I can barely find the moon at night, how does one even find the planets?

Question

I love star gazing but never even know what I'm looking at. Where can I go to find something similar to the "idiots guide to star gazing”?

Answer 1

To find the planets, just look in the Plane of the Ecliptic, the path the sun took and the Moon took or is taking through the sky. All planets lie in that line (we're seeing it edge-on, so, visually, it's a line).

Answer 2

Well, if you're willing to stay up a bit late (midnight or so) then probably the world's easiest constellation to spot is up in the East. Orion. It's very bright and stands out even in dark rural skies.

The thing to do is look at the sky a lot and to familiarize yourself with what is where. Planets will become obvious to you over time because they appear in different parts of the sky over months. If you do this regularly, you'll just know where everything should be.

To get started, I'd recommend going to the local library and checking out some books on stargazing. Check TV listings and watch StarGazing with Jack Horkheimer on PBS. Find some star charts and start familiarizing yourself with constellations.

Easy ones to spot right now in an early evening sky:
The Big Dipper, Cassiopea, The Northern Cross (Cygnus), Lyra.

Taurus will be up a little later on, and later still, brilliant Orion as well as Gemini. Near Orion (to the southwest of the belt) is the brightest star as seen from Earth (outside the sun, of course), Sirius. The three stars of Orion's belt point more or less towards Sirius if you follow them "down and left."

In addition to the constellations themselves, learn the names and locations of the bright stars (I've heard them called "guidepost stars"). Once you know these, seeing them will instantly give you your bearings. Some key guidepost stars up right now: Vega, Capella, Aldeberan, Antares (red and setting in the west right after sunset), Sirius, Betelgeuse, Rigel, Procyon.

Also - planets don't twinkle like stars. If it's bright and it twinkles, it's a star. If it doesn't twinkle, it could be a planet. (stars don't always twinkle either)

Basically, just throw yourself into the subject and read everything you can. The sky is an amazingly beautiful thing, and well worth getting to know.

Answer 3

You're a victim of bad timing. Right now it's almost a new moon. That means the moon won't even rise until about dawn. It will be barely visible as a crescent for a short time around dawn. Then it will be obscured by the blue sky all day. Wait about a week and in the evening you'll see about a half moon visible. Wait another week and the full moon will be out all night. While looking for the moon at dawn, you'll will see a really bright "star" called Venus.

Answer 4

Hi Pie -

Armchair is generally correct - the planets can be found near (not necessarily in) the plane of the ecliptic. Geoff is also correct - "Nightwatch" is an excellent book and a great source of info. You may find it easier to locate the planets by referring to a current issue of a periodical like "Sky and Telescope" or "Astronomy." These always publish accurate charts that will describe exactly where to look for each planet on a night-by-night basis. You can also download freeware like Cartes du Ciel from http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/ and make your own charts. These charts are very useful if you are looking for the easy targets like Jupiter and Venus but are not out there observing very frequently. They are also valuable if you are looking for the more difficult targets like Uranus and Neptune (both of which are now visible in the evening). Good luck.

Answer 5

Try "NightWatch" by Terence Dickinson (Firefly).