FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1.) What is a star?

Stars are made of very hot plasma held together in a ball shape by the pull of gravity. Plasma is a super-hot magnetic gas that can reach temperatures well into the millions of degrees. Stars vary in size from a few times the size of Earth to many thousands of times, and in extreme cases, millions of times the size of Earth. Our Sun is a typical yellow-white star, known as a Main Sequence star, with a diameter slightly more than one hundred times that of Earth. It is about half way through its roughly ten billion year life.

2.) How far away is the closest star?

The closest star is not one star, but a small group of three. They are Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri and Proxima Centaury, the closest one. They are a little farther than 4 light years.

3.) What is a light year?

Despite the name, this is a measure of distance. It is the distance traveled by a particle of electromagnetic energy (a light particle, if you want) in the period of one year. The distance covered in one year is what the name refers to, and that is...

9,460,500,000,000,000 kilometers

One easier way to think of a light year is this:

Imagine a string of Earths, like a string of pearls, about 24 Earths long. That's about how far a light particle travels in one second. Just one second. Now, think about how many seconds there are in a year. It's a long way.

Our entire Milky Way Galaxy, a sort of island universe, is 100,000 light years across its disk. The nearest major galaxy to ours is the Andromeda Galaxy, about 2.5 million light years away. The visible universe has a space-time radius of about 14 billion years.

4.) What is a planet?

A planet is a ball of rock or gas (well, it slowly gets more solid as one goes down deep) that is orbiting a star. The Earth is one of the Solar System's 'Rocky Planets' that include, (all in increasing distance from the Sun):
Mercury
Venus
Earth
Mars

The 'Gas Giants' are:
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune

Then Pluto is a mini-rocky planet (see below) that has an oblong orbit beyond Neptune.

5.) Is Pluto a planet?

For the moment, yes. You may have heard recently that Pluto has become a little controversial for such a small object. Many scientists are quite sure it is really one of thousands of very large comets that is just too far from the Sun to be heated to the point that it shows a tail, and has an elliptical orbit, so it never really gets close to the Sun. (See 'What is a Comet?') For now, and as much for sentimental reasons as for scientific ones, Pluto remains defined as a planet. As such, it would be classified as a Rocky Planet because of its composition ...it also has a pretty big moon, Charon.

6.) What is a moon?

A moon is a planet's planet, if you like. It is an object typically much smaller than a planet. Moons orbit their host planet. Earth has one moon that is in orbit around us, as you can see on many clear days and nights. The Gas Giants all have dozens of moons, though most are only a few kilometers across and not easily visible from Earth. The four well known exceptions are moons roughly the size of ours that are orbiting Jupiter, a couple of which we are starting to think may well have the conditions to harbor life.

7.) What is a comet?

A comet is a little like an asteroid, typically in very long, elliptical orbits around the Sun. Sometimes their orbits take them out beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are composed of frozen gasses, rocks, dust... it's sort of a mess, that vary roughly in size from a couple kilometers to a few dozen kilometers across, some much larger. Some like to call them 'dirty snowballs'. Dull as that sounds, when a comet comes in on its orbit close enough to the Sun, it puts on one of the most striking displays you'll enjoy in nature. The frozen gasses start to vaporize because of the Sun's heat. This causes beautiful tails to drift off into space, blown away from the Sun by 'solar wind' (charged radioactive particles) for millions of miles. Really bright comets come every decade or two and can be spectacular, especially if seen from dark, rural skies.

8.) What is the difference between an asteroid, meteoroid, meteor and meteorite?

These are various names of leftover rocks in our Solar System. They are a little like comets, but without the gasses. They are 'leftover' in that they didn't become part of a star, planet or moon, but continue to remain in orbit around the Sun.

Asteroids are bigger chunks of rock and metal, sometimes getting up to the size of our Moon.

A meteoroid is a very small asteroid, even getting down to the size of a sand grain or so.

A meteor is a meteoroid that is burning up due to the air friction experienced as it crashes into our atmosphere.

A meteorite is whatever is left over, on the ground, if the meteor survives entry through our atmosphere.

10.) What makes up the Universe?

The short answer is that the Universe is everything there is. There are two other parts to the answer that will help clarify this image, though.

