The normal person in the street probably believes that Amateur astronomers all have a large telescope sitting in the garden with all the technical gubbins that go along with it. That’s only true of a few of us, most amateurs use either a portable telescope, which these days massively out perform a bulky model from 30 years ago, or very commonly, just use a chair and a pair of binoculars.
If you are just starting in astronomy, don’t even go out and buy new binoculars, just use whatever you happen to have in the house. As long as they are working properly, I.E. not giving you double vision, they’ll be fine to start you off. If you are going to buy a pair then some normal 10 x 50s will help you identify features on the Moon, reveal thousands of stars in a cluster and unravel the amazing Milky Way.
What do those numbers mean? It’s simple really, the 10 is the number of times they magnify and the 50 is the size in millimetres of the main or object lenses. Magnification is far less important than you might expect, and the size of the main lenses is the important bit. If you don’t believe me, just go outside on a clear night and have a look at the Andromeda galaxy I mentioned last month, the bigger lenses will make all the difference.
So, you’ve decided to give this a try, you need to do just a little preparation before you start. Just going outside and looking up will leave you confused about just what you are looking at so it’s a good idea to have one or two things in mind that you are going to see. Obviously the Moon is a great place to start, so look at a few simple maps first and pick a few large features then find them for yourself, that’s a beginning and you’ve just become an amateur astronomer, welcome to the club.
Of course the Moon isn’t always visible so having something else to look for is a good idea. If you’re reading this in November you will have a chance to look at a constellation (pattern of stars) called Orion. It rises in the south east around 10 pm and will rise earlier and earlier as we go through winter. There is a picture of Orion alongside this article, and it’s very distinctive and easy to find. Don’t be surprised if it looks to be on its side a bit, it keeps moving as we move through the night and the year. You will be able to see the Red Giant star Betelgeuse, a star that’s likely to go boom sometime in the next thousand years. A cloudy patch near the middle that is a gas cloud called a nebula, one day that will become a star. There’s much more too.
Orion is a bit of a treasure trove for astronomers so getting to know it, is truly fascinating.
Unlike the rest of the Universe, space here is limited so you will have to wait until next month for the second part of this series. I’ll be talking some more about binoculars, and telling you how to find some more wonders of creation.
Charles Oates, Vega Baja Astronomy Group.
● To find out more about observing and astronomy why not join our group, email us at vegabaja.astronomygroup@gmail.com to find out more.
