The night sky can be enjoyed with just a pair of binoculars or even the naked eye.
You have to let your eyes ajust to the darkness before you can see the fainter stars.
A star chart or a planesphere will help to pick out the constellations so you can find your way around the sky.
Constellations are groups of stars that form pictures in the sky.
Constellations are always visible at the same time of year. They are formed by random groups of stars
in the sky at different distances from the Earth. Even though all stars are moving through space,
they are so far away that they seem to stay in the same place, so the pictures we see always stay the same.
They appear to move in a clockwise direction because of the Earth's rotation.
There are 88 constellations but the main ones to try and spot are listed below.
Winter ... Auriga, Canis Major, Gemini, Orion
Spring ... Bootes, Leo, Ursa Major
Summer ... Aquila, Cygnus, Lyra, Sagittarius, Scorpius
Autumn ... Capricorn, Cassiopeia, Pegasus, Perseus, Taurus
An explanation and drawings of the constellations are here.
My favourite constellation and an easy one to identify, is Orion, the archer, its main 7 stars look to me like a bowtie!
Two of the brightest stars lie at opposite corners of the rectangle: bright red Betelgeuse at the northeastern corner
and even brighter Rigel at the southwest.
Near the center of the rectangle, see the short diagonal line of three stars — Orion's belt.
And extending south from the belt, you'll see another, fainter line of stars that forms Orion's sword.
One of the objects, (centre) in Orion's sword isn't a star at all. It's a nebula —
a cloud of gas and dust. Hot young stars inside the nebula pump energy into its gas, causing the gas to glow. This a
lovely sight with a pair of binoculars and an even lovelier sight with a telescope.
Some Objects to see with binoculars
First visit http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance,
On this website, you will be able to download their "Getting started in astronomy" booklet which also has bi-monthly star maps.
And/or visit http://www.stellarium.org/ and download the open source program, Stellarium.
It is a planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.
| Object
|
Type
|
Constellation
|
| M31
|
Galaxy
|
Andromeda
|
| Hyades
|
Cluster
|
Taurus
|
| Alpha Persei Association
|
Cluster
|
Perseus
|
| M42
|
Nebula
|
Orion
|
| Betelgeuse
|
Star
|
Orion
|
| M41
|
Cluster
|
Canis Major
|
| M35- Little Beehive
|
Open Cluster
|
Gemini
|
| M45 - Pleiades
|
Open Cluster
|
Taurus
|
| Gamma Lepris
|
Double star
|
Lepus
|
| Moon
|
moon
|
cycles.. moonphase dates
|
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