First, you may occasionally hear the term, 'the visible universe'. This is not a turn of phrase. We can only see back in time until, well, shortly after there was no time, or, more specifically, the beginning of time as we know it. Light moves at a finite speed (see 'What is a Light Year?'). The events of the early universe radiated heat and light. That heat and light has been traveling through space for about 14 billion years, give or take. When we gather light from the deepest parts of the universe, as the Hubble Space Telescope has done, we see light from when light first emerged from this early time in the universe. That's as far as we can see and that is the limit to what we refer to as the visible universe. But it is widely thought that the 'real' universe extends far beyond the visible limit because the light from those more distant parts hasn't had time to get to us, yet.

The second portion of the answer has to do with what makes up the parts of the universe. There are a bunch of things that gravity has pulled together and they include, in order of decreasing size:

• Clusters of galaxies

These are the largest structures in the visible universe. They are unimaginably gargantuan swarms of galaxies that stretch over millions and millions of light years.

• Galaxies

These are the fundamental 'island universes' that are composed of up to about half a trillion stars. They are usually seen as big pinwheels in pictures, but can take on really strange and chaotic shapes. The Milky Way is a half-trillion star galaxy of which our Sun makes up one stellar system.

• Stellar (Solar) Systems

These are made up of a star orbited by a few planets, dust and gas. Some stellar systems may be made up only of two or more stars. This is because the gravitational environment around a system with more than one star is almost surely too chaotic to keep a planet in a stable orbit without flinging it out into interstellar space.

• Planets

These are the major solid bodies, Earth for example, that orbit a star. (See What is a planet)

• Moons

These are the smaller bodies that orbit planets.(See What is a moon?)

• Asteroids and Comets

These are the leftovers; the stuff that didn't manage to get inhaled into a star or planet by gravity in the early development of a stellar system. (See What is the difference between an asteroid, meteoroid, meteor and meteorite?)

• Meteoroids

These are small versions of Asteroids. (See What is the difference between an asteroid, meteoroid, meteor and meteorite?)

• Dust

This is the small version of Meteoroids. (See What is the difference between an asteroid, meteoroid, meteor and meteorite?)

• Gas

This is gas. It generally doesn't exist in any major quantity in a mature stellar system, but is a major aspect of the early, creative periods of a developing stellar system. The gas giant planets attest to this.

10.) What is a solar system?

All the stuff described above. Our Solar System is composed of the Sun, all the Rocky and Gas Giant planets, their moons and all the other stuff that is gravitationally bound to the Sun: comets, asteroids, meteoroids, etc.

11.) Do other stars have planets like our Solar System?

Yes. One of the most active areas of astronomy research right now involves the search for what are called Extrasolar Planets; planets that are in orbit around other stars. As of this writing, over a hundred have been found at the rate of one or two every month, sometimes more. It is likely that all most or all single stars and maybe a few multiple star systems have other stuff in orbit around them. This stuff could include any of the kinds of things that orbit our Sun.

12.) What is a galaxy?

A galaxy is an agglomeration of billions of Solar Systems; stars, gasses and dust. They are the second largest contiguous objects we know of in the universe after galaxy clusters. Galaxies vary in size from a few thousand light years to a couple of hundred thousand light years across. They are separated by hundreds of thousands to millions of light years, and tend to be clustered together in filamentary patterns, similar to the ways surfaces of bubbles arrange themselves in bubble baths. They maintain these sorts of patterns as far as we can see in the universe.

13.) Why do stars "twinkle"?

The stars aren't actually doing anything to create this effect. This appearance is due, instead, to the motion of the air layers of our own atmosphere. It is like looking at air just above a hot, summer road: everything is all wiggly. Well, if our atmosphere is 'wiggling' between the star and your eyes, then the light coming through it is disturbed and we see the star as 'twinkling'. Astronomers love non-twinkling skies, because that means the air is stable and the images of planets and stars will be very clear through their binoculars and telescopes.

14.) How far away is stuff I see in the night sky?

The closest star is not one star, but a small group of three. They are Alpha Centauri, Beta Centauri and Proxima Centaury, the closest one. They are about 4.25 light years from our Solar System.

