Below is a list of topics you may find helpful in Amateur Astronomy.

Since the very first humans walked upon the Earth we have gazed upon the night sky in wonder and awe.........which carries through today. City & town dwellers upon seeing a truly dark sky are really taken aback by the vast number of stars and the beauty of the night sky.

To jump to a topic click on a link below.

•  Choosing an observing site.

•  Personal Comfort.

•  Observing the Sun

•  Observing the Moon.

•  Observing the Planets.

•  Observing the Deep Sky.

Lets forget about the equipment that is to be used by the observer for now, this page aims to give simple advice on the actual observing itself.

•  Dark Skies: First thing is to select an appropriate site to observe from. The general rule in this is that the darker the site the better. When the eyes are unaffected by stray light they can observe fainter objects than eyes that are impeded by light pollution. The Sky also benefits immensely from dark conditions with many more stars being visible from dark skies than light polluted skies. The faintest stars seen from truly dark skies can be at least 2 magnitudes fainter then moderate light polluted sites! A truly dark sky as to be at least 60 miles from any light pollution and with a country our size and with our population this is not an easy find! If like most amateur astronomers travelling is not an option then there are things that can be done to minimise its affect. Observing in the shadow of a building can help greatly. As long as direct light is not visible then the difference can be quite marked. A solution i employed for many years and to which I swear by today is to erect screens to block off neighbours lights. I simply used two wooden poles with old blankets nailed between them and attached them to a fence to block the intrusive stray light. I used several of these wherever light was a problem. the difference was quite astonishing and the results were a much darker area to observe in. See fig 1 below.

•  Personal Comfort: Even after a hot summers day the temperature outside can become quite low at night so you must dress accordingly when observing. This obviously becomes more of a necessity on the cold nights of winter. Dress sensibly and try to wear many layers of clothing rather than one thick item. The heat will find it more difficult to escape from your body if it as to fight its way though numerous layers rather than just one. A hat is also essential as most of the heat lost by the body is from the head so a nice warm woolly hat is highly desirable. Gloves are sometimes needed too but choose the right pair as handling small objects like eyepieces etc can be quite tricky whilst wearing gloves. Many camping shops sell such things as hand warmers which I like to use. These keep warm for hours and help stop your fingers becoming numb! They also can quickly dry up a dewed eyepiece too, just pop it in the pocket the hand warmer is kept and hey-presto your eyepiece is ok in a matter of seconds! I also like to have at hand a hot flask of coffee with me especially if I'm planning on observing for a few hours. Not only does it warm you up nicely it can also improve your concentration as coffee is a good source of caffeine which helps stimulate the brain.

    Now we've sorted out how to dress and help fight against light pollution lets have a look at some tips on being at the eyepiece.

•  Observing the Sun: First of all never attempt to view the sun directly either with the naked eye or any unaided equipment. Irreparable damage will be caused to your eye. There are several ways you can observe the Sun, and sunspots, for yourself. The easiest and safest is to project the Sun by building your own pinhole camera. Or, if you have your own telescope, you will need to obtain a solar filter. There are even some solar telescopes online, which you can access via the web to observe the Sun.

  First method is using the pinhole method. You can easily and safely observe the Sun by projecting it through a tiny hole onto a white sheet of paper. This simple device is called a "pinhole camera". You'll need:
  
  2 sheets of stiff white paper
  A pin
  A sunny day
  
  With the pin, punch a hole in the centre of one of your pieces of paper. Go outside, hold the paper up and aim the hole at the Sun. (Don't look at the Sun either through the hole or in any other way! ) Now, find the image of the Sun which comes through the hole. Move your other piece of paper back and forth until the image rests on the paper and is in focus (i.e. has a nice, sharp edge). What you are seeing is not just a dot of light coming through the hole, but an actual image of the Sun. .

