Category Archives: stargazing

Skygazing challenges

I wrote the other day about city stargazing and general skygazing. That article got some nice responses from people who sometimes battle light pollution in their night skies. It’s a problem in many places on Earth. However, unless you are stuck in the middle of downtown “Big City”, there’s usually at least something you can observe. Light pollution isn’t the only challenge, as one of my correspondents pointed out.

Safety is also a challenge in some places. Obviously, wherever you gaze from has to offer a safe environment. I’m not just talking about safety from other people, however. Some sites offer physical challenges such as wild animals or terrain. Some years ago, I did some observing at a friend’s house high in the Rockies. Our biggest challenge (after the Denver Nebula) was the chance of stumbling across a foraging bear in the darkness. Of course, the bears are often more afraid of us. However, in the spring, when they’re hungry, they’ll take a chance on anything to get a bite to eat. Not that they eat stargazers, but we get in their way, sometimes.

I remember once going to the Grand Canyon and doing some night-time stargazing from a canyon overlook. There wasn’t a railing or anything to protect someone from going over the edge. Actually, I’m surprised more people don’t get hurt wandering around in the dark there. Then again, many areas along the rim are now “well-lit”. So there’s less chance of falling off a cliff (and, unfortunately, seeing a completely dark sky).

Other Skygazing Challenges

Beyond important issues of safety, sometimes the biggest challenge to effective stargazing isn’t a bright light or a hungry ursinid. For beginners, it’s often a lack of knowledge of what to look at in the sky.

One advantage that city stargazing has: is that it blocks out a lot of dimmer objects. It allows only the brightest to shine through. So, you know before you go out that you’re only going to see the eye-grabbers. Luckily, those appear prominent in most star maps and charts. The planets and Moon are good examples. You can’t miss those bright objects, especially the Moon. And, you can do lunar exploration with good binoculars and a relatively small and inexpensive telescope (on a good mount). I know skygazers who are so taken with the Moon that it is their main “go to” object. And, it’s out in the daytime during part of the month, so that gives you extra time to explore its features.

Use starcharting software such as Stellarium (screenshot shown here) to check out where objects will appear in your sky on the nights you want to stargaze.

Planets are much farther away. They also present the same challenge to both city and country stargazers: getting a good-enough view that you can make out features. For Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, that does require a decent telescope. I’ve seen some remarkable views of Saturn, for example, from New York’s Central Park area, even with bright lights nearby. And, I remember seeing Comet Hale-Bopp from a brightly lit pier in Boston in 1997. So, some things are doable, even from the city.

Regardless of what you want to see, it is really helpful to do a little “ground school” before you head out. Learn to read star charts, check out the pages of the astronomy-related magazines for charts and stargazing directions. There’s a wealth of information that pops up if you search on “stargazing” or “what’s up in the sky?” That advance prep pays off under the starry (and often light-polluted) sky in the evenings or early mornings.

Just Do Skygazing

Another key to effective stargazing, no matter where you are, is to figure out what you really want to spend time chasing down. If it’s the Moon, you’ve got a wealth of treasures to check out. Planets provide a bit more of a challenge, and even if you live in a light-pollution jungle, you can still check them out.

Yes, getting equipment is challenging, too. It’s expensive. And, in these days of unemployment and COVID-19-related job losses, getting that telescope or binoculars you dreamed of may be a deferred pleasure. But, maybe a local astronomy club would welcome you as a “guerilla gazer”, by sharing views through their telescopes. It’s worth checking out. And, when planetariums and science centers re-open up, their “public nights” will again provide a nice view of the sky.

Unless you’re facing really awful weather where you live, now’s a great time to take up stargazing. Or, if you’ve stopped, it’s time to resume it. . Skygazing provides perspective. It gets you out of the house and off to another realm. If you share it with someone (a lover, a child, a parent, a friend), that simply doubles the enjoyment. Try it!

Stargazing from Anywhere

A couple of weeks ago I did some stargazing and then posted a short note on social media about how beautiful the sky was that night. Venus was bright low in the west, and we’d just had a pretty sunset. Some of the brighter stars were starting to pop, and it was a lovely view.

A few minutes after I posted my musings, a colleague sent a fairly sharp little note to me, reminding me that not everyone had such a great view of the sky as me. They wanted me to think of folks living in the cities. That’s where light pollution and buildings block the view of the sky for stargazing.

