Beginner's Astronomy

[Amaris]

Hello folks, a question if you please.

I have always loved stargazing, but I have never taken the time to learn and memorize various star charts and constellations, positions of stellar bodies or anything like that. Well, this morning I was outside right before sunrise, and I saw the crescent moon and what appeared to be Jupiter nearby...or Venus...or Mars...or I don't know, so I had to go look it up. I chastised myself a bit because as someone who loves Star Trek, is absolutely fascinated by the universe, the stars and the physics surrounding it all, I don't know my star locations or designations.

So I was just wanting to know where I could begin. Where can someone who knows very little about such things start, where I can find straightforward, easily accessible answers? Keep in mind also that I live in a city where light pollution isn't just an annoyance, it's a way of life. So I can't actually see very many constellations in the night sky.


J.

 

[FemurBone]

Sky and Telescope magazine has a lot of good info.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance

Heres another cool site. It tells you the position of the planets in real time.
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/Solar

And Yes right now, Jupiter and Venus are clearly visible just before sunrise. Jupiter is higher in the sky and Venus is closer to the horizon. They are both very bright but Venus is the brightest. Mars is also visible below Venus to the left but you may need binoculars. It's only a tiny red dot right now, but early next year it will be as bright as Jupiter is now.

 

[FordSVT]

If you have Google Earth, you can also use Google Sky.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

It's funny, J, but just recently I've started to get back into Astronomy (I think it was due to some movie I saw a few times very recently...), and I'm going back through things, and just starting over again with it.

Just the other night, using a good pair of binoculars, I was able to just about make out a blurry Saturn (just off the one point of Virgo, and I didn't notice the Enterprise emerging from Titan at that point), and it was the most amazing thing I think I've ever experienced, being able to see, to some degree, another planet.

I've been getting back into it, and have increased my skywatching at night now to almost every night, just picking an area of the sky, looking with regular eyesight, then using binoculars.

The links Femur posted are good points to start, and it really is good to look the sky up online first, get an idea of what is up there before you look.

I also use this:
[FONT=MyriadPro-It]http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp
[/FONT]
It has a feature where you can plug in your zip code, then pick a direction and time. It will bring up what will be in that area at that time.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

Have you checked out Stellarium? It's a nice piece of multi-platform freeware that displays the sky as it appears in real time and from your location, and also displays some information about any object you select.

 

[Neopeius]

Don't feel bad, John. I majored in astrophysics, know a lot about how stars work and planets form, but I know a bare handful of constellations. The two aren't really related. One is science, the other is history/navigation.

 

[B.J.]

I'd have to recommend Stellarium as well. I've been in similar situations where I look up and go "what's that?", so I just boot up the computer and find it!

 

[Amaris]

Wow. Thank you guys very much.
I downloaded Stellarium and set everything up (I also downloaded every star catalogue. I'm a completist. ). I fired it up, set it for the 21st at 5:14 in the morning and lo and behold, there it was. I had spotted Venus and Mars, and off and up to the right of the moon was Jupiter (I was right on about that one), a little further and down was Fomalhaut. You have no idea how cool that was! Now all I need are a pair of strong binoculars (I live in an area where having a telescope out at 5 in the AM will get you either shot or robbed so I don't do that. People threaten me when I have a camera out taking pictures of the moon!) and I can see some of these beauties up closer.

Squee!

J.

 

[Warp Core Breach]

Another suggestion: You might try looking around and finding out if there's an astronomy club in your area.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/organizations

http://www.astronomyclubs.com/

Chances are there's one near you. Most will have star parties occasionally, where they go out to a (relatively) dark area to observe. In most cases you don't have to join or pay a fee if you don't want to, and they love showing off their telescopes and sharing information with new people.

 

[FlyingLemons]

Hello folks, a question if you please.

I have always loved stargazing, but I have never taken the time to learn and memorize various star charts and constellations, positions of stellar bodies or anything like that. Well, this morning I was outside right before sunrise, and I saw the crescent moon and what appeared to be Jupiter nearby...or Venus...or Mars...or I don't know, so I had to go look it up. I chastised myself a bit because as someone who loves Star Trek, is absolutely fascinated by the universe, the stars and the physics surrounding it all, I don't know my star locations or designations.

So I was just wanting to know where I could begin. Where can someone who knows very little about such things start, where I can find straightforward, easily accessible answers? Keep in mind also that I live in a city where light pollution isn't just an annoyance, it's a way of life. So I can't actually see very many constellations in the night sky.


J.

Ironically, although during my university days I specialised in theoretical cosmology, I'm not that hot on my astronomy, or rather where things actually are in the sky. I can tell you an awful lot of stuff about various objects, but not their names and locations as such.

However, one book that is currently helping me get used to the night sky is the Collins Need to Know book Stargazing. I've linked to the UK version, but I would imagine it's available in the US too. It starts out by introducing you to various objects in the night sky, and thus how to learn by navigating from various constellations everyone knows by sight (e.g. the Plough), and then goes on into binocular astronomy and I think it goes beyond that, although I'm not 100% sure as I haven't reached the end of the book.

It is, however, a great book which doesn't demand a huge investment in astronomical equipment from the reader. Apparently it's found under the Collins Discover imprint in the US, as well.

 

[PurpleBuddha]

Wow. Thank you guys very much.
I downloaded Stellarium and set everything up (I also downloaded every star catalogue. I'm a completist. ). I fired it up, set it for the 21st at 5:14 in the morning and lo and behold, there it was. I had spotted Venus and Mars, and off and up to the right of the moon was Jupiter (I was right on about that one), a little further and down was Fomalhaut. You have no idea how cool that was! Now all I need are a pair of strong binoculars (I live in an area where having a telescope out at 5 in the AM will get you either shot or robbed so I don't do that. People threaten me when I have a camera out taking pictures of the moon!) and I can see some of these beauties up closer.

Squee!

J.

Nice! You may well have an astronomy club in your area. If you do you could see about going out with them one night. In my experience those people are very willing to let folks who are new to the hobby peer through their scopes. Be warned though, the hobby can be addicting and eventually expensive. Though you can get by just fine for relatively little money, like anything else as time goes by you find yourself wanting more.