With your naked eye you see about 5-10% of what there is in the immediate regions of our galaxy, plus you may see the Andromeda Galaxy on a clear dark, rural night. It is about two and a half million light years away.

What you see in the sky with your naked eye is a result of the brightness of the object, its distance, your local sky conditions, your age and the quality of your vision.

15.) Did we really land a human on the Moon?

Well, no, not just once. We landed humans on the Moon, and managed to get them back, six times, plus one that didn't quite make it to the moon's surface - Apollo 13 - although we did get them back, too. You've probably heard of , or seen, the film made about that story. The media in recent years has grabbed a lot of attention with this subject. But there should be no doubt in any intelligent person's mind about this: 12 men have walked on the Moon, and managed to bring back a lot of dust and rocks while they were at it, from which we've learned a lot of wonderful things about the Moon and its historical relationship to the Earth.

16.) Is there other life in the universe?

There probably are not 'people' resembling us, mainly because if there is life out there, it is taking on really different forms, much as there are millions and millions of different forms of life here on just our Earth. But most scientists think that the universe is likely teeming with life, from very basic stuff, something like single celled things to complex forms that we can't even imagine, some maybe far more complicated and 'advanced' than we are.

There is also, in science, something called the 'Principle of Mediocrity'. This states that, based on all that we can see, the universe is pretty uniform everywhere, and that the same laws of nature, the same elements and other characteristics seem to apply everywhere in existence. One of the basic reasons that scientists think this is true, is that everywhere we look, the thermal, chemical and physical conditions seem the same as they are here in our part of the universe. And, well, we're here. So, if that's true, then there is no reason to think that the conditions for life as we understand it can't also exist everywhere else in the universe. And if we're alive and here and aware that we're alive and here, then there may be others who are wondering the same thing.

We are engaged now in a major effort to find life in our Solar System: on Mars, where there may well be life down under the otherwise unlivable surface. Also, there are plans underway to explore the big moons of Jupiter, where we think there may be gargantuan under-ice oceans that may have harbored life since shortly after the start of the Solar System. And if that life has been evolving for over 4 billion years as it has here on Earth ...well, it causes one to pause and wonder!

17.) I've seen UFO's ... What are they?

The term 'UFO' has, in the popular media, become synonymous with extraterrestrial spacecraft. It means, literally, Unidentified Flying Object (though many of us ask, if you know it's 'flying', then how can it be 'unidentified'?). However, extraterrestrial spacecraft are not likely what people have seen. At least there is no evidence to support such observations, despite the dramatic stories and claims. But there are 'unidentified' objects that one can see on any evening. They are probably satellites, which are easily seen in the hours after sunset, aircraft seen at a great distance through the atmosphere, birds flying in formation, with their cute little bellies lit up from below, and other normal things that look unusual because most of us aren't used to seeing these things in the dark sky.

Amateur astronomers get used to seeing all kinds of things in the night sky. In fact, they probably look at the night sky more than anyone else, and none have ever reported an alien spacecraft landing, the crew disembarking and asking to look through the amateur astronomer's telescope ...Not yet, anyway.

18.) How does a telescope work?

Telescopes are really, in principle, very simple things. They collect light, period. This is one reason that big telescopes are sometimes called 'light buckets'. After that, things get a bit more complicated. There are different kinds of telescopes, broken down roughly into three categories:
Refractors
Reflectors
Catadioptrics (a sort-of mix of the first two)

A refractor (re-FRAK-tor) does just that. It refracts (bends) incoming light through a lens or lenses at one end of a tube and causes the light to form a long, invisible ice cream cone, down to a point where an eyepiece is placed to observe the gathered image. These tend to be more expensive to build but are known for creating very sharp images, and are especially suited to detailed, planetary observing. Because of the expense in making these complex lenses, the diameter of the lenses, and therefore the tubes, tends to be small-ish, thus limiting the amount of light they gather compared to reflectors.

A reflector (re-FLEK-tor) uses a concave mirror to reflect (bounce) incoming light back to the front of a big tube where an eyepiece is used in the same way as the refractor. These telescopes are able to be made for much less than refractors or catadioptrics (see below) and have two major advantages: they interrupt the incoming light the least, because there is no glass for the light to travel through except in the eyepiece at the end of its journey. Also, they can be made very large. This allows them to collect huge amounts of light which makes them ideally suited for observing 'faint fuzzies', as they are called: dim galaxies, nebulae, comets, and very dim stars...etc.

