| We all know it helps to get a little help now and
again. When we started, it sure would have helped to know some of
the things we learned only much later. Some of these tips may be
obvious, but all of them are useful. Enjoy... Turn
of all lights when observing-- you can see more in total darkness
when there isn't blinding glare from your lantern or flashlight!
Use red tape or a red filter on your flashlights. Red light won't
ruin your night vision as bad as white light. It can take over
twenty minutes for your eyes to become fully dark-adapted. Be
patient!
Magnification is not as important as some manufacturers make it
out to be. Most scopes will become useless at magnifications over
300 times. Don't be seduced by department store telescopes claiming
"565 Power" and such!
Use binoculars to scan the night sky randomly. You'll be
surprised what's out there.
Wear a knit cap when observing in the cold. Its much warmer then
a baseball cap or other hat, and there's no brim to knock into your
telescope.
Before you fall into the temptation of buying a slew of
eyepieces, consider a Barlow lens.
Old military surplus flashlights, the kind with the 90 degree
bend in them, are some of the best lights you can get. They're
cheap, tough, waterproof, and they often come with red filters!
Observe from a dark site away from the city. It makes a huge
difference!
Subscribe to Astronomy magazine, and/or Sky & Telescope, it's
more advanced cousin.
Find out if there's a local astronomy club by you-- visit it, and
join it if you like it.
Bring along a warm drink in a thermos when you go observing--
delightful!
Record everything you look at in a log book. Sketch what you're
looking at, what constellation its in, when you saw it, etc. This
also trains you to notice details you'd probably just overlook.
You can often see more detail if you use the technique of
"averted vision." Your peripheral vision is more sensitive
to the light of distant objects than the center of your eye. Look at
an object in you scope, then look just to the side of it. This works
especially well with deep-sky objects.
The more you observe, the more "trained" your eye will
become. If you persist, you will be rewarded as you develop the
ability to distinguish more and more detail than you thought
initially possible. |
