Litchfield Hills Amateur Astronomy Club

Litchfield Hills Amateur Astronomy Club

Beginner Resources

Club member Denis Williamson gives a well received lecture on Astronomy 101
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Getting started in Astronomy

A guide to free and paid resources on telescope selection, astronomy software, books, magazines and tutorials for beginning and intermediate astronomers.

Planetarium Software

Mac

Windows

  • Stellarium – An outstanding planetarium program for simulating the sky, it can also control a computerized telescope.  Free.
  • Cartes du Ciel – (See above)
  • Celestia – Unlike most programs, Celestia allows you to leave Earth and visit other planets (even imaginary ones).  Free.

Linux

Smartphones & Tablets

  • Sky Safari – An excellent product; available for both iPhone and Android devices.  Can control a computerized telescope.  Price depends on version ($2.99 – $39.99).
  • Celestron Sky Portal – Available for Apple and Android.  Based on Sky Safari, but with fewer features.  Designed to control Celestron computerized telescopes, but works fine without a telescope.  Free.

Tutorials & Items of interest

Websites

Books & Magazines

These are some of our favorites – there are hundreds more.  For complete beginners, we suggest The Stars – A New Way to See Them or 365 Starry Nights.  Then look into Celestial Sampler, Deep-Sky Wonders, or Turn Left at Orion.  These three are organized by season so you can find out what’s up and worth seeing.  To stay current with discoveries, space missions, and how-to articles, consider subscribing to one of the magazines described below.

  • Nightwatch – A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe, by Terence Dickinson –  this and other books are available from skymaps.com, Amazon and other sources.
  • Celestial Sampler, by Sue French – both this and Deep-Sky Wonders are devoted to particularly interesting and/or beautiful objects.
  • Deep-Sky Wonders, by Sue French
  • The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, by Terence Dickinson & Alan Dyer – covers all aspects of amateur astronomy; more detailed than Nightwatch.  Extremely comprehensive, with thorough explanations and recommendations for telescopes, eyepieces and binoculars.
  • The Stars – A New Way to See Them, by H. A. Rey – a wonderful introduction to naked-eye astronomy, by, yes, the author of the Curious George books.  Very lucid explanation of how the sky works.
  • 365 Starry Nights, by Chet Raymo – highly regarded by a couple of club members as well as Amazon reviewers.  Organized by date from January – December.
  • Turn Left at Orion – Hundreds of Night Sky Objects to See in a Home Telescope, by Guy Consolmagno & Dan Davis – covers some of the same ground as Sue French’s books and is well organized and easy to use.
  • Astronomy and Sky & Telescope  – these two glossy magazines provide current information and astronomy news.  Reflector, published quarterly by the Astronomical League, has in-depth articles on topics of interest to amateurs.  It’s included in club members’ subscriptions.

Articles & Podcasts

Choosing a telescope

Here’s some general advice on what to buy (not that you have to buy anything to enjoy astronomy) and what not to buy.  Read this section, then see the Sky & Telescope link above, then read this section again.

What to consider:
– Your location: do you live in an area with lots of light pollution?  If so, are you willing to travel to an area with darker skies?  This determines what kind of equipment you should get.
– Can you leave a telescope set up or do you need to take it outside and set it up each time you use it?
– Are you interested in learning the sky or do you prefer a telescope that can find objects by itself?
– Are you interested mainly in the Moon and planets, or in distant nebulae and galaxies?
– What about solar?  (What’s great about solar is that you observe in the daytime.)
– Interested in imaging?  (We recommend that beginners NOT get into imaging until you have a couple of years of experience.)

– And, of course, budget.  It’s a hobby, after all.

General recommendations:
– Underbuy!  Until you know what your interests and tolerance for lugging bulky gear are, don’t spend more than throw-away money.  An expensive scope that’s too large or heavy will end up in a closet after 6 months.  Buy small at first and upgrade later.  Used astronomy gear is widely available (and hard to sell).
– Allow for upgrades.  Most entry-level telescope kits include a decent main optical unit, but mediocre eyepieces.  Getting one high-quality eyepiece can make a huge difference.  (Don’t be shocked if it costs as much as the original kit.)  And you’ll want a red flashlight, sky atlas, observing chair, etc.
– Join a club if there’s one local.  You get to enjoy the results of other peoples’ money and learn what types of equipment the members find best.
– While the glossy magazines – Astronomy and Sky & Telescope – have helpful reviews, they rarely say anything negative about the products they review. We think the very best source of detailed recommendations is The Backyard Astronomer’s Guide, by Dickinson and Dyer (see above).  The most recent edition is the fourth, published in 2021.  Since the book was published Meade and Orion have gone out of business, so ignore their reviews of those brands.
– All the experts agree that the best telescope for you is the one you’ll use most often.  We’re not professionals, but that’s excellent advice.

Specifics:
– Consider starting with binoculars.  If your interest in astronomy wanes (not sorry for the pun) the binoculars are still useful for birdwatching and other pursuits.  You’ll need a tripod for binoculars larger than 10×50.
– Avoid equatorial mounts except for imaging.  (There’s a disagreement among club members on this; some say beginners need to learn how to set up and operate an equatorial mount.  Others say it just over-complicates things and recommend altitude-azimuth mounts.  (With an “Alt-Az” you just point the telescope at what you want to see.)  If you get into imaging distant objects you will need an equatorial mount.)
– Decide how much weight and bulk you want to deal with and figure out where you will store the telescope.
– As mentioned earlier, decide how much you want to do yourself and how much you want the scope to do.  Computerized scopes are extremely handy, but the extra features add weight and cost.