A catadioptric (kat-ah-die-OP-trick) telescope is one that both refracts and reflects light on its way to the eyepiece. The main reason for the 'cat' design is convenience. An otherwise longer telescope is 'folded' into a more portable form. Optical quality may be a little compromised in these designs, though. These are mass produced at factories and are often seen advertised in astronomy magazines.

19.) How do I get started in astronomy?

There are many ways to get involved in astronomy. Like anything else, if you have a passion and curiosity about it, you will find a way. But we think there are approaches to make the journey a little easier and more rewarding.

First, read. You're already doing that if you're here, and you should be commended. Also browse through astronomy magazines; make use of the infinite sources on the Internet. Maybe spend an afternoon at the local library and just sort of cruise through the astronomy section. Don't dismay if you don't understand all the terms and diagrams. This is a very involved subject; a wonderland that, well, has no end.

Be patient with yourself ...and keep reading, always. Astronomy, more than anything else, is an activity in the mind. We can't, yet, easily go to other celestial bodies and take samples to study back here. So our images of what the rest of the universe may be like are all in our heads. The more you read, the more your imagination can munch of the word-food that brings color, drama and life to those images.

To be completely truthful, a star through a telescope looks like ...well, it looks about the same as if you are looking at that star without a telescope. But if you know, in your head, that it may not be a star, but a dying star next to a huge black hole that's eating it, and that it's throwing out waves of deadly X-rays, and that soon it may all go supernova ...your experience looking at that feeble light is entirely different. So ...keep reading.

Second, attend a star party at a nearby club gathering. Again, the Internet comes in handy, here. Look up your state and "astronomy club" in Google or similar, see who's near you, and contact them. Astronomy groups have a wide reputation for openness and willingness to show newcomers how to get into the field. Take full advantage and 'just hang out' learning about what optical instruments others use and how they use them, what other events are coming up and how to get involved.

Third, inevitably, you'll be drawn to considering buying your own telescope. But, here's where people get into trouble. So proceed with tippy-toe caution. We recommend looking in your attic, basement or car trunk for that old, beat up pair of binoculars. Don't have any? Well, ask at your club for recommendations, read reviews on the Internet and use others 'binos' at star parties (by far the best method for getting a feel of things!!) before making your purchase. You are likely to enjoy a long and loving relationship with these puppies, so choose carefully and they will bring unbridled joy to you for the rest of your years.

Also, find a good planisphere. These are funny looking, flat round things with stars all over them. You turn one flat part of it to dial into your date and time of evening, and it shows you what stars you can see. They're cheap and easy to use. Finally feel free to wear out a good field guide to the stars. Book stores are lousy with these kinds of guides, like Audubon and others. This will be enough to get you into some fun and celestial mischief.

Four, you're on your own, and soon you'll be the one giving advice. Astronomy has no edge, no border that you risk crashing up against. You don't need all that much money to get into it, unless you are a hardware addict, as some of us are, and even then, there are smart ways to make and procure (legally) such stuff. It is, more than anything else, a true journey of the mind.

20.) How do I choose binoculars?

Of all the equipment one buys early on in their astronomical passions, the binoculars are perhaps the most central. If you lose interest in astronomy, you can use them to look at neighbors, sports, nature (other than your neighbors) and generally use them the rest of your life. That's not possible with expensive telescopes that serve one, and really only one function other than cratering your wallet.

For astronomy use, you want to choose binoculars with the best possible optical quality and lens coatings. In astronomy, generally the more expensive, the better, and this is largely true with binoculars. The only way to find out what's best, and best for your needs is by reading reviews and asking at astronomy group meetings and star parties. In other words, become your own best expert before plowing through your savings.

Get to know the power and aperture you may want. The two numbers you see associated with binoculars, like '14x70' are very important, and are typically printed on the binoculars.

The first number represents the power of the binoculars in number of times the image is enlarged compared to a naked (normal) eye view. In other words, how many times bigger than normal the image will be.

