Fundamentals of Stargazing is a year-long course on hands-on stargazing over the course of a year. It is organized into monthly sections for each of 12 months from March 2020 through February 2021. Each monthly instalment of the course includes six sections:
- Sky Tours (Northern Hemisphere)
- Sky Tours (Southern Hemisphere)
- Solar System Observing (Planets, the Moon, the Sun, meteors, comets, etc.)
- Deep-Sky tours of galaxies, nebulae, star clusters and other fascinating sights beyond the solar system
- Solar System Observing (Planets, the Moon, the Sun, meteors, comets, etc.)
- Stargazing Tools (Visual observing tips, binoculars, telescopes, mounts, filters, and imaging basics)
- Science (Sky layout and motion, how stars work and evolve, nebulae, galaxies, etc.)
The main course Table of Contents page is at this link (you might want to bookmark it).
You can access the course material with an internet connection on any computer, tablet, or smartphone. And you can download the course notes and audio to your devices to access offline.
If you are learning the sky for the first time, or if you need a quick refresher, you may wish to begin with these lessons:
- Visual observing basics (part of Month 1)
- Sky Tours for March (North or South)
- Layout of the Night Sky (part of Month 1)
- Motion of the Night Sky (part of Month 2)
All 12 months of the course are now posted. So if you’re in a hurry, you can finish all 12 months of the course (72 lessons in all) quite quickly.
Another Resource to Consider
While Fundamentals of Stargazing has all you need to become an expert stargazer, you will benefit from a very useful software tool: Stellarium. Stellarium is a virtual planetarium, a computer program or app that gives you a realistic and detailed view of the night sky. You can use it to follow along as you read the Sky Tours and the Deep-Sky tours of Fundamentals of Stargazing. It is a worthy substitute for the real sky when you are unable to go outside or when you are besotted with clouds. Stellarium works on Mac and PC as well as many tablets and smartphones. It is completely free of charge to download to computers and it is available at www.stellarium.org. There are also Stellarium apps for phones and tablets available for a modest cost of a few dollars.
Email Reminders and Where to Ask for Help
As part of the course, you will also receive monthly email reminders of what to see in the sky, as well as updates on any new course material posted.
And if you have questions, send them right to [email protected] and I will help you get sorted out!