Stargazing For Beginners Is Often Very Frustrating.
Of all the pages on this site, this one
is the most important.
Stargazing For Beginners Is Often Very Frustrating.
Backyard astronomers of all ages, kids, teens,and adults
often experience disappointment and anger because of
too high expectations.
Going online or viewing pictures on tv or in magazines
leads people to expect the same spectacular sights.
You will not, in general, see the wonderful
images that you see in the magazines.
Most of the photos in books are taken with extremely
large telescopes from space or observatories
with high-tech specialized cameras.
They are often filtered and sometimes color adjusted
to make them more appealing or to highlight certain
details.
There are wonderous sights to see but try to have
realistic expectations of what you can and will
see when looking through the viewfinder.
Keep in mind also that your viewing conditions
will also determine how much you'll be able to see.
Clear, dark, moonless nights are obviously best.
Those in cities for instance will have to deal
with much light pollution, smog, haze, and
even finding a safe viewing area.
Stars And Constellations
Stars will mostly be blobs or with better optics,
points of light.
With good binoculars or telescopes you can see
some colors of stars and can even split binary
pairs into separate stars.
Constellations are better viewed without aid
or with wide-view binoculars, to enable you
to see the whole picture.
Planets
Planets tend to be very
bright as they reflect the light of the sun.
Without viewing aids planets look like bright stars.
In binoculars or telescopes you may be able to
see the actual disk shape.
Depending on conditions and what type of optics you're
using you can see the rings of
Saturn
and maybe even some moons.
Jupiter
and its four major moons are visible.
Just remember that it's best to learn the
sky first. Go out, look up and experience
backyard sky gazing.
Use your eyes and
star charts
and learn
what you're looking at so you know what
to look for.
Keep expectations realistic and reasonable
for your level of experience. This is
especially true for younger children.
They can learn about and enjoy the stars
too.
Is stargazing for beginners? Sure it is.
Just make sure everyone understands
what there is to see and what can be
seen.
When the time comes, check out:
binocular astronomy for beginners
telescope astronomy for beginners
For another perspective on backyard stargazing visit the
amateur astronomy guide
stargazing for beginners to constellations and backyard stargazing home