The second number represents the diameter of one of the openings of the binoculars, or the 'aperture', usually represented in millimeters. So in the example above, a pair of binoculars is described that has 14 power, and has a light gathering capability of 70mm in each axis (each half of the binocular).

In almost all applications in astronomy, aperture is much more important than power, despite the claims of department store advertisers, who often know little about astronomy (grrrr...). By the way: NEVER, EVER buy binoculars or telescopes from department stores. These are cheap, 'impulse' buys that do one thing very, very well: disappoint.

Okay, so, now the tests:
Avoid buying used binoculars over the Internet unless there is an unmistakable return policy involved. For many products, testing in advance is not important, but with optical equipment, testing pre-purchase is mandatory to avoid disappointment. If you're buying new, go to the store and test them yourself. If buying used, meet with the seller and test them or, if that's not practical, have an understanding that the deal is not sealed until you have a chance to fully test the binoculars.

First, hold them. Do they seem heavy for their size? That's good. Glass is heavy. And if there is a lot of glass inside the binoculars that means it cost a lot to make them. (You may recall a line about this in the film 'Jurassic Park'). Good manufacturers are constantly working to make the images in their binoculars as beautiful as possible. In refractive systems, this means a lot of 'correcting elements'. An 'element' is a chunk of fine crafted optical glass or, more commonly, a lens. But lenses can be made of many different pieces, or 'elements'. Cheap manufacturers settle for 'good enough' and even include plastic elements to save money (at least until we run out of oil...) So, heavy is good.

The outer body of the binoculars should be made of one piece for each side. This helps ensure that optical alignment of all the finely engineered pieces of glass inside the binos will align exactly, even if they are bumped around over time. Between the two optical tubes should be a heavy duty adjustment like a big door hinge. This allows you to adjust the two optical tubes to your eye separation, so that the optical axes line up exactly with the center of each of your eyes.

Next, do the obvious: look through them the right way. We're not being funny, here, you'll see why in a moment. Now, look at some complex things close, and far, like leaves on a distant tree or the grillwork on a nearby car. Focus on each. Is the view comfortable? If your eyes feel 'funny' and are trying to adjust all the time, that's bad news. Especially if you think you see two exactly alike images that seem slightly out of alignment. It may mean that the two 'optical axes' are out of alignment, or not parallel, the most typical and unfortunate downfall of flawed binoculars. If the close and far views are both easy on the eyes and you can focus on both with little effort, that's great news.

If you can, find binoculars that allow for independent focusing of each eyepiece. This is not critical, but is much more convenient than the sort that allow only one eyepiece to focus while the other is adjusted using a knob on top. Not a big thing; just easier.

Don't worry if the binos are heavy and hard to hold after a while. Tripods are used to steady them and you will probably use one for astronomy. For testing reasons, just lean up against a lamp post, or something, in order to stabilize the view. While on the subject, confirm there is a standard mounting point in the center of the binos, essential for mounting bracket attachment and, thus, for astronomy.

Next, hold the binoculars at about arm's length, and look down the wrong way. That's right: the wrong way. You should see lots of lovely and weird colors in the glass of the lenses. Purples and greens especially. These effects are caused by the multiple proprietary optical coatings on the glass elements. If you see a little color but not much, that's so-so. If you see a lot of colors on the glass, and they appear to continue down into the innards of the binoculars, that's great! It likely means that all or most of the glass elements of the binoculars are coated, not just the outer lenses, as is typical in cheaper models. As you gain experience looking at different binoculars, you'll get the feel of what to look for.

21.) How do I choose a telescope?

Okay, this is show time. This is a huge subject, and we won't cover the big stuff here other than some important basics. Then we'll direct you to web sites for more detail.

Before considering a telescope, make sure you know the sky well enough to make using the telescope worthwhile. A telescope is not a television or computer that 'entertains' you. It is a piece of scientific instrumentation that functions as a very expensive door stop unless you have knowledge regarding its use. Telescopes are effectively one of the most useless pieces of metal and glass one can spend money on. This is because they are designed to do really only one thing. They are heavy, complicated, a lot of trouble to set up and take down, especially when it's 12 below zero, and it can all get tedious quickly if you're not sure what you are looking for or doing.

