Beginners Guide to Astronomy

By special request I was asked by Nick to put some notes together on the various literature availble for someone "starting out" in Astronomy...

Astronomy: A Beginners Guide

Introduction: what on Earth are you trying to do?

The notes below are only my opinion- Astronomy is a BIG topic (only one of which is the study of the entire Universe) and it has many followers all with their own thoughts and ideas.

The first foot hill for any person to cross is the difference between Astronomy and Astrology. Most times it’s just a bit of confusion on the spelling (or perhaps like my Mother-In-Law I think she does it deliberately to tease me). Astrology is the belief that patterns and alignments of “Heavenly Bodies” can predict peoples lives. Astronomy is the science and study (even at a modest level) of the Universe including the stars, planets, galaxies and well… all the rest.

In my mind there are two general areas for the beginner to explore.. One I call Armchair Astronomy see later) and the other I call “hands-on” or “practical astronomy”, also sometimes called Amateur Astronomy (a somewhat outdated term these days) and even Deck Chair or Back Yard Astronomy. No matter this is simply getting outdoors and looking at the Night Sky and understanding a little of what you are looking at.

Finding A Guide to the night Sky

If you have already made it to one of the regular Astronomy Meetings then you have already started and I now assume you want to know a little more about actually pointing to objects in the night sky and perhaps saying authoratively to friends and relatives that that star is actually “Venus” . If you haven’t then we meet at Pedro Castle monthly usually a few days past the “New Moon” Check the local press for details or the website at http://caymanastronews.blogspot.com/


In terms of equipment you do not need anything other than your eyes and possibly on Cayman some anti mosquito repellant. Binoculars are useful but Id certainly not rush out and buy a telescope without taking to others and thinking carefully what you want to do and how much to spend. All you essentially need is a dim light of some kind ( preferably red) and a map or chart for that evening and latitude.

If you want to buy a book or magazine the unfortunately the choice here can be limited at times, but the best place to start is probably with one of the regular monthly magazines.

By far the best in my mind of what’s available is “Astronomy” which contains for each month a guide of where the planets are together with star charts for the month. It is a little technical but not anything as much as Sky and Telescope, which really does take itself seriously. Both Magazines have charts for Mid Latitude Observing Sites which is not quite the same as Cayman (20 degrees North) but close enough.
Another magazine “Night Sky” is sometimes available; this is aimed at the beginner in Astronomy – published by Sky and Telescope. If you are new to Astronomy and you see this- buy it!

The Web sites to both of these magazines are pretty good too.
A good “Intro to Astronomy” can be found at http://www.astronomy.com/ as well as http://www.skyandtelescope.com/howto/basics. The Sky and Telescope site also has an interactive Star Chart for your latitude and longitude so that you can print off exactly what you will see.

There are many other sites on the Internet worth looking at and playing with . eg http://www.heavens-above.com/ will give you simple maps plus predictions of when you can see satellites for example the ISS ( International Space Station)

A few books ( a personal choice) worth mentioning These have maps for the whole year and include more detail on the Moon, planets and the various “fuzzy objects” to be observed, with and without telescopes

i) “Turn Left at Orion: A Hundred Night Sky Objects to see in a Small telescope” by Huy Consolmagno. OK you need a telescope but it’s a lovely book to read . A good amount can be seen through binoculars too

ii) Anything by Wil Tiron. Wil has in my mind breathed new life into the art of drawing star charts, some of which (like road maps) can be over crowed and hard to follow. Wil’s maps seem very easy to read. At the more serious end of his work is The Cambridge Star Atlas, on my Christmas list (with many other things!)

iii) “The Stars a New way to see them” by Hans Augusto Rey. An old book with an endorsement by Einstein! But Like Wil he changed the way constellations are portrayed and make the night sky much more readable. Only eyes needed for this book and Rey has a good sense of humor.

iv) Another means to get a chart of the night sky is to get a Planisphere (see Amazon for an example) remember to get one which covers around 20 North

Finally to the Internet again for webcasts on what to see .From Miami is a series of short weekly lectures http://www.jackstargazer.com/Currentshowscripts.html. Jack is a real eccentric but what’s useful for us here is that Miami isn’t too far north so much of the latitude specific items are also true for Cayman as well.

