Welcome to Fundamentals of Stargazing! This detailed course takes you on a tour of the night sky over a full year and gives you a grounding in the basics of how to choose and use binoculars, telescopes, and accessories. It also explains the basics of the science behind the objects you see in the night sky. The course is organized by month so you can follow the constellations, planets, and sights of the deep sky throughout the year.
Bonus ‘Mini-Courses’ – Access the notes and recordings for the bonus ‘mini courses’ on lunar observing, urban stargazing, and basic nightscape imaging.
Below you will find the main Table of Contents for the course. Click on each link to open new browser pages with the course notes, maps, and recordings.
The Science of Astronomy
These twelve sections take you through the basic science that’s relevant to backyard stargazers. In the first sections, you learn the basics of the night sky: how it’s laid out, the key points and circles around the sky that help you navigate, and how the sky appears to move from day to day and year to year. If you’re a total beginner, begin with the first two sections. You can read later sections in any order. These sections explain stars, including how they are named and the sometimes confusing ‘magnitude’ system that describes their brightness. You also learn a little scientific background behind the objects you can see in the sky including variable stars, star clusters, nebulae of various kinds, galaxies, and even quasars, the most distant object you can see with a telescope. There’s a lot going on here, so don’t be surprised if you need to read these sections more than once!
Section 1 – The Layout of the Night Sky
Section 2 – The Motion of the Night Sky
Section 3 – Star Brightness and Star Names
Section 4 – Star formation, star colors, star classification
Section 5 – How stars evolve
Section 6 – Distances to stars; motion of stars in the galaxy; double stars
Section 7 – Emission, reflection, and dark nebulae
Section 8 – Variable stars
Section 9 – Open and globular star clusters; stellar populations
Section 10 – Galaxies and galaxy classification, structure of the Milky Way
Section 11 – The cosmic distance scale; Type Ia supernovae
Section 12 – Quasars: the farthest thing you can see
Monthly Sky Tours – Northern Hemisphere
Here you get basic tours of the major stars and constellations visible from the northern hemisphere throughout the year. These tours will get you familiar with the sky and will help you prepare for further exploration of the sky with binoculars or a telescope. You can read these sections in any order. But you may wish to read through the first tour, the one for March, to get familiar with how these tours are presented. Then read a tour that’s relevant for your current time of year. And remember- each tour has associated maps that you can print out and take outside with you on your star-finding tours. The more you get outside to learn the stars for yourself, the better you will become at amateur astronomy.
Sky Tour for March (North) – Orion and region, Taurus, Canis Major, Auriga, Eridanus
Sky Tour for April (North) – Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Hydra, Lynx
Sky Tour for May (North) – Ursae Major and Minor, Bootes and region
Sky Tour for June (North) – Virgo, Corvus and Crater, Hercules, Draco
Sky Tour for July (North) – Lyra, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Scorpius
Sky Tour for August (North) – Cygnus, Aquila, Scutum, Vulpecula, Sagitta, Delphinus, Sagittarius
Sky Tour for September (North) – Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Capricornus, Lacerta
Sky Tour for October (North) – Pegasus, Aquarius, Piscis Austrinus, Sculptor
Sky Tour for November (North) – Pisces, Andromeda, Triangulum, Aries
Sky Tour for December (North) – Perseus, Cetus, Camelopardalis
Sky Tour for January (North) – Tour of the southern constellations
Sky Tour for February (North) – Orion revisited
Monthly Sky Tours – Southern Hemisphere
Here you get basic tours of the major stars and constellations visible from the southern hemisphere throughout the year. These tours will get you familiar with the sky and will help you prepare for further exploration of the sky with binoculars or a telescope. As with the sections above for the northern hemisphere, you can read these sections in any order. But you may wish to read through the first tour, the one for March, to get familiar with how these tours are presented. Then read a tour that’s relevant for your current time of year. And remember- each tour has associated maps that you can print out and take outside with you on your star-finding tours. The more you get outside to learn the stars for yourself, the better you will become at amateur astronomy.