The way to avoid this mini-misery is by doing what we mentioned above: read. Get to know the night sky in your head before you know it in your eye. The night sky is beautiful and romantic to the naked eye. Take advantage of that feeling and get to know it intimately before dissecting it.

The general guideline is to know at least (!) one constellation per season, and know two or three objects in that constellation: distance, composition, light characteristics, and so on. Can you look up, pick out the constellation easily and describe some of its objects to your friends? By the way, this ability comes in handy at mate-magnet time. ;-)

If you're really interested in astronomy and you've spent a few dozen nights observing the night sky (as in a couple of hours each, not just glancing out the window for 5 seconds) then this will be an easy accomplishment.

Next, really do talk to fellow amateur observers and use their telescopes at star parties, which they'll be happy to let you do, no joke. Get to know the feel of using one, and sense what trouble a telescope is as you watch their owners set them up. Keep an eye on your watch ...actually time them, from car arrival, to first peek in the eyepiece. That ought to sober you up.

Also think about what your primary interests are. If you want to do everything in astronomy, then hold off, that is a good sign you've not quite reached the point where you want to be before getting a scope. As you get to know more about astronomy and as you join others in different kinds of observing, you will soon be drawn towards general areas of activity more than others. Some are joyous just finding impossibly dim objects in deep space, like galaxies. Others like to sketch the moon. Yet others want to do science, and time occultations (If you don't know what that is, then you definitely are not ready for a scope) or hunt for comets. All these different activities benefit from specific kinds of observing set ups. Sometimes expensive ones.

A telescope purchase is more like buying a small private airplane than a car. Knowledge, sometimes a lot of it, is critical to using and enjoying the thing. But doing things right can result in a life of - literally - infinite joy.

Here is a link to a useful site on buying your first telescope: How To Buy A Telescope This is a quick guide written by J. KELLY BEATTY from Night Sky Magazine

Another good reference is: Choosing Your First Telescope By Joshua Roth, of Sky and Telescope Magazine

22.) How do I choose a Tripod?

The purpose of a tripod is to hold your telescope or binoculars steady. You can imagine if you had to hand-hold your telescope. It would be a challenge to do so and look through it at the same time.

A tripod should be as heavy and stable as you can get for the price, yet also allows for an appropriate degree of portability.

There are two sorts of tripod classes that you may be considering.

One is a dedicated telescope base tripod. This is the sort that can weigh a lot, be specifically designed for your telescope, and is wonderfully stable. You might lift it out of your car, or carry it to your back yard, and that's all. No long lugging.

The other type you would use on trips, for mounting small telescopes or binoculars and you are likely to carry much further.

Some points to consider:
When it comes to a tripod design, simpler is better. The fewer pieces to a mechanism, the more you're paying for the quality of what is left, rather than superfluous features. A reliable, crisp mechanism for locking legs in place, for attaching parts of the tripod together, and so on, is a wonderful feeling and one suggesting reliance and quality.

You want adjustable legs for setting up on uneven terrain. The thicker the legs are, the better it is for the stability of the mount they are supporting. Wood legs are often preferred by veterans of the field because they tend to absorb vibrations more readily than metal does. I agree. But if the choice is between thick, heavy metal legs and thin wood ones, go with the thick ones. If you decide on metal, I would recommend steel. Go with steel rather than aluminum, though aluminum is okay. Steel is heavier, more stable. Aluminum, obviously, is easier to carry.

Some larger tripods and telescope mounts come with small levels: the little bubble thing in a liquid container that lets you know if the mount is perpendicular to the center of mass of the Earth. Or, in common parlance: 'straight up'. All else being equal, these can be handy for equatorial mounts.

If the tripod is for use with a camera, binocular or small (spotting) scope, be sure the head of the tripod uses a universal bolt, generally called a "_-20". It is the standard thread frequency used by most such attachments.

23.) How do I choose sky charts?

Sky Charts are like flowers: they come in innumerable styles and forms. The best star chart in the world, like the best of anything in the world, is, simply, the one you use. If you are starting out in the field, a simpler one showing mainly the brighter stars and all the constellations is an excellent way to start.

If you live in the northern hemisphere, the following will apply to you. If you live in the southern hemisphere, do the opposite.

