Picking up a telescope

https://www.astronomics.com/how-to-pick-a-telescope_t.aspx

Greetings, Presented for your edification and enjoyment are the following tips that may provide some assistance to those who are just starting out in amateur astronomy.

Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe by Terence Dickinson is considered by many to be
the single best book for novice amateur astronomers. As far as other beginning observing guides are concerned, I highly recommend Phillip S. Harrington's Star Watch: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Finding, Observing, and Learning About over 125 Celestial Objects and Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to See in a Small Telescope--and How to Find Them by Dan M. Davis and Guy Consolmagno. One of the finest books, in my opinion, on learning how to star-hop is Alan MacRobert's Star-Hopping for Backyard Astronomers, which, unfortunately, is no longer in print. http://www.fireflybooks.com/bookdeta...=9781554071470 http://www.philharrington.net/swtch.htm http://www.cambridge.org/gb/knowledg...e_locale=en_GB http://www.amazon.com/Star-Hopping-Backyard-Astronomers-Alan-MacRobert/dp/093... At a more advanced level, The Backyard Astronomer's Guide by Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer is an excellent guide to astronomy and amateur astronomy. Another very good, yet inexpensive, source of general information is A Field Guide to the Stars and Planets (Peterson Field Guides) by Jay M. Pasachoff. http://www.backyardastronomy.com/Backyard_Astronomy/Backyard_Astronomers_Guid... http://www.hmhbooks.com/hmh/site/hmh...=9780395934319 As far as books on astronomy gear are concerned, look no further than Phil Harrington's excellent Star Ware: The Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Choosing, Buying, and Using Telescopes and Accessories . Astronomy Hacks by Robert Thompson and Barbara Thompson is another highly-recommended book full of great tips on equipment and the art of observing. http://www.philharrington.net/sw2.htm http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596100605.do Information on planispheres, or star wheels, which portray the locations of the constellations and bright stars at a given time and date, is posted at http://www.skymaps.com/store/cat04.html and http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto...g/3303986.html An online planisphere is available at http://www.topastronomer.com/StarCha...anisphere.aspx

Weekly updates on astronomical events are available at these sites: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/videos/skyweek/ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance http://stardate.org/nightsky Browse here or here for a free monthly star chart. There's a video on how to read a simple star chart at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTO11vNMRJg

An informative video discussing astronomical objects worthy of observing each month can be found at http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/tonights_sky/ The major planets all orbit close to the ecliptic, the plane of the solar system. Their positions and that of the dwarf planet Pluto can be ascertained by consulting http://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/ Useful information on observing some of the planets and their satellites is available at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/obser...cts/javascript and a solar system simulator at http://space.jpl.nasa.gov/ Recognition quizzes on some of the major constellations can be found at the following URLs: http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/astro/constellations/ http://www.uni.edu/morgans/astro/cou...ava/index.html http://www.mhhe.com/physsci/astronomy/arny_3e_update/constellation_quiz/index... A rudimentary tutorial on star-hopping from Ursa Major and Orion is posted at http://www.astrocentral.co.uk/starting.html Click on http://www.robhawley.net/sh101/index.htm for an excellent video tutorial on the technique of star-hopping. Some excellent seasonal star-hops are presented at http://www.rocketmime.com/astronomy/index.html Active observers will eventually need a good beginning star atlas in order to locate various stars and deep-sky objects or DSOs. Paper star atlases run the gamut from the simple and inexpensive to the complex and costly. Here are a few to consider: Orion's DeepMap 600, Norton's Star Atlas and Reference Handbook, 20th Edition by Ian Ridpath (Editor), The Edmund Mag 6 Star Atlas by Terence Dickinson, Sky & Telescope's Pocket Sky Atlas by Roger W. Sinnott, The Bright Star Atlas 2000.0 by Wil Tirion and Roger W. Sinnott, and The Cambridge Star Atlas by Wil Tirion. The Sky Atlas 2000.0 by Wil Tirion is a more advanced and expensive atlas. The two volume Uranometria 2000.0 goes even "deeper" in stellar magnitude and displays the positions of a greater number of deep-sky objects. http://www.telescope.com/Accessories/Astronomical-Maps-Charts/Orion-DeepMap-6... http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/astronomics/category... http://www.scientificsonline.com/edm...tar-atlas.html