And talking of eccentrics and being from the UK – there is of course the Sky At Night, the longest running TV Program on Astronomy on the World, hosted by Sir Patrick Moore. http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/spaceguide/skyatnight/ Past episodes are available on the Internet though of course it is based for audiences at approximately 50 degrees north


Arm Chair Astronomy

And finally Arm Chair Astronomy- useful for rainy nights or when the mosquitoes get too much to handle, I suspect anyone reading this will be doing this already- watching some of the Science Channels and Programs on TV and reading a number of books (science fiction even or perhaps some of the books and magazines already mentioned) . Arm Chair astronomy is reading about topics as diverse as Black Holes and Caves on Mars. However you will need some guidance to pick out the good from the trash (and on the Internet of Course, there’s plenty of that. http://www.badastronomy.com/ is perhaps (again) another somewhat esoteric Website for a first choice but its honest enough and clears up the truth and fiction behind all those wonderful stories like the “Lunar Landings Moon Hoax” and the “Face” on Mars.

What ever you do have fun- the NASA Channel at times is as exciting as paint drying on a solar panel array – flip to something else!! And remember watch out for the "Bad" stuff.. for example in Star Wars – spaceships do not make swishing noises!

Chris Cooke

July Viewings

Held on Tuesday 17th, 7.30 p.m. at Pedro Castle. Usually in the Summer Months many members are on vacation. However there seemed sufficent numbers this year to plan and go ahead with a meeting in July. Quite a few people turned up in the end!

The sky was partially cloudy but with good view to the South especially Scorpio, the "teapot" in Sagittarius and Centaurus. It was verm warm however and the mosquitos were busy. The sky cover was also slightly hazy However the Southern Cross was no longer visisble.

Although not quite dark at 7:30 , The Moon, Venus and Saturn ( just ) were visible in the West with Jupiter in Scorpio which was clearly seen to the South East .

Venus now has a very destinctive crescent - No Ashen light seen (!) though the Moon clearly had "the New Moon on the Old Moon's arms"

Objects seen tonight (other than the previuously mentioned Moon and Planets) were Omega Centauri,M7 ( in Scorpio), Alpha Centauri and the "Coat Hanger" in Cygnus. This is actually an asterism (ie line of sight effect) rather than a cluster of stars.

Two satellites were spotted throughout the evening

Even at 8:30 people were still turning up. A busy night!!

June Viewings

Monday 18th was a cloudy day, but the evening was clear. Four bright children,and their attendant adults, kept me busy answering their intelligent questions about the sky. We had a good view of Venus, Saturn and Jupiter, with one of the girls saying she could see the Red Spot. Quite possible, given her sharp young eyes.
The Jewel Box and the Omega Centauri cluster were still visible,and I was pleased to find the latter easily.

May Viewings

The Southern Cross, Crux, is now visible in the southern night sky. I had a wonderful view of it the Thursday before the viewing when I was out on a boat in the North Sound. The stars and planets were reflected in the still water, and I could not restrain myself from pointing out to my companions the most obvious sights. I'm not convinced that they were totally interested.
However, the four people who turned up for the viewing session, plus myself, Richard and the security guard, were all enthusiastic.
The night of Sunday 20th followed a very rainy day. To my surprise the sky was clear, and the seeing through the telescope crisp, even though the night was humid and the telescope was dripping moisture by the end of the session.
The three visible planets were the dominant objects of our attentions.
Venus showed a definite phase, Saturn was visible in all its glory, and Jupiter, when it rose, rewarded us with a view of the four Galilean moons ands the planets atmospheric bands.
Tim found the Jewel Box, NGC 4755, a globular cluster in Crux, split some stars, and later guided us to the Omega Centauri Cluster,NGC 5139, a glorious sight through our 10 inch Dobsonian.
A rewarding evening that I had not expected to happen.

