the moon (ditto), the best place to do astronomy is as dark as possible, so find as dark a place as possible. To find the darkest places near your home, use this interactive light pollution map . Enter your zip code and check the Bortle number for nearby locations. The lower it is, the better. However, don’t be discouraged if there is no darkness around you. You can see a lot of interesting things in the sky from anywhere.

Be mindful of the moon : The moon’s reflected light can outshine many stars and planets, so be aware of the phase of the moon and plan to spend some time during the new moon for best results. Unless, of course, you want to look at the moon.

Terrain : Higher elevations tend to be better because they are often above atmospheric interference. Open areas are also good because they offer unobstructed views. I like beaches because night beaches are the best.

Safety: Light pollution accumulates, so you don’t need to look for a place without light, as far away from the city as possible. This means that lighted parking lots, perhaps with restrooms, can provide a safer and more comfortable “base” for a stargazing expedition.

For more information on how to find the perfect stargazing spot, check out this article.

(Optional) Take binoculars…

There’s a lot you can see in the sky with the naked eye, so you don’t need binoculars to get started, but just about any binoculars will improve the situation somewhat, so if you have some old binoculars in the basement, blow off the dust. them and give them a chance.

If you wish, you can also buy binoculars relatively inexpensively. For astronomy, look for large front lenses and high optical quality. Binocular prices range from tens of thousands of dollars to less than ten dollars, but a fairly effective pair of binoculars for a beginner can cost between $200 and $300. This Celestron TrailSeeker is a good example. It is recommended by Space.com and Amazon customers, who rate it 4.5 stars.

…but don’t grab your telescope just yet.

You may associate the entire astronomy hobby with telescopes, but you don’t actually need one to do it. Telescopes are specialized instruments that have many disadvantages for the beginner. Unlike your eyes and binoculars, they have a very narrow field of view, making it difficult to focus on what you want to see if you don’t know what you’re doing. Telescopes are also large and bulky—not the kind of thing you can sling around your neck and easily head to the park. However, first of all, buying a telescope as a beginner will most likely result in you later finding out that you bought the wrong telescope, so I would not recommend buying a telescope until you understand why you need it and what you need it for .

Don’t neglect the moon

Avoiding moonlight is a good idea if you’re interested in observing the stars and planets, but the Moon itself is a fascinating subject for astronomy. Looking at the Moon with decent binoculars with a magnification of about 10, you can see a whole world there. You will see craters, mountains and large lunar planes. If you look at the Moon when it is in any phase other than full, look for long shadows near where the light turns dark to see dramatic contrasts in the lunar topography. This is very cool.

You can practice astronomy during the daytime

Like drinking, stargazing usually occurs at night, but daytime drinking and daytime astronomy both provide unique pleasures. Here are some interesting space things to see while it’s dark:

Sun. There are many interesting things to see in the sun, but safety is the most important thing here. You can’t look directly at the sun or you’ll damage your eyes, and you also can’t safely look at the sun through binoculars or a telescope without a filter. But if you have kept your solar eclipse glasses, you can look at the sun without any problem. (But don’t look through binoculars or a telescope pointed at the Sun, even if you wear eclipse glasses.) You might also consider a pair of “soloculars,” binoculars designed for viewing the Sun, such as Celestron’s EclipSmart Safe Solar. Eclipse binoculars with permanent filtering lenses. If you feel like making something yourself, you can make a solar projector . With the right filters, you can look at the Sun and see sunspots, Venus and Mercury passing in front of the Sun (though this doesn’t happen often), the photosphere, and the chromosphere.

Moon: The Moon is not visible all the time—half the time it is below the horizon—but the moon is visible during the day about 25 days a month, about six hours a day. Find it and check it during the day.

Venus : It is difficult to spot, but under the right conditions you can see Venus during the day, especially before sunset and sunrise. Conditions will be good for viewing Venus in the evening sky in 2024 from October 5 to December 31. You’ll also be able to see daytime images of Mars and Jupiter, but they’re much dimmer and will likely require a telescope.

International Space Station : Check out NASA’s ISS detection tool and see when it will appear near you. It is best seen at night with binoculars, but daytime observations are also possible.

Comets and meteors. Both comets and meteors can be bright enough to be seen during daylight hours.

Chat with other astronomers in your backyard

As you immerse yourself in the heavenly skies, you may want to meet people with similar interests. There’s probably a stargazing group near you, and they’re mostly friendly people who welcome newcomers. They may invite you to a star party or an informal sidewalk viewing event, giving you the opportunity to learn a lot and look at celestial objects through telescopes you could never afford. Browse Sky and Telescopes listings and search Facebook to see where local stargazers hang out.

Plan to see some of the notable astrological events of 2024.

The biggest astronomical event of 2024 was obviously the eclipse, but that’s not all there is to see in the skies. There are meteor showers, lunar eclipses, rocket launches and much more. Check out Lifehacker’s 2024 Big Sky Show Schedule .

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