When you first use a chart, determine where south is on the chart and hold that side of the chart pointing down. Then turn so you are facing south. This will orient you so that the stars you see closest to the horizon at that time, will be lower on the chart in front of you. If you face east, hold the chart so the east side is at the bottom of the page/chart...etc.

You should have, also, a red flashlight with you so you can illuminate the chart without blinding your night vision.

An excellent source for downloading and printing your own star charts is at SkyMaps.com:
http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Here you can, as it sounds, download charts for a particular evening and print them on your computer printer. Part of the printout includes a listing of objects easily visible to the naked eye, for binoculars, and a third list for telescopic objects. You're covered. You should place the maps in a plastic sleeve to protect them from dew, a common challenge in astronomy.

Another fine source for star charts is the SFA site:
http://www.cox-internet.com/ast305/SFAStarCharts.html

The PDF files are easily downloaded and printed. These show equatorial as well as polar views of the entire sky. You may want to laminate these, as they will be useful year 'round.

As you grow accustomed to using the charts, and your knowledge of the sky grows, you may want to use much more complicated and detailed ones which you can cruise for in such magazines as Sky & Telescope and Astronomy.

24.) How do I watch meteors?

Meteors are easy to see. Probably you already have everything you need, or can get it easily enough.

First find out what meteor events are due in the near future by going to one of the many sources of these events on the web. A major monitor of such events is the Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). Their home page is at:
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/alpo/

Click to their Meteor section and look at when the next date is for the events and where the expected radiant will be. The radiant is the point in the sky from where the meteors will be expected to approach, but this is not necessarily the direction in which to look. Like looking down a railroad track the radiant appears to be the point of origin, but the tracks are more easily seen at your feet or nearby. In other words, you will want to situate yourself to look off to the side in the sky.

Then, you need a way of looking up for long periods, comfortably. This usually means a basic reclining lawn chair, maybe a pillow and definitely a blanket. Even in summer, it can get cool if you're lying still for lengthy periods, so this should be a priority item.

Though using your naked eyes to see meteors is the best way - widest field of view (FOV) - a pair of binoculars can be handy for general sky cruising while you're out there.

The first few times you do this, you will enjoy yourself immensely simply watching the meteors crash into the atmosphere and enjoying what they look like. Later, you may want to read up on ALPO's procedures for actually trying to count the events over time and helping them make determinations of shower populations.

25.) How do I stay warm while observing in the winter?

Dressing properly for cold weather observing is more than just a matter of comfort. It is potentially dangerous to dress inadequately for such conditions. This may sound obvious, but perfectly sensible humans with brains that work reasonably well will, on occasion, 'just step outside' for a minute and in so doing, neglect to dress appropriately. There are sad stories of people who fell asleep in deeply old weather and, sadly, they remain in that state.

As bad speakers often say, "Now that I have your attention...".
Let's review how heat works in your body. This is very complicated medical stuff:
Heat rises.
See? I told you it was going to be complicated. Now that your knowledge is sufficient to take your pre-meds, let's see what we can do with this. Here is a thorough list of things to do if you are going to observe in cold conditions. This list can be found on the web site assembled by Mike Simonsen, SXN: http://home.earthlink.net/~joevp/docs/cold2.html

1. Wear warm boots. When I meet people new to astronomy, they always want to know what the best telescope is and what accessories to buy. I always tell them, "the most important piece of equipment you will ever buy is warm boots". When it is clear, it is cold. If your feet are cold, you are miserable. If you are miserable, you are done.

2. Wear a hat. Most of the heat in your body escapes through the top of your head like a chimney. Cover your head and retain body heat.

3. Keep your hands warm. Mittens are better than gloves, but they are awkward to use when dealing with focuser knobs, charts, pens, pencils, etc. If you insist on wearing gloves, keep your hands in your pockets as much as you can and out of the wind. If your fingers begin to hurt from the cold, go inside or get in your car and warm them up thoroughly. Frostbite can be very painful.

4. Get out of the wind. Most of the time it's not the air temperature that gets you, it's the wind-chill. Put a building or a hedge or an observatory between you and the wind and you will be able to endure the cold for twice as long. The added bonus of not having the telescope shake will save you time in making estimates.

