I want to start ASTRONOMY... What do you reccomend I buy?

Question

Will I need books? Equiptment? etc, I am just starting so I guess i'm a beginner, so far all I have is a nice pair of Binoculars that I can see the Moon with in some detail.

Answer 1

If going for Telescope is too early for you, then start with the books. Go for Astronomy for Dummies and then once you are familiar with the terminology and what to look for, then you can buy books on night sky watching or star gazing. There are several books available on this.

For instance, here are a couple of books..

1. "Exploring the Night Sky: The Equinox Astronomy Guide for Beginners"
2. NightWatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe.

These are just to name a few. But you can find more too.
At this point, having a telescope will not only be helpful but is essential if you wanna look at the objects yourself. Most of the times, you might get a free booklet along with your Telescope package, which might help in Night Sky Watch.
My Happiness knew no bounds when I got my First Telescope as a gift from my roommates for my graduation. Its a Meade Telescope. Its huge. Having to look at objects that you read about in books is a wonderful feeling. Once you are familiar with the constellations and sky map, then you can play around and be creative yourself. Most of the celestial bodies were discovered by Amateur Astronomers and so dont under estimate yourself. You might discover something someday. Good luck.

Answer 2

God binoculars? Way cool. Good way to start.

As others have suggested pick up an issue or two of either Sky&Telescope or Astronomy Magazine, then use the sky charts to locate objects. Don't be discouraged if you can't find what you are looking for, and certainly don't be discouraged if what you find isn't as exciting as the nifty photos that you see. Keep track of what you can see. Examining the milky way with binoculars is a great way to get introduced to open star clusters, for example. Watching Polaris or Mira or other variable starts brighten and dim trains your eyes and your memory (how bright was that start last night?)

When you seem to be getting all you can out of your binoculars, think about a telescope. You really have only one choice and that is a reflector. Refractors have their place (don't get me wrong), but because reflectors are less expensive per inch of aperture you will be happier. A small one (say 4 or 4.5 inches) is a great way to start. Stay away from the cheap store refractors; they are usually poorly made with poor mounts. Anyway, go back to your notes about what you saw and did not see with your binoculars and point your telescope skyward!

When you can't go sky watching (hey, ya gotta have a little rain), read even more about what you can see, and what sort of equipment you might need. A really cool set of books is the three volume "Burnham's Celestial Handbook." Written specifically for the amature astronomer, the set has loads of objects to look at, and great explanations of nearly every thing in the sky, all in language that is easy to understand, but technically accurate.

Finally, if you can find an astronomy club.....go! See what others are using and what they are looking at. You will be glad you did even if you decide not to join (astronomers can pretty geeky folk).

HTH

Charles

Answer 3

If you have binoculars, you don't need to buy anything more for a while. Go to the library and read some books on the subject. Read "Astronomy" and "Sky and Telescope" magazines.

Answer 4

I got into it when a friend of my father's gave me a couple of issues of Astronomy magazine. Next thing I new I bought a subscription. Soon I bought a small telescope. They have a star chart every month with recommended objects, so I learned a lot really quickly. Sky & Telescope magazine is also really good.

Have fun!

Answer 5

here's a section on my website on Astronomy, which will tell you how to get started simply:
http://www.john-duck.co.uk/html/astronomy.html

In short, all you really need are the binoculars (sometimes you don't even need them) to get started.

I recommend you get these 2 handy pocket sized books:

Kingfisher Pocket Guides: ASTRONOMY by James Muirden (RRP £5.99) ISBN: 0-7534-0743-4
This will tell you all the basics to get you started.

Collins Gem: STARS by Ian Ridpath (RRP £4.99)
ISBN 0-00-717858-1
This little book will give you charts of all the star systems in closer detail

Another good source is the website of SKY & TELESCOPE magazine:
http://www.skytonight.com

Another good thing to help you get started is a piece of Astronomy software called
STARRY NIGHT BACKYARD from http://www.starrynight.com
Their "Starry Night Complete Space & Astronomy Pack 2006 edition" also comes with an Astronomy book, to help you get started.

You don't really need a Telescope until MUCH later when you've got past the basics of learning where everything is up there in space.

Answer 6

first you need to buy books and then a map of the outer space from the constellations down to the planets... and then understand the things in the map and in the map after that buy a telescope and search for the constellations and everything

Answer 7

go to a bookstore and find
STARRY NIGHTS
also research in a hard copy encyclopedia, Britannica is best, and believe it or not, a medium cost pair of binoculars. telescopes are good for specific oblects , however... binoculars provied a much wider field of view to find objects of interest. i strongly suggest naked eye observation also.

Answer 8

astronomy books, telescope are good. dont buy alot of stuff yet. start small with the right materials. sooner or later you'll get good and thats the time you should start buying the more advanaced requirements. good luck

Answer 9

Astronomy for Dummies is a book that has all the info you need. What sort of telescopes, what sort of objects you can see, where constellations are and when.

Answer 10

buy the magazine called Astronomy. You can find it in any supermarket that carries magazines. Then buy a cheap telescope .about $100.00 or at a pawn shop.
I bought one for $100.00 I can see the moons around Jupiter.