Most people think that to start in this hobby they need a telescope. So they
want to buy telescopes and thinking that after they have the telescopes in hand
they can start learning their way around the sky.
Well, in my opinion that's a wrong idea.
Buying a telescope first and then start learning the sky afterward, might
work for some people. But chances are you get bored with your telescope, because
it can become really frustrating trying to locate a sky object with a telescope
if you're not familiar with the sky. It's like trying to find this sign (*) in
this text using a microscope.
I know, it's a bad analogy ... but you know what I mean. You'll take out your
scope less and less, and finally you'll never touch it again.
Amateur Astronomy is, somehow, a different hobby than other hobbies that you know. For instance, if you have a hobby of collecting paintings as long as you have money you can buy any painting you like, hang it in your room and enjoy the painting. But that's not how it works in Amateur Astronomy.
In this hobby even if you have a deep pocket and can afford any kind of telescope you want, the telescope you buy will be useless if you don't know your way around the sky.
Now, I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy a telescope, I just want to warn you about what might happen to you. If it doesn't happen to you, hey that's great. And if you already own a telescope but still having a difficult time identifying a constellation or finding a certain object, don't give up! Try to go out sometimes without your scope and learn the sky.
So, what should I do?
First of all, you have to remember that to enjoy the wonders of the heavens you
don't need a telescope let alone state-of-the-art equipment, like a computerized
telescope that has a capability to go to any object in the sky by just entering
the object's coordinate into the computer. You don't need that. You can
enjoy the sky with your eyes only.
If you happen to live in a big city, where the sky is usually filled with
light pollution at night, whenever you're out of town or have a chance to get
away from city light, try to look up to the sky at night.
Step out of your cabin or the cottage you rent and look up. You'll see the sky
filled with stars. A whole lot more stars than you will ever see with naked eyes
from your backyard in the city.
Don't do anything, just look at those stars. And while you're looking, remember that those points of light are so far away from us, that it takes years, hundreds of years or even thousands of years for the light from those stars to travel before it reaches your eyes. Looking at the stars always makes me feel really small, makes me realized that we're nothing in this universe.
See how one star is brighter than the other, and how some stars seem to group together and form a certain pattern. See how the stars vary in colors. Some are white, some are blue and some are red. Do nothing, just enjoy the view. Sometimes you'll see a bright light streaking across the sky, you're right it's a meteor. When you see one don't forget to make a wish :-)
Now you can start learning the sky, familiarizing yourself with the sky,
still with your naked eyes of course.
In your first night out, you may realized that some stars seem to form certain
patterns or form. One of them might looks like a fishing hook and next to it
there's a teapot. Other stars formation looks like a kite. Those are asterism
that you see, some asterisms are named and these are called constellations.
To learn your way around the sky you need a map, just like you need one to learn your way around the city where you live. If you're going to go to a neighborhood you'd never been before, you'll need a map of that area. Without a map, you will lost. Of course if you're lost all you have to do is pull over and ask anyone on the street which direction to go, but believe me you'll get there sooner if you have a map and plan your route beforehand. Don't ask me how I know :-)
Without a map of the sky if you get lost (and you will), you'll be in a much bigger problem. You will be Lost in Space :-)
There are many sky maps available out there, but I think the first one you
should get is a planisphere. Where can you get one? Go to a bookstore or a shop
specialized in amateur astronomy or a planetarium.
In some places, like in my country Indonesia, planispheres are only available at
the planetarium. If there's a planetarium nearby, go there. The other thing why
you should go visit your local planetarium is planetarium usually has a public
library. You can become a member of the library and borrow some books on
astronomy.
Now, with a planisphere in hand go out and start learning the sky.
David Levy in his book "The Sky A User's Guide" wrote that it is
easier for a beginner to learn the sky from a city site than from a dark site
out of town.
"Hey, that contradicts what you wrote earlier!" you might say. Well,
I'm sure it does not.
In my opinion, to really appreciate the night sky a first timer needs a dark sky, therefore he or she needs to go to a dark site away from the city light pollution. From a dark site he can see more stars (and I mean MORE) than if he sees them from his backyard. The view of the sky filled with many stars seen from a dark site is really wonderful. From your backyard in the city, you can only see a small number of stars. What so great about looking at few stars from your backyard?
BUT, to learn your way around the sky (identifying constellation, or see the color differences of each star) what David Levy wrote is right. Why?
Now imagine this:
You're a newbie in amateur astronomy, and you just got yourself a
planisphere. You're really excited about learning the sky. Armed with this
planisphere you go out of town to a dark site area where you went before. You
have one goal in mind, and that is to learn the constellations pattern. At the
site that takes you a couple of hours of driving to get there, you set the
planisphere for the time of that night, you look at the planisphere and memorize
the constellation pattern there. You said to your self "Oh, this one that
looks like a kite with a tail is Orion, okay, I got it." You memorize the
pattern and look up to the sky.
"Whoa, where is it? Those stars are not on this planisphere! There
are more stars up there than drawn here." You'll be confused with what you
see.
Remember that a typical planisphere will show you stars down to 5th magnitude, while from a dark site you can see stars down to 6th magnitude. Chances are you'll get confused. There will a lot more stars visible than what can be seen from your backyard, and those "additional" stars are not charted on the planisphere.
It happened to me once. During New Year's Eve of 1995 me and the whole family
went to Bali. I didn't bring my telescope but I brought my binoculars.
One night (it was January the 2nd) I left the cottage where we stayed and walked
to Sanur Beach (the cottage was on this beach) with the binocs.
When I reached the beach I sat down and looked up. What did I see? A sky filled
with thousands of stars! It was the most beautiful scene I've ever seen.
It took me a minute to recognize Orion, and it took me more or less the same
time to recognize other constellations. I was familiar with the sky, I know and
can locate almost every constellations there, but I still got lost. So, I put my
binoculars back in its case, and laid down there on the beach just gazing at the
sky. It was a night I'll never forget.
From that experience, I believe that what David Levy wrote is true. If you
live in a city, learn the constellations from your backyard. Spend as many night
as you can to do this. But remember, you're doing it because you love it. You're
not in a Constellation-Pattern Memorizing Marathon.
Take as much time as you need to learn the sky. It doesn't matter whether you
remember all the patterns in a week, in a month or in a year. It doesn't matter
if you memorize the pattern at all. What matter is you enjoy it.
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