I have always enjoyed looking up at the night sky. When I was young spending time at my Uncles camp on a small lake where you needed a boat to get to the camp. It was dark there, and the sky was so bright with stars at night. Then after there was no more camp I would spend weekends on my parents boat on a lake, again the night sky was filled with bright stars and the milky way looked exactly as the name describes it - milky. I never really took the time to learn the constellations that were up there though. I knew the names of them but couldn't point them out to you if I tried. Now that I have a telescope and I'm searching the night sky I wish I had taken the time to learn them. Slowly but surely I'm starting to be able to recognize some of the main constellations such as Perseus, Cassiopeia, Ursa Minor, Ursa Major (which I had always known), Boötes, Orion, Hercules, Auriga, Canis Major and Leo.
Why would you want to learn constellations? Well if you are going to get into astronomy it's a HUGE help. Constellations can be a major guide in finding deep space objects that you are looking for. Sure you can download Stellarium and find an object to look at, but when you go outside telling yourself you're going to look at M13 with your telescope you had better know where Hercules is in the sky, and which part of Hercules M13 is located in relation to where you are and where it is in the sky, or else you're going to spend a lot of time searching and less time enjoying the view.
I urge anyone that is interested in astronomy to learn some constellations. Learn them so well that you can look up in the sky if you get lost and immediately point one out and name it, Ursa Minor is a good one if you get lost because it contains Polaris - The North Star. Once you have that one learned then work on another one. I have been focusing on just certain constellations and the objects within them, or close to them to learn the sky. Another part of it is learning, if not all, some of the stars within each constellation. The brightest stars in the constellations usually have names, ie Gemini has Pollux and Castor as the two major/bright stars representing the heads of the twins. Virgo has Spica, which this year you can use to find Saturn.
If you don't have a planisphere or a star chart to go out with, which if you are considering learning astronomy you might not have just yet you can go to Skymaps.com and download PDF files with sky-maps. These sky-maps come out monthly and are free to download and use, they also have quite a bit of information on whats up in the night sky for the month. Gives you a Sky Calendar for the month containing apogee and perigee of the moon for the month, Planet conjunction/oppositions, what the moon is near in the night sky on a certain day, meteor showers that might be coming up that month, etc. On page two of the sky-maps they have info about celestial objects, tips for observing the night sky, and an astronomical glossary. Also on page two they have objects easily seen with the naked eye, easily seen with binoculars, and telescopic objects. The list gives the objects distance and magnitude. So if you have a printer I would highly suggest printing off a monthly Skymap and stepping out on clear nights and give learning a try. If you have a pair of binoculars I would also suggest taking them out with you and seeing if you can see any of the objects listed on the sky-maps.
Get out and enjoy the night sky. It's beautiful and it's a vast area that is constantly changing, different seasons bring different objects to view and different constellations to learn. Feel free to comment on this with any constellations or stars you may have learned, or any comments or questions you may have. I will do my best to respond ASAP.
Why would you want to learn constellations? Well if you are going to get into astronomy it's a HUGE help. Constellations can be a major guide in finding deep space objects that you are looking for. Sure you can download Stellarium and find an object to look at, but when you go outside telling yourself you're going to look at M13 with your telescope you had better know where Hercules is in the sky, and which part of Hercules M13 is located in relation to where you are and where it is in the sky, or else you're going to spend a lot of time searching and less time enjoying the view.
I urge anyone that is interested in astronomy to learn some constellations. Learn them so well that you can look up in the sky if you get lost and immediately point one out and name it, Ursa Minor is a good one if you get lost because it contains Polaris - The North Star. Once you have that one learned then work on another one. I have been focusing on just certain constellations and the objects within them, or close to them to learn the sky. Another part of it is learning, if not all, some of the stars within each constellation. The brightest stars in the constellations usually have names, ie Gemini has Pollux and Castor as the two major/bright stars representing the heads of the twins. Virgo has Spica, which this year you can use to find Saturn.
If you don't have a planisphere or a star chart to go out with, which if you are considering learning astronomy you might not have just yet you can go to Skymaps.com and download PDF files with sky-maps. These sky-maps come out monthly and are free to download and use, they also have quite a bit of information on whats up in the night sky for the month. Gives you a Sky Calendar for the month containing apogee and perigee of the moon for the month, Planet conjunction/oppositions, what the moon is near in the night sky on a certain day, meteor showers that might be coming up that month, etc. On page two of the sky-maps they have info about celestial objects, tips for observing the night sky, and an astronomical glossary. Also on page two they have objects easily seen with the naked eye, easily seen with binoculars, and telescopic objects. The list gives the objects distance and magnitude. So if you have a printer I would highly suggest printing off a monthly Skymap and stepping out on clear nights and give learning a try. If you have a pair of binoculars I would also suggest taking them out with you and seeing if you can see any of the objects listed on the sky-maps.
Get out and enjoy the night sky. It's beautiful and it's a vast area that is constantly changing, different seasons bring different objects to view and different constellations to learn. Feel free to comment on this with any constellations or stars you may have learned, or any comments or questions you may have. I will do my best to respond ASAP.
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