Have you wanted to get into amateur astronomy, but feel anxious about buying a telescope? Cheer up! You don't need a telescope to get started, just the will to begin. Let's go!

The best place to start is under the sky itself. If one of your friends is an amateur astronomer, talk to them, or look for an amateur astronomers' club or a planetarium. Most amateur astronomers' clubs welcome newcomers at "star parties", and you can get a feel for what kinds of things you'd like to do at these parties. Also, you can get a feel for how binoculars and telescopes really work. Most pictures that you see in astronomy books & in the news are the result of a lot of image processing on an image that was taken by a professional using a large telescope and a long exposure time, so it will show a lot of color and detail. For instance, this Kitt Peak Observatory picture of the Orion Nebula is a blaze of colors, but it's just a pretty little ghost of light in binoculars.

You can find out which club is closest to you by going to the website of the Astronomical League. If the local star parties all seem to be scheduled inconveniently, you can find help at a planetarium. You can find out where the nearest planetarium is at the website of the International Planetarium Society.

There are plenty of books out there that can serve as an introduction to astronomy. As the constellations change very, very slowly, even over the course of a century, there's no great need to buy the newest thing on the block. I feel that it is only fair to note that the books listed here are ones that I have read. Most of these should be available through online book stores or through AbeBooks, a firm that connects used booksellers and their customers.

Bernhard, H.J., D.A. Bennett, and H.S. Rice (eds.). Handbook of the Heavens. New York, NY: Whittlesey House, 1935.

This is sort of the granddaddy of the modern introductions to amateur astronomy. It's uncomplicated and straightforward. I purchased my copy at a tent sale in the Eighties, and I've enjoyed reading it ever since. The editors revised this book three times, twice in the Forties and then in 1950, as the New Handbook of the Heavens, through the same publisher.

 

Dickinson, T. Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe. Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books, 1998.

I have only recently gotten my hands on a copy of this book, but other amateur astronomers have recommended it highly to me. I can see why: it's very colorful, the map sections are very well laid out, and the slightly larger than usual size means that it will be easy to read when the light is dim, although the copy I have does not have pages for use when the only light is red, the preferred color for flashlights for observing, as red light doesn't destroy your night vision. I also felt that Dickinson's treatment of the Moon, one of the first and easiest targets for a newcomer to amateur astronomy, was too brief. I hope that subsequent editions of this book have dealt with this issue.

 

Ferris, T. Seeing in the Dark. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 2002.

More about amateur astronomers than about the hobby, but well worth it. The people here are professionals in all but name, and the stories of how they got there are fascinating stuff.

 

Fulton, K. The Light-Hearted Astronomer. Milwaukee, WI: AstroMedia, 1984.

I purchased this book when I started out in amateur astronomy in the Eighties. As a way to figure out where you want to go and what you want to do, it's hard to find a better book.

 

Martin, ME and DH Menzel. The Friendly Stars. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1964.

The idea behind this book is good for city people: instead of presenting the constellations in their entirety, which are often drowned out by streetlights, The Friendly Stars introduces the reader to the brightest stars first and moves along to the lesser lights of the constellations.

 

Moore, P. Naked-Eye Astronomy. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Co., 1965.

Patrick Moore is one of the great figures in amateur astronomy. After years of hard work at the eyepiece as an amateur, Mr. Moore is a recognized expert on lunar geography. He's been the host of a BBC show on astronomy, The Sky at Night, that has run for decades. He revised this book in 1985 and again in 2001 as Stargazing: Astronomy Without a Telescope, published by the Cambridge University Press.

 

Rey, HA. Find the Constellations. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1976.

Produced by the same man who brought Curious George to life. It's written for young children. He also produced an adult version, called The Stars: A New Way to See Them.

 

Schaaf, F. The Starry Room: Naked Eye Astronomy in the Intimate Universe. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2002.

 

__________. Wonders of the Sky: Observing Rainbows, Comets, Eclipses, the Stars, and Other Phenomena. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1983.

Schaaf's books are blends that mix handbook & memoir. After you read them for "just the facts", read them again for his stories!

 

Serviss, GP. Astronomy with an Opera-Glass. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Co., 1890.