http://www.shopatsky.com/product/Poc...as/sky-atlases http://www.willbell.com/atlas/atlas1.htm http://www.amazon.com/The-Cambridge-Star-Atlas-Tirion/dp/B0073JWOXW/ref=sr_1_... http://www.shopatsky.com/product/Sky...ed/sky-atlases http://www.willbell.com/atlas/atlas4.htm Finder charts for various deep-sky objects can be found at http://astronomylogs.com/pages/finderchart.html Videos by professional astronomers on the Messier objects and other astronomical topics can be seen at http://www.deepskyvideos.com/ The Telrad is a very handy 1x (non-magnifying) reflex sight finder. Telrad finder charts for the Messier objects are posted at these web sites: http://www.atmob.org/library/member/skymaps_jsmall.html http://www.solarius.net/Pages/Articl...essier_finders http://www.astro-tom.com/messier/mes...ssier_maps.htm http://www.utahskies.org/deepsky/mes...dFrameSet.html Binoculars are a great way to get started in amateur astronomy. Binocular astronomy is rather easy to carry out and is also a lot of fun. Binoculars are relatively inexpensive and are eminently portable. Employing both eyes simultaneously definitely adds to the visual experience. Binoculars are ideal for showing the "big picture". These instruments can readily display objects that are too large to fit into the fields of view of most telescopes. In addition, binoculars can often be useful in "surveying" the area where an object is located prior to conducting a telescopic star-hop. A surprising number of celestial objects, including many binary stars, open and globular star clusters, nebulae, and some of the brighter galaxies, can be detected with binoculars. Scanning through the heart of the Milky Way with a binocular from a dark site is a very memorable experience. I recommend purchasing a 10x50 (i.e., 10 power and 50mm aperture) binocular for astronomical use. A 10x50 binocular is usually not overly heavy for most people to hand-hold and provides a 5mm exit pupil that will be appropriate for most observers when age and observing site darkness are taken into account. People who must wear eyeglasses while observing may want to look for a binocular with at least 14mm of eye relief. Browse http://kingston.rasc.ca/Library/rasc-binoculars.pdf and http://binocularsky.com/binoc_basics.php for tips on choosing binoculars. There's more on binocular performance at http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astr...werbinocs.html A chart showing the effects of magnification and aperture on binocular performance is posted at http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astr...ges/pabin2.gif

A three part evaluation of three different binocular apertures can be found at the following URLs: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...e/7151386.html http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...e/7172141.html http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu...e/7272326.html In my opinion, the best binocular observing guides available are Touring the Universe through Binoculars by Phil Harrington, Binocular Astronomy by Graig Crossen & Wil Tirion, Binocular Highlights: 99 Celestial Sights for Binocular Users by Gary Seronik, and Observing the Night Sky with Binoculars by Stephen O'Meara. http://www.philharrington.net/sw8.htm http://www.willbell.com/handbook/HAND2.htm http://www.shopatsky.com/product/Bin...ghlights/books http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogu...=9780521721707 Phil Harrington discusses various targets monthly in his Cloudy Nights Binocular Universe column at http://cloudynights.com/category.php?category_id=182 and in a quarterly column in Astronomy. He offers an excellent freeware planetarium program known as TUBA (Touring the Universe through Binoculars Atlas), which also includes information on purchasing binoculars, at http://www.philharrington.net/tuba.htm A number of articles on observing with binoculars are posted at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/commu.../86589452.html Tips on binocular astronomy are available at the following sites: http://binocularsky.com/ http://www.stargazing.net/david/binoculars/ http://www.skynewsmagazine.com/pages/binoculars.html A video on observing with binoculars is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAnAZz-ZPJ0

