There is an art to observing the night sky. What is not immediately obvious is the time it takes to set up and prepare to maximise your chances of a quality experience. Binoculars are a very good start but eventually you will be drawn into telescopes. Beware, not all telescopes are born equal! There are different types. If you imagine a traditional telescope it will be a refractor. However, there are other types of telescopes which are reflectors, where light is collected by one mirror that reflects it onto a second mirror, then into an eyepiece.
If you want to observe planets, get a telescope that has a long focal length or a high focal ratio (f/10 will be stamped on it somewhere). This is called a ‘slow’ telescope. ‘Faster’ ones, better suited to fainter objects, have a lower focal ratio, eg f/5. An important first job after acquiring a telescope is to line-up your finder-scope so that it has the same view as your main telescope. This is best done during the day, by focusing on a distant object. This is really a key job and will save you a great deal of frustration later on, as trying to do this at night is ten times harder! Also choose the best nights for those very faint objects, when the Moon is not spoiling the show.
If your telescope is indoors it takes up to an hour to cool down when you take it outside. Any earlier and you may find the lens covered in mist or your view wavy from the warm air trapped inside. While that is cooling down, you will need to give your eyes a chance to adapt by using a torch with a red filter as you set things up. This may take about 20 minutes. In my opinion, at low power the best direction to view is the South because you have access to the planets. In general, don’t be tempted to use your most powerful eyepieces. Measure the diameter of the end of your telescope in mm (aperture) and don’t exceed more than double this in terms of magnification. There are many reasons for this but here are two very good ones. Unless you have paid a great deal of money for a quality telescope then the optics may not be good enough at high power. You may be able to tell its quality by seeing if the manufacturer has put a restriction (like a plate with a hole) inside the tube. If there is one there, then the quality of your optics may not be too good. Secondly, when you look through a telescope at high power it is very difficult to point it and find objects, even the biggest of objects (like the moon!). When you do have it in your sights then things very quickly drift out of view at this power.
When (not if!) you get hooked you will realise that you need to plan ahead. As your set-up becomes more complex you need to allow more time. Your tripod or mount may need to be aligned in a special way. You may need to heat your telescope to stop it freezing up. A tripod will only take you so far in this hobby until you will need a motorised mount. If you are controlling your telescope by computer, your exact location on the earth needs to be factored in. Then there is the software and cables…. the list goes on! There is something to be said for keeping it simple and just scanning the night sky. But after a while you will get drawn in by an irresistible force to seek out objects and try to image them. Try to resist if you want a simple life!
This hobby is not for the faint hearted and will test your patience and optimism, then burn a hole in your pocket. It will stretch your sanity and disappoint you relentlessly. But when it all comes together it gives you a massive sense of achievement and satisfaction that is hard to match.
What to look out for in March.
March 20th is when the night and day are almost exactly the same length, a new Moon appears on 24th and Summer time begins on the 29th. Early morning on the 31st looking SE you will see a clutch of planets; Saturn, Mars and Jupiter huddled together low on the horizon.
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