Owens - Stargazing For Dummies

Stargazing For Dummies

Published by
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester
www.wiley.com

This edition first published 2013

2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex.

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-118-41156-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-41158-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41160-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-41157-5 (ebk)

Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall

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Introduction

S targazing is a fascinating activity. For all of recorded history and before that, no doubt! people have looked up at the night sky and wondered what they were seeing.

For thousands of years stargazers had to make do with guess- work and make-believe, simply joining the dots and describing how the sky changed. But over the past four hundred years ever since Galileo first turned a telescope to the night sky in 1609 astronomers have begun to discover the countless wonders that fill the night sky, and to understand what they were looking at.

The sky changed from a canvas on which people drew pictures and told stories to a vast cosmos full of stars, planets, moons, galaxies, comets, asteroids, and beautiful clouds of dust and gas lit up by the stars around them. The universe contains so many incredible wonders that it has inspired generations of astronomers and stargazers to look upwards and wonder.

Stargazers sometimes known as amateur astronomers share an exciting hobby. Whether they stargaze on their own in their back gardens, or in clubs or societies, they explore whats overhead, becoming experts in the night sky.

Theres always something interesting to look at too, from dramatic displays of northern lights or a total eclipse of the Sun, to the more everyday wonders of the rings of Saturn, the moons of Jupiter, or the beauty of a dark sky studded with thousands of stars.

About This Book

This book contains all you need to know about the fascinating hobby of stargazing. Using it youll soon become an expert in identifying constellations, finding planets, hunting down faint elusive galaxies, and using the tools of the stargazers trade binoculars and telescopes. Theres a lot in this book, with detailed descriptions of all of the 88 constellations visible from Earth (although you wont see them all at one time, or from one place) thatll help you become familiar with their patterns and where they appear throughout the year.

This book is intended as a reference guide, so you can dip into and out of it as you wish; you dont have to read it from cover to cover in the order laid out here. I explain what you need to know as you go along. Before long youll be an expert stargazer, and the night sky will be filled with wonders that youll be able to identify easily and point out to your friends, amazing them with your new-found knowledge and insight.

Conventions Used in This Book

As you use this book to explore the night sky, youll find that I use the following conventions:

The star charts in Part III of this book all have north uppermost, and depending on your stargazing location and what time of night youre observing them you might have to turn the book in your hands to make them match what you see in the sky.

I have used italic text for the proper names for stars, but not for the planets or other celestial objects.

Monofont text highlights a web address

What Youre Not to Read

Youll occasionally find sidebars throughout this book. These shaded grey boxes have extra information in them that you might find interesting, but you can easily skip these without missing out anything essential. You might want to take more note of them in Chapters 10-15, where they give you handy information on the constellations youre looking for.

Foolish Assumptions

Youre fascinated by the night sky, and have always dreamed of learning your way around the patterns of stars overhead. Maybe you can find a couple of familiar shapes the Big Dipper, Orion but thats about it; the rest of the sky is a confusing jumble of dots, and you want to begin exploring. Maybe you want to find out which planets are up when, or maybe youre looking to buy your first telescope to help you explore the sky more fully.

Youre not a scientist, but you really want to understand your place in the universe, and see some of the wonderful objects that are dotted around the night sky. Whatever your goal, this book helps you achieve it.

How This Book Is Organised

Youve probably already flicked through this book and noticed that its divided up into four major parts.

Part I: Whats Up? Getting Familiar with the Night Sky

Every clear night you can see the stars overhead, and youre excited about stepping outside for your first proper stargazing expedition, but how do you make sense of what you see? How does the sky change over the course of the night, or from week to week, month to month, and over the year? What can you expect to see from your stargazing site, and how do you make sure youre safe and comfortable when outside at night peering skywards? And what equipment can you bring with you that will help you explore the sky in more detail?