This website discusses a number of deep-sky objects that can be seen through binoculars. See http://astrogeek.wordpress.com/2007/...cular-objects/ for a long list of binocular targets. Other lists include the ones at http://www.starman.co.uk/book/database/database.html and http://www.deepsky.info/other/Binocular%20Targets.PDF. A few more good objects are mentioned at http://www.backyard-astro.com/deepsky/bino/homeb.html My monthly lists of binocular deep-sky objects are posted at http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/forums/t/48393.aspx

A list of binocular objects is included with each monthly Evening Sky Map at http://skymaps.com/downloads.html The Astronomical League's Binocular Messier, Deep Sky Binocular, and Southern Sky Binocular lists include many of the best binocular deep-sky objects: http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu.../binomesb.html http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu...c/dsbnlist.htm http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu.../ssbinoc1.html Sketches of a number of deep-sky objects as seen through binoculars can be found at http://rodelaet.xtreemhost.com/binocular_astronomy.html Mounting a binocular on a tripod, or better still, a dedicated binocular mount (guider) will improve views markedly. An informative pdf on binocular mounts is posted at http://www.cloudynights.com/documents/thoughts.pdf The vast majority of deep-sky objects visible in amateur telescopes are quite faint and are best seen from a dark location. However, there are a number of DSOs that can be seen by urban observers. For further information on urban astronomy, see my post at http://cs.astronomy.com/asycs/forums...07.aspx#487707 A wealth of good astronomy freeware is listed here and here. Stellarium, Celestia, and Cartes du Ciel are all fine freeware planetarium programs. There are also many excellent commercial programs available, including MegaStar, SkyMap, Sky Tools, Starry Night, and TheSky. These online planetarium programs may prove useful: http://www.sky-map.org/ http://www.skymaponline.net/ http://neave.com/planetarium/ http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/ http://www.shallowsky.com/sky.html http://www.skyviewcafe.com/skyview.php http://staratlas.com/index.html#topofpage http://www.astronomy.com/stardome.aspx

http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp http://skychart.skyandtelescope.com/skychart.php http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1052 http://www.geocities.jp/toshimi_taki...5/atlas_85.htm http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/e...y-tonight.html http://www.heavens-above.com/skychart.aspx?SL=1&SN=1&lat=0&lng=0&... The following web sites contain worthwhile information on many different aspects of astronomy and amateur astronomy: http://www.astronomy.com/en/News-Obs...tro%20Sky.aspx http://astronomy.com/en/News-Observing/News.aspx http://www.skyandtelescope.com/letsgo http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/visualobserving http://www.ovas.org/alinks.htm http://www.hobbyspace.com/Astronomy/index.html http://www.enchantedlearning.com/sub...nomy/glossary/ http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/tv/guides...star_guide.pdf http://www.astromax.org/astrocourse/history.htm http://www.daviddarling.info/index.html http://nineplanets.org/ http://stardate.org/radio http://stardate.org/astro-guide http://earthsky.org/tonight

http://www.calsky.com/ http://www.space.com/ http://www.oneminuteastronomer.com/ http://www.nightskyobserver.com/the-sky-this-month/ http://www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/nightskynotes/index.php http://www.spaceweather.com/ http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ http://heavens-above.com/ http://www.observingsites.com/ http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sowlist.html http://seds.org/messier/ http://messier45.com/guide/objects.html http://www.deepskyobserving.com/index.htm http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/index.html http://www.observers.org/beginner/ http://beginnersguide.com/astronomy/ http://www.skynews.ca/pages/backyard.html http://www.astrocentral.co.uk/beginners.html http://www.gcadventure.com/cosmic-vo...beginners.html http://www.wwnorton.com/college/astr...ingscopes.html http://www.opticsplanet.net/dozen-te...ving-tips.html