April Observations 2007

Without doubt Venus has dominated the evening sky for most of this month and this was particulary so on the evening of April 19th at the Societies Meeting at Pedro Castle.

On this evening the 2 day old Moon and Venus were quite close together. Aldebaran appeared much less brighter than expected and the Plieides were even harder to pick out .

The evening was well attended with ages from 7 to 70+! Over 20 people were present at one point . A blanket also turned up but this was for lying down on rather than for warmth!

After the evening grew darker there was still a fair amount of haze which limited how faint we could see.

The Moon was a pleasent suprise in that the meeting is usually held on the 3rd day after full Moon. This time we saw three bright craters semi illuminated , particulary Vendilus which has a central elevation.

Other objects which were seen easily tonight were the Orion Nebula and of course the M41 Globular Cluster near Sirius

Saturn proved a challenge due to its very high elevation. The Societies 10 inch Donsianain struggled a little not only to keep the planet in th eyepiece but also to keep pace with the sky's movement. Nick deserves a gold star for effort in finding Saturn !

However inspite of these difficulties the queue to see the planet was very long and Saturn was to many the highlight of the evening . Two of Saturns moons were also seen

Richard pointed out the False Southern Cross, we may just see the real one next Month!

One unknown faint satellite (mag 3?) was observerd, initially overhead then fading into Earth Shadow in the West

Observations March 2007

Firstly on March 3rd was a spectacular Lunar Eclipse. The moon rose at around 6:30 PM Local time but due to the haze close to the horizon wasnt seen untill some 20 minutes later. The reason was that at moonrise the moon was in total eclipse and was dark ruddy brown in colour. At the meeting (22 March see below) there followed a discussion on how the disk became brighter at the point closest to the horizon and not as intuatively expected from the top down

On March 22nd to Meeting At Pedro Castle attacted a good crowd (20+?) all evening inspite of poor cloudy conditions at the start of the session

Observing started with the Moon and Venus, this time trying to pick out the phase of the planet which was possible using a dark blue filter. A bright meteor was spotted at around 7:30 PM heading South West and below the moon. It may have been a Leonid

As the cloud cover lifted the Orion Nebula (M42) and the M41 Globular Cluster were observed

Richards satellite predictions came up trumps when we saw a Mag -3 flash from an Iridium Satellite (Iridium 53). The flash laster for several seconds.

Saturn finally became visible, Using the Societies 8 inch scope as well as Saturns rings, several faint bands were seen on the planets disk as well

A good evening including a fine musical rendition of "Come Take a Trip On My Airship" by Charles Lindbergh Eden

Observations February 2007

This Months meeting was held on Tuesday 20th Feb 7:00-9:00 PM

The sky was about 40 perecent cloudy but cleared slowly, however the sky still remained quite hazy.
The only telescope involved tonight was the Societys 10 inch Dobsonian - a pair of binoculars were also used

Objects seen tonight were in order

A 3 day old Moon
Saturn with 4 satellite moonsOrion Nebula (M42),
M41 a nice Globular Cluster near Sirius
The Crab Nebula (M1)
Andromeda Galaxy (M31)
The Beehive Cluster (M44)
Scinitillation Of Canopus close to the Southern Horizon
and for a finale another look at the Moon

No artifical satellites were seen , most likely due to the hazy conditions.

In particular however Saturn looked spectacular, 4 Moons being clearly visible.It would be worthwhile next month to attempt to name them and possibly observe any changes between the start and the end of the evening

The most challenging object was the Crab Nebula almost directly overhead in the Sky.

We found the object by using a small personal organiser program and a set of azimuth and elevation markings which were fixed around the base of the 10 inch scope.
Once the object was found we dared not move the Scope!
The object appeared as a very small faint ellipitcal blob at 30x maginification

The Andromeda Nebulaa was quite hard to find, it was well to the West and hidden in the haze of lights from George Town. This time it was spotted ( just) in binoculars and the 10 inch scope was "steered" by following the paths of the laser pens pointed in the rough direction.

For the record the information I used to create the templates for the scope are available at http://www.startrak.co.uk/

Chris