A view of light-polluted areas across the US and Canada, courtesy NASA. The most brightly lit places give the greatest challenges for stargazers.

Fair enough. I’ve certainly written about that topic before and created a whole series of fulldome shows about stargazing wherever you are. In point of fact, we all have challenges in watching the sky. It’s tougher for city dwellers, but those of us in rural areas face some, too. Sure, we do have some light pollution from nearby cities, and, in some parts of the midwest, viewing is ruined by lights from fracking operations, wind farms, and other outdoor businesses. The challenges for me where I live are more about clouds and cold temps. Oh, and wind. It can be pretty biting most of the year, even on an early summer night.

City Stargazing

Well, what if you are a city stargazer? If you can’t get to a dark-sky site (a campground, state park, a family farm, or on a vacation to a national park, for example), it might be tempting to say, “I’m going to stay inside.” Or, you might decide to look at stars on a computer screen. And, that would be totally understandable.

I’ve lived in several big cities, and traveled to many more around the world. In every case, I’ve tried to do some stargazing, within the limits of safety and what the skies would permit. In nearly every city, I could see the brightest stars and planets. The Moon, of course, was obvious, too. You can check it out with binoculars or a small telescope to see details.

Of course, stargazing doesn’t have to happen during the night. There’s a big bright one up there that, with some safety precautions, you can also check out. NEVER look directly at the Sun with the naked eye. And, don’t do it through binoculars. You might be able to observe it through a specially equipped telescope (using solar filters). Or, if you have a telescope but NO filter, here’s a safe way to see sunspots and other solar activities; shine sunlight through the telescope, out through the eyepiece—NOT to your eye, but to a white wall or a piece of white paper. Believe it or not, you can see the sunspots, for example, without risking your eyes. I’ll warn you again, though, do NOT look directly at the Sun with naked eye or through unfiltered optics. Just don’t.

The Planets

I mentioned the planets earlier. The five naked-eye planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, are fair game when they’re well-placed in the sky. I’ve seen them from some of the most light-polluted places on the planet. Of course, if buildings are blocking the view, that’s a problem. But, these objects can be seen—you just might have to be a bit clever about finding them.

As I write this, Venus is just finishing a brilliant run in the western skies and will pop into view in the early morning eastern skies (before sunrise) starting in mid-July. Mercury is visible these days, for a while after sunset. In the early morning skies right now, Mars, Saturn and Jupiter look quite lovely.

To get the latest info on where the planets are, check out Sky & Telescope’s pages or those of other astronomy magazines. You can also use star programs such as Stellarium to create your own finder charts for sky objects.

A sample view of a Stellarium screen, showing early-morning planet locations for late May 2020.

Stargazing in the Deeps

Deep-sky objects are more of a challenge to stargazers in populated areas. Unless you know exactly when and where to look with a telescope, such objects as the Orion Nebula or the Milky Way (our own galaxy), or the Andromeda Galaxy (the spiral galaxy next door), are pretty hard (or impossible) to find. However, with some planning, city dwellers can find a few deep-sky objects. You have to find a way to avoid lights.

One trick is to stay up very late, probably well after midnight. At that point, a lot of buildings shut down their outside lighting. If you can find a spot where that happens, you can search out the Orion Nebula, the Double Cluster, the Pleiades, and other not-too-dim objects. You can also search out places to observe from that are shielded from bright lights (maybe your balcony, or a rooftop with a wall you can use as a light block. If none of those are appealing (or available), perhaps your own porch (or balcony) with a blanket over your head would do. I’ve seen some city stargazers drape their telescopes with tarps or blankets and then duck under to do some deep-sky observing.

Star Parties

When I was teaching at the planetarium, we had to contend with lights from the surrounding town and campus. But, we still tried to have “telescope nights” every week. We searched out areas where the lights weren’t shining, behind the building, etc. and set up the scopes. Although there’s not many of them open right now due to the shutdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic, many planetariums and science centers do set up similar stargazing sessions.

The advantage of going to one of those is that all you have to do is let THEM set up the scopes and then you get to reap the rewards of stargazing. Heck, some of us rural dwellers take advantage of that, too! I suppose when social distancing guidelines permit, star parties will start up again. Those would also be a great way to stargaze, country OR city.

Whatever stargazing you do, wherever you do it from, try to share it with others online. Especially as many of us are still locked down and staying home from more social activities, it’s fun to read about what other people see in the sky. It’s the one thing everyone around the world has to share.