Sky Tour for March (South) – Orion and region, Taurus, Canis Major, Auriga, Puppis, Eridanus
Sky Tour for April (South) – Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Hydra, Carina, and Vela
Sky Tour for May (South) – Bootes and region, Centaurus, Crux
Sky Tour for June (South) – Virgo, Corvus and Crater, Hercules
Sky Tour for July (South) – Lyra, Ophiuchus, Serpens, Scorpius
Sky Tour for August (South) – Cygnus, Aquila, Scutum, Vulpecula, Sagitta, Delphinus, Sagittarius
Sky Tour for September (South) – Capricornus, Pavo, Indus, Octans
Sky Tour for October (South) – Pegasus, Aquarius, Piscis Austrinus; Sculptor, Phoenix, Grus, and Tucana
Sky Tour for November (South) – Pisces, Andromeda, Triangulum, Aries
Sky Tour for December (South) – Perseus, Cetus, and the deep-southern constellations
Sky Tour for January (South) – Tour of the northern constellations
Sky Tour for February (South) – Orion revisited
Solar System Observing
These sections are detailed explanations and guides to help you see sights in our own solar system. Here you learn about all seven major planets visible in the night sky, the basics of lunar and solar observation, comets, and meteors. You learn not only about what to see, but how to see it with your unaided eye, binoculars, or a telescope.
Section 1 – A Tour of the Planet Jupiter
Section 2 – The layout of the Solar System; Retrograde Motion
Section 3 – A Tour of the Planet Mars
Section 4 – A Tour of the Planet Saturn
Section 5 – “Seas” on the Moon; lunar craters
Section 6 – Meteors, meteoroids, meteorites, meteor showers
Section 7 – Zodiacal light and Gegenschein; Lunar mountains
Section 8 – Uranus and Neptune
Section 9 – The ‘Lunar 100’
Section 10 – Venus and Mercury
Section 11 – Observing Comets
Section 12 – Solar Observation; Solar and lunar eclipses
Tools of Stargazing
You can see a lot with only your unaided eyes once you know how and where to look. But eventually, you will want to acquire tools to help you see more in the night sky. These sections help you understand how to see more with your eyes as well as how to choose binoculars, telescopes, mounts, eyepieces, and other accessories that will help you see the universe for yourself. You also get a great deal of hard-won advice on how to pick the best equipment for your own budget and interests. In terms of dollars, this is the most important section in the course.
Section 1 – Visual Observing Basics
Section 2 – Evaluating the Night Sky; Small Angles
Section 3 – Choosing and Using Binoculars
Section 4 – Telescopes for amateur astronomers
Section 5 – Telescope mounts
Section 6 – Wide-field and planetary eyepieces; light-pollution filters
Section 7 – Long-relief eyepieces; telescope resolution; dew control
Section 8 – Binoviewers, Urban observing techniques, Bortle dark-sky scale
Section 9 – Finder scopes, Barlow lenses, Clear-sky charts, the Caldwell list
Section 10 – Color filters, Moon filters, Comet filters, Solar filters (white light and H-alpha)
Section 11 – Basics of astronomical imaging
Section 12 – Introduction to deep-sky video astronomy
Deep-Sky Tours
There’s plenty to see in our own solar system, enough for a lifetime of enjoyment. But the space between the stars is amazingly transparent, which means you can see innumerable celestial objects that are hundreds and thousands (and even millions) of light years away. Here you learn how to find and see hundreds of the most beautiful and enjoyable objects each month in what stargazers call the ‘deep sky’. From stars and star clusters to nebulae and galaxies, there’s enough here to keep you happily observing at your telescope for many years.
March – Star clusters and nebulae in the March sky
April – Star clusters, nebulae, and double stars in the April sky
May – Star Clusters, galaxies, and double stars in the May sky
June – Star Clusters, galaxies, and double stars in the June sky
July – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the July sky
August – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the August sky
September – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the September sky
October – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the October sky
November – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the November sky
December – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the December sky
January – Star Clusters, galaxies, double stars, and nebulae in the January sky
February – Five ‘challenge objects’ to find in February