Tips for brand new Stargazers/Astronomers
June 9th, 2008 | by Ridhima Suri |Before writing this post, I had several questions in mind. We are so busy in our lives that sometimes we have no time to even look around us and admire the beauty of our surroundings. How often do we look towards the sky and admire the moon, clouds and the stars? How often are we curious to know more about planets, galaxies and nebulae? Compare the number of times that you look at your timepiece( your wristwatch, your cellphone, your pedometer) to the number of times you look at the sky. When I started wondering on these lines, I was so red in my face. I recalled that I was always curious about cloudy skies and wanted to predict if it would rain or not when I was a little girl. I was never curious about the twinkling stars and they just meant a line of the poem “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!”
Now things have changed. I am the wife to a guy who has been very keen on star-gazing and astronomy. I thought why not give it a try. I have to share that Astronomy is a whole new world of knowledge and there is a lot to learn if you have great night vision! Following are a few tips for people who have budding interest in star gazing and these are based on my own personal experience.
- Before you take on to Astronomy, you have to realise that it is a late night project (obviously…:D). Are you the person who would want to observe the sky at night and give it all the hours it takes for a late night project ? As far as the weather conditions are concerned, it gets fairly cold depending on what site you choose to gaze at the sky.
- It is a good idea to attend a ‘star party‘ to get a feel of how things work and if you want to do commit to astronomy in future. Typically, there are a lot of Astronomers Associations and they have regular updates on when such public star parties are organized. There are events on a dark night (also called a new-Moon night). Most of these parties are organised on weekends….Trust me, looking at the Moon from one of the big telescopes is a treat for the eyes!!
- Ideally, during such star parties, there are a lot of people who are keen to introduce some basics of astronomy. They also set up their scopes and give you a chance to look at pretty objects in the sky.
- Do not be shy to ask around. People are more than eager to answer all your questions. You can politely ask,”what are you looking at?” or “Can you tell me more about constellations?”
- It is not easy to remember all that you learn in a session, so be patient and keep listening. I am able to pick up more when I listen to experts and my husband than when I am looking at sky maps!
- If this sounds like fun, buy a pair of binoculars and you are set for the next event! If that is not enough, do some homework on how the sky looks like on the day you plan to do some star-gazing, carry some print-outs and buy a sky atlas.
- If you are taking papers and atlas, it is a good idea to have your own light. There are a number of night-vision saving torches and pointing devices available which aid a star gazer.
- If you have read so far, that means you are still interested..:) There are a lot of links on our website under the section “Astronomy”.
Lastly, there is nothing like trying something new. When I first saw ‘Star Wars’, ‘Star Trek’ I re-learned terms like nebulae, galaxies (of course, I had studied them in my 4/5/6 grade textbooks and had working, cursory knowledge) but now, when I go to look at the night sky, I realize that what I knew was just an iota of the world of astronomy. So now when i go out, I again remember that poem…
twinkle twinkle little star, how i wonder what you are..up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky..twinkle twinkle little star..how i wonder what you are!!