5. Don't breathe on optics. Breathing on cold glass means instant frost. If you wear a scarf over your face, be sure not to let the warm air you exhale spill out over the top of the scarf and down onto the eyepiece. Set up your finder so you are not breathing on the eyepiece when looking through the finder. On very cold nights I usually have a large patch of frost to scrape off the back of the mirror cell of my SCT, caused by my breathing on the cell while looking through the finder.

6. If you have dew heaters, use them right from the start of your session. They are much better at preventing frosted corrector plates, secondaries, eyepieces and finders than they are at removing frost. A heated box or holder for eyepieces can be a great benefit. If you only switch between a few, keep them in your pockets to stay warm.

7. Keep your pen warm or the ink will freeze. I keep mine tucked behind my ear to keep it warm. I have one of those "astronaut pens". Even that froze at 40 below.

8. Use a plastic flashlight. If you are like most of my friends who read charts and log observations by flashlight, you put the flashlight in your mouth to write. A very cold metal flashlight can be hard to remove from your lip without losing a bit of flesh. I suppose rule 8A would be, "don't lick the telescope!"

9. Take breaks every hour or half hour, depending on the weather, and go warm up. Keep an extra pair of dry socks warming on the dash of your car, or go in and throw a pair in the dryer for a few minutes. It's amazing how a nice toasty pair of socks can change your attitude!

10. Be aware of battery life in cold temperatures. The batteries in your flashlight, telescope, camera, dew heaters, etc., will perform poorly in cold temperatures. Keep warm extras handy.

11. Keep your own personal battery charged. Plenty of rest, a good meal, snacks and hot coffee go a long way towards warding off the inevitable freeze. The search for a thermos that would keep coffee hot in sub-zero temperatures was my 'Holy Grail' for a long time. I finally found one at a camping supply store and it makes all the difference to me.

12. Know your limits. You have to be realistic about how much cold, discomfort or pain you can endure in order to get those last few observations. Don't wait until it's too late and then decide to tear down and pack up. That's when you will meet Mr. Frostbite.

With a little planning and common sense you can take advantage of those long, clear, cold winter nights. Orion, Gemini and Auriga are calling. Just be careful out there.

26.) How do I get started in basic astro-photography?

Astrophotography is one of the most rewarding and profound aspects of amateur astronomy. It is one area where amateurs can match or exceed the professionals. Except for the huge telescopes, such as those on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, or the orbital telescopes, such as the Hubble, amateurs enjoy a great advantage in this aspect of the field: time and opportunity.

Getting started in astrophotography is pretty easy. But as you get more involved and try more challenging types of photography and imaging, the considerations grow at an explosive rate. Because of that pattern, we're going to get you started in the most basic sort of imaging, then we're going to send you to a couple of web sites where you can continue on what is a vast and deep realm of information and skill.

STAR TRAILS. The most basic sort of astrophotography, other than simply pointing your camera at the moon and clicking the shutter, is called star trail photography. This requires only a camera with the ability to keep the shutter open indefinitely and a tripod.

If you place your camera on your tripod and aim it up, you need only open the shutter and walk away for a few minutes. Return and close the shutter after a given period and you will have created your first star trail image. What is happening is that, since the tripod and camera are adhered to the surface of Earth by gravity and as the earth rotates on its axis, the light from the stars leave a line - or trail - across your camera's collector (film or digital) field. The resulting image will be a few - or many - curved streaks across your final image. These will also show considerable color - much more so than you sense with your eyes. These colors are due to the surface temperatures of each star at the time its photons left the stars surface, many years ago, arriving in your camera, just now.

Try various aperture settings and times, but also try aiming the camera at different parts of the sky as you try this. What's always great fun the first time is aiming the camera at Polaris and doing a star trail image. Can you predict what you'll see?

Generally, as you narrow your field of view (FOV), in other words, as you increase your magnification or eyepiece power, the difficulties in astrophotography - and the rewards - increase. This is due to the increasing requirement for an absolutely perfectly aligned tracking system and good telescopic optics.

Now, if you go to a search engine and type in "Getting started in astrophotography", you will be stunned by the number of hits made. That will result in a journey limited only by your commitment, interest and skill. It is a huge area of emerging technology, mixing the beauties of science and art. Indulge!