 

__________. Astronomy with the Naked Eye. New York, NY: Harper and Bros., 1908.

 

__________. Pleasures of the Telescope. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Co., 1901.

During the late nineteenth century, Serviss was the science columnist for the New York Sun and a columnist for Popular Science Monthly, which later became Popular Science. He also was an early founder of American science fiction. Serviss' books are, naturally, a little dated here and there, but, for the most part, his words ring true. I found his advice on picking out secondhand pairs of binoculars to be as good today as they were when he wrote them.

Once you have started to recognize the constellations, you may want to buy a celestial globe or a planisphere. A planisphere, also known as a star-finder, is a pair of concentric discs that will display what stars are visible at a given time. However, since the discs are flat, and the sky appears to be round, the constellations will appear distorted near the rim. The globe will solve that, to a certain extent, but it is convex, while the sky is concave. Although there are programs, like Stellarium or the sky option in Google Earth, that emulate some of the functions of a planetarium on a computer, they lack the breadth of view that only a real planetarium can give. Similarly, although there are home planetarium sets, they still have to deal with the fact that most houses have more or less cubical rooms, while the sky appears to be a dome. You can normally find either a globe or a planisphere for sale at large bookstores and planetariums.

If you feel that you've gotten to enjoy stargazing, you should consider purchasing a pair of binoculars. Binoculars have a number of advantages as starter gear. Most people suggest 7x35, 8x40, or 10x50 binoculars as general purpose binoculars, which can be used not just for astronomy, but also for daytime hobbies like birdwatching. They generally have a wider field of vision than telescopes, which means that you will be able to reference what you'd see through binoculars through your experience with the night sky, instead of losing yourself in a tightly focussed maze of dim stars. Binoculars are easy to carry about. A lot of amateur astronomers who hunt for comets and minor planets use binoculars all the time, because they're always sweeping from side to side along the sky. I often use 7x21 binoculars, which are smaller, but they fit in a pouch a little larger than a cellphone. Best of all, even good binoculars can be inexpensive. I purchased used 7x35 binoculars for under thirty dollars. The 7x21 binoculars would probably cost about as much new. If you want some detailed reviews of binoculars, I suggest looking in your local library for reviews of binoculars in Consumer Reports or asking other amateur astronomers what they think of different brands.

A couple of other items can also make your stargazing more enjoyable. You might look for a camper's folding chair. Since you're going to be in one place for a while, this is a good idea. They're available at camping supply stores, sports suppliers, and all kinds of other places. The best time to get them at a bargain is in the spring and autumn. Similarly, it's worth bring along a blanket. Wrap up in it while you're in that chair, or just spread it out and lie down on a warm night. You should also bring along a flashlight, but remember to put a red candy wrapper over the lens. Red light doesn't knock out your ability to see in the dark like white light.

Astronomers must have been among the first scientists to benefit from the World Wide Web, right after the subatomic physicists, who invented hypertext in 1990. The first websites with astronomical content appeared more than ten years ago, and more sprout up all the time. These are just a few basic sites to start with:

Current Night Sky

This website is part of the much larger Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics site. It's updated on a monthly basis.

 

Deep Astronomy: Better Living Through Astronomy

Similar in tone to Fulton's The Light-Hearted Astronomer, it's a collection of light-hearted essays.

 

Guide to Backyard Astronomy

This is a collection of essays from the editors of Sky and Telescope, one of the oldest journals for amateur astronomy. Astronomy, their competitor, also has an introductory site.

 

Imagine the Universe

Put together by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, this is a combination of an astronomy newswire and a collection of easy-to-read essays by NASA scientists.

 

The Night Sky

This site is run by the Jodrell Bank Observatory, one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. It offers much of the same information as the Harvard-SAO's website, and also has links to sites on choosing binoculars and telescopes.

 

The Sky at Night

Mentioned above, this is one of the longest running shows on astronomy out there. The website includes downloadable shows, monthly star maps, and other gems.

 

The Sky This Week

This US Naval Observatory webpage mostly talks about where planets will be throughout the week, but it links to the rest of the Naval Observatory's site, which is nifty in and of itself.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Created 10/2007, revised 5/2008. All rights reserved.