Fundamentals of Stargazing

Sky Tours (North) – June

This month you look eastward to the large but dim constellation Virgo, below which lie the two smaller constellations Corvus and Crater. You also get a first look at the northern summer constellations Libra, Hercules, and Draco. While none of these constellations have many bright stars, they do hold a number of excellent deep-sky objects for a smal...

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Solar System Observing – Tour of the Planet Mars

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

The Red Planet made it last opposition on December 8, 2022. The planet only reaches opposition every 2 years and 50 days, so the next opposition arrives on January 15, 2025. So there is no opposition in 2023 and 2024. The planet begins 2024 small and dim in the eastern sky before sunrise, too small to reveal any detail in a telescope. But as 2024 w...

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Stargazing Tools – Telescopes

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

This month you get a practical overview of telescopes for astronomy. While every stargazer wants a good telescope, no telescope is perfect for all people and all situations. This detailed lesson shows you the pros and cons of the main types of telescope types available for amateur astronomers, and makes a few recommendations for the most typical si...

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Science of Stargazing – Star Formation and Classification

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

This month you move deeper into the science of stars. You find out how stars form and what they're made of and the basics of how they operate. Then you find out how astronomers classify stars by color, temperature, and brightness, and what this means to you as a stargazer when you actually observe stars in the night sky for yourself.
This month is ...

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Deep Sky Tours – May

Filed Under: Fundamentals of Stargazing

Needle galaxy
This month the Earth’s northern night sky points into the blackness of intergalactic space. We see a few foreground stars here from our own galaxy, but with a telescope you can see dozens or even hundreds of galaxies flecked through the constellations of April and May. You will meet a handful of the brightest and most accessible galax...

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