  Next method is projection. Point a telescope or binoculars at the Sun. Do not attempt to view the Sun directly through the telescope or the binoculars! In the case of a telescope, make sure that any small finder telescope is capped, and keep the cover on one half of the binoculars. The easiest way to find the Sun is tilt your instrument to get the smallest shadow.
  Hold a piece of white card about 15 cm behind the eyepiece to act as a screen on which you can catch the image. You should see a bright circle of light, probably blurred, on the screen. Focus the instrument until the circle is sharp. This is the disc of the Sun itself. Once the Sun is in focus, detail such as faculae and/or sunspots should be visible.
  Experiment with moving the card closer and further away, to get a larger image, but don't sacrifice image clarity with image size.
  Try mounting the binoculars or telescope firmly on a tripod. The advantage of this type of projection is that several people can see the image at once. Eclipses can easily be seen via this method.

  Using a solar filter: Unlike "white light" observations of the sun, observing the chromosphere requires a very narrow bandwidth filter centred on the Hydrogen Alpha spectral line, which not only reduces the intensity of the sunlight to a safe level, but eliminates much of the photosphere's light in the image. With these special filters you can observe the sun directly through the telescope. A simple filter is just a piece of mylar placed in front of the telescope lens/mirror. A more expensive way is via a filter. these let you see the sun in different wave lengths of light, making things such as flares and prominences visible. I've looked through our clubs solar scope fitted with a Coronado filter and the views are awesome!!!
   

•  Observing the Moon:

  Lunar Phases
  First quarter	Full	Last Quarter	New Moon

  Good views of the moon can be obtained with binoculars but obviously telescopes are preferred. The best time to view the moon is when it is at either first quarter or last quarter. This is because the sun is at right angles to the moon and cast shadows across the moons surface making features such as the craters stand out more prominently then if the moon was full and the sun was shining head on to the moon. You may finf that sometimes the Moon is just too bright so here a Neutral Density Filter should be used. Drawing the many features such as craters and mountains will help sharpen the eye and also give you as permanent record of your observations. Try it, it's fun!

   

•  Observing the Planets.     Telescopes are essential for seeing the discs or detail on planets. Binoculars do not have the resolving power of scopes. Although, you can see the moons of Jupiter with a moderate pair of binoculars, and sometimes the phase of Venus. The minimum size of scope to make useful observations of the planets is 3 inch for refractors and 6 inch for reflectors. Dark skies are not a necessity when observing the planets (unless your looking for mag +14 Pluto!). Try though to let your scope reach the temperature of the outside air before observing. This will eliminate tube currents and make the image much steadier in the eyepiece. Also  try to observe away from buildings because these are notorious for heating up in the daytime and then when the sun goes down, releasing this warm air in the night. If you try to observe a planet above this rising warm air the image will "shimmer" and focusing will be difficult. Of all the planets only Jupiter, Mars and Saturn will show any detail on the disc. Mercury and Venus will show phases like the moon. Mars reveals at its best some stunning detail including dust storms and polar ice caps. Jupiter and Saturn show terrific detail, especially Jupiter which as a ever changing cloud systems + the four main Galilean moons. Saturn has its magnificent ring system which many observers admit to being their favourite night sky object. Uranus and Neptune will show small blue/green discs. Pluto just appears as a faint background star which will reveal itself by its movement against the stars.

•  Observing the Deep Sky:

  
  Here are some simple tips to see deep sky objects.

   

  • Try to use low power eyepieces first to find objects. If you're in the right place and don't see anything try higher magnification. This can help you see fainter objects then low powers.
  • Keep observing. You will get better with practice. Your brain learns to see more as you do more observing.
  • Try to observe in a comfortable position. It really helps if you aren't straining when you are trying to observe.
  • Try looking a little off to the side of the object. This is called "averted vision" and really works! Sometimes the eye is more sensitive if you look off centre at an object.
  • Try moving the scope slightly so that the image will move a little in the field. Your eye is especially sensitive to movement.
  • When looking at certain nebulae/ galaxies try using narrow band filters. I have an Oxygen III filter and the views of Planetary Nebulae and The Veil Nebula are spectacular!!
  • Some nights are better than others. Seeing and transparency can change a lot even on the same night. Sometimes after rainfall skies can be "swept" clean of dust etc and the seeing can greatly improve.

  Mike Hodgson.