Stargazing

At school we are told that long time ago, ancient people looked up in the sky and started associating patterns to mythical persons and other characters. However, you are probably intrigued with the fact that most of these constellations don't look like what they are named for (true if you have no experience, but some constellations such as Orion the Hunter, Canis Major the Dog, Scorpio the Scorpion and the Crowns - Corona Australis in the South, Corona Borealis in the North actually look like what their name tells you), which makes locating these star patterns difficult.

      

      Below are tips to help you locate these constellations, based from my experience:

Make sure you're in a dark place. Light from street lamps or other sources outshines most of the fainter stars, which makes some of constellations hard to locate.

Know the cardinal directions (North, South East and West). Knowing these directions makes everything easier, especially that star maps use these directions.

Be patient. To see some stars, you'd have to squint hard, and crane your neck in quite uncomfortable orientations.

Note the brightest stars in the constellations to make locating them easier next time. For example, Antares, the red giant star in the constellation Scorpio, is the heart of the scorpion. Rigel is the right knee of Orion, and Betelguese is his left shoulder.

Secure star maps. Click the link at the side to download the star maps I use (http://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/ece4760/FinalProjects/s2007/iq23_tg67/iq23_tg67/starchart.pdf). Just follow the instructions. :) When using these maps while star gazing, use red light so your eyes would find it easier to adjust to the change from the dark sky to the star map.

It is also helpful to know basic degree measurements (distances in the celestial sphere, or the sky, are measured in degrees) .

Stories in the Skies

         It would also help you locate these constellations if you create mnemonics, or stories with the constellations. Here are some stories I have created to help me remember the relative locations of the constellations:

Bootes (marked by the star Arcturus) guards the Northern Crown (Corona Borealis), holding it in his left hand. Serpens the Snake tried to steal the crown from Bootes, but good thing Ophiucus was able to hold him. (The Snake's head, a triangle, is located near the crown while Ophiucus is located around the body of the snake.) Scorpio tries to help Serpens (the rear end of Serpens is parallel to Scorpio's torso) but justice wouldn't allow it (Libra the scales can be seen  near Scorpio, whose pincers are ready to grab Libra anytime). Meanwhile the Southern Crown is left unnoticed by Scorpio (the crown is directly "behind" Scorpio's lethal stinger) which leaves Sagittarius' job as it's guard easier (Sagittarius is located above the Southern Crown).

Orion the hunter is followed by his trusted hunting dog Canis Major (marked by Sirius, the brightest star) while the Lepus the rat scurries below him. Orion is hunting Taurus the Bull (it could be seen that Orion is facing the Direction of Taurus (marked by Aldebaran). Meanwhile the Twins (Gemini, marked by Castor and Pollux) lie above left Orion the Hunter.

          Aside from these stories, these "markers" will help locate other constellations:

If you could locate Orion (famous for his belt, also known as the Three Kings), then you could use the belt to locate Sirius, the Dog star (brightest star). The belt points directly due west to Sirius, which is the neck of Canis Major and points due east to Aldebaran.

The Big Dipper's side (not connected to the handle), points to the North Star, Polaris which is the tip of Little Dipper's handle.

If you imagine a hole in the Big Dipper's "bottom", then the water would fall down to Leo (seen as an inverted question mark with Regulus as the point).

Lyra (marked by Vega) is a trapezoid shaped constellation in the north, with a handle (Vega). The two stars opposite each other aligned with Vega in the trapezoid points due east towards Altair, which marks the constellation Aquila the Eagle.

Tips for First Time Stargazers

        Maybe on a clear and moonless night, you have looked out of the window or perhaps, have taken a walk outside and so to your delight the marvel of a star-studded sky. The bright ones interspersed with the faint ones, all beckoning you to know more about them, made you decide to make stargazing as your new hobby. And what good choice, for it is always free (and contrary to what you might believe, having your own telescope is not necessary, yet).

        So if you're up for it, here are some tips and ideas to keep you on the right track:

It is always good to start from the basics. As a beginner, we always start with the lowest magnification (our eyes) before we proceed to the next stages.

Know how to use star maps. These will help you familiarize the different stars and constellations in the night sky. As a start, use the SFA Star Charts available above. These are the ones I have used during my starting days, and they were a great help.

Choose a dark place to view the stars, away from artificial light. This will make the fainter stars visible.

One thing you could try to do by naked eye observations is finding the 5 planets readily visible to the naked eye (Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury). You'd be surprised how bright these "stars" could have been, you might have seen them and never thought they could be planets. Use finder charts to locate them, which are readily available in the Internet.

If you are susceptible to insomnia, or just enjoy the wee hours, there's one thing you could do to: Meteor Watching. There are specific dates for the occurrence of meteor showers, and they are surely a lovely sight.

There's another "challenge": Try to see if you could find the cloud-like outline of the Milky Way. (Clue: Look for it at the vicinity of Sagittarius to Aquila and Cygnus.)

If you have access to really dark places away from light pollution, try looking for faint fuzzy patches. Some are visible to the naked eye, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or M31, and Praesepe or Beehive Cluster at Cancer.

Be familiar with some basic astronomical terms such as declination, right ascension and the ecliptic. Read more about stars and space to supplement what you see in the night sky.

Have your own astronomy or star gazing journal to keep track of your progress.

If you have sufficiently known enough about the sky with what you could see, then you could move to the next thing: binocular stargazing!

The most favorable binoculars are the 10 x 50s, although the 7 x 35 is a good way to start, and is cheap too. Actually, these are the ones I have used to start, and they are certainly worth the price.

One challenging thing you could do with binoculars is the search for Messier objects. You could download the Magnitude 7 Star Atlas  as a guide for your search. You could also use Karkoschka's The Observer's Sky Atlas (email me for a copy) as a comprehensive guide. It contains finder charts for deep sky objects visible by the naked eye, binoculars and telescopes.

Here is another amazing experience: view some of Jupiter's Galilean moons (the Stars of Medici, if you prefer) using a pair of binoculars. Most of the times you'd see either Europa or Ganymede.