[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How to get started in amateur astronomy?
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Ask HN: How to get started in amateur astronomy?
What kind of gear? How do you know where to look? What kind of
things can you look for? Is it possible for amateur astronomers to
find things that the pros haven't already found?Interested in all
input from all experience levels, budgets, particular interests,
etc. Thanks!
Author : furrowedbrow
Score : 15 points
Date : 2022-01-23 19:18 UTC (3 hours ago)
| loonster wrote:
| I read quite a bit on cloudy nights.[0]
|
| https://www.cloudynights.com/
| digisign wrote:
| Read, take a class at community college, and invest in a nice
| pair of large binoculars and tripod. They are more convenient
| than a telescope, cheaper when starting out. Join a local astro
| club, where you'll get to try out the "big guns" from other
| enthusiasts who can also give advice.
| pamoroso wrote:
| What kind of gear? I'd defer researching gear until you have some
| idea what celestial bodies, motions, and phenomena are in the
| sky. Which lets you figure what kind of objects you may be more
| interested in and what gear they require.
|
| What kind of things can you look for? Most classes of objects
| large telescopes can show, but you'll see them very differently
| and sometimes struggle to locate or identify them. That's why
| it's better to learn a bit of astronomy before thinking about
| gear.
|
| Is it possible for amateur astronomers to find things that the
| pros haven't already found? Absolutely, but it takes considerable
| experience with astronomy and observing techniques.
|
| My advice: just start anywhere (e.g. from books if you're a text
| person). Nothing will make sense in the beginning but,
| eventually, things will start to fall into place.
| herodotus wrote:
| I started by following the advice given in the book "Seeing in
| the dark" by Timothy Ferris. The advice was simple: on a dark
| night, look at the sky using binoculars.
| JNRowe wrote:
| Obviously dependendent on your location, but...
|
| There are loads of in-person astronomy clubs, for example there
| are three large-ish ones near me(Cambridge, UK). Many of them
| offer open nights to introduce newcomers, and they tend to be
| quite welcoming1. The open nights are a great way to get a taste
| for equipment too, as you can play with all the toys the regulars
| take along.
|
| I don't attend my local club, but the mailing list they run is an
| absolute treasure. Being local they'll often be on top of news
| for local starwatch nights, offer advice about dark sky
| locations, have used equipment for sale, etc.
|
| Other than that I agree with pamoroso, just dive in and have fun.
|
| 1 With the caveat that some of the people can be kind of quirky,
| and some can simply be snobby equipment collectors.
| themodelplumber wrote:
| Right on, I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
|
| It might help to start by ranking your interests within the
| hobby, even if they still sound a bit basic. From "I want to
| recognize the north star" to "I want to take a really huge,
| detailed photo of the moon" to "I want to explore astronomy
| software and learn the hobby from the inside out by reading help
| files."
|
| If you get a good list going, you can rank the list items by
| interest level, which is another way of weighting your entrance
| into the hobby by making sure your most-available energy is used
| to break into it, and that's generally a good idea for momentum
| as a beginner.
|
| If you keep it generally subjectively-focused like that, it's
| also really easy to make new discoveries, because you're finding
| and learning about the yet-unknown...to you.
|
| For gear, I find that I personally like to make sure I weight all
| my gear choices on the side of photography, because I really
| enjoy that aspect. It may be different for you.
|
| Software-wise I like Stellarium for my hobby use. It even has a
| script that will take you on a tour of interesting items you can
| see through binoculars.
|
| Here's another good starting resource:
|
| https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/
|
| Finally since we're on a tech site: You can learn a lot about
| space just by reviewing status screens and tech specs. Keep an
| eye on what NASA's doing, what missions are being run, and what
| kind of resources it takes.
|
| https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn
|
| Good luck & enjoy the hobby.
| trimble wrote:
| The Astromart classifieds are great for gear, and I just noticed
| they have forums also https://astromart.com/
|
| I'd also recommend looking for an astronomy club near you
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