Astronomy: A beginner’s guide to stargazing wherever you live – Stylist Magazine

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The only thing more magical than gazing at a velvet-black sky spangled with stars is being able to understand exactly what those sparkly dots are. Stargazing is a time-old tradition and once played a huge part in our society and culture (before we all turned our eyes to the even brighter glow of our smartphones).

If we go back thousands of years, the stars and the night sky were a huge part of life for our ancestors, says Hannah Banyard, an astronomer at Royal Observatory Greenwich. Many ancient calendars were based on the moon and it was really important for people to look at the phase of the moon to decide when to plant and harvest food.

As the modern worlds progressed, weve lost touch with it, but theres something really inspiring about the night sky, says Hannah. Just looking at it gives you a sense of feeling insignificant and part of something larger all at the same time.

With more time to slow down and stare at the world around us during the pandemic, enthusiasm for stargazing rocketed. Weve definitely seen interest kick up, says Hannah. Lockdown was a good time for people to just stop for a moment and look up at the sky properly for the first time.

Looking at the stars was also a way for people to connect with each other during a time when weve never been so far apart. When you had family all over the country, or the world, that you couldnt see, you could still go outside and look at the same things in the sky. Its a lovely way to bring people together, says Hannah.

If youre baffled when it comes to understanding your asterism from your asteroid, heres Hannahs expert guide to getting into stargazing as a beginner wherever you live, from getting the right equipment to knowing where to point your telescope. Happy star spotting.

You can start stargazing in your garden, if youre lucky enough to have one. If not, head to a park or another place thats as dark as possible.

If you want to look at the stars, rather than the moon, pick a night when the moon isnt really out. Moonlight blocks out the fainter stars, says Hannah. So, youre better off going out when you dont have a bright moon. Its also best to avoid cloudy nights, because the cloud cover will obstruct your view of the stars. You can track the movements of the moon on the Royal Observatorys monthly blog.

When youre stargazing its important to head out at the right time. As we enter into summer the days are getting longer so were getting to a time when we wont get a proper astronomical night, says Hannah. She recommends going stargazing later in the summer months when the brighter stars begin to appear. It does get cold though, so wrap up if youre going to be out for a while.

Its best to lie down when youre stargazing. This means you can see more of the night sky and helps to block out light pollution from things like street lamps or your neighbours windows.

To see stars properly, let your eyes adjust to the dark before you start stargazing. Around 20 minutes is enough to get your eyes used to the darkness.

Try not to look at your phone while youre stargazing because it will disrupt your night vision. Astronomers always use red lights, says Hannah, because it doesnt disrupt your night vision as much. You can switch your phone to red light mode.

Just because you live in a light-polluted city, doesnt mean you cant enjoy a spot of stargazing. Cities are filled with high buildings, which means people just dont look up, says Hannah. If they do, theyll notice lots of things in the night sky from the moon to some of our brighter constellations. The longer you keep looking up the more youll start to see.

The Royal Observatory in Greenwich is opposite Canary Wharf, which gives us so much light pollution, but we can still observe things in the night sky.

If you are stargazing in the city Hannah advises avoiding as many light sources as you possibly can. Turn your back and face away from any light, she says. Going up somewhere higher overlooking the city is also helpful. It means the city lights arent as bright and youre closer to the horizon so you can see more of the sky.

You dont actually need that much equipment at all to stargaze. You can observe the moon and lots of brighter constellations just with the naked eye or a pair of binoculars.

If you are more serious about getting into stargazing you might want to invest in a telescope. People can get quite intimidated when it comes to telescopes, but you dont really need to spend more than 100 on a telescope that will let you see things like the rings of Saturn, Hannah suggests buying a four-inch telescope if youre a beginner.

If you dont want to invest in equipment, try joining one of the many amateur astronomy groups around the country, like The Baker Street Irregular Astronomersin London. Youll find that one or two people in the group will have brought all the big equipment with them and theyre happy to share it and talk you through how to use it, says Hannah. These amateur groups are really, really passionate and more than happy to let other people come along.

The full moon is beautiful to look at just with your naked eye, says Hannah.

If you want to look at the moon in more detail its best to wait until its in a different phase. The full moon can look quite flat up close because theres so much light on it, says Hannah. But if you wait for a crescent moon or a quarter moon, you can look at the craters and the mountains on the moon with a pair of binoculars. Theyre quite easy to make out.

The North Star, or Polaris as its known in the astronomy world, is the easiest star to spot in the night sky. Its circumpolar, which means you can see it all year round in the Northern Hemisphere.

To spot it, Hannah suggests looking for The Plough, or The Saucepan as its sometimes called. The Plough is an asterism. This means its not an official constellation, but part of the constellation called Ursa Major or the Great Bear.

Its quite easy to spot because its in a saucepan shape, says Hannah. If you get to the end of the saucepan, the two stars that make up the pan end are Dubhe and Merak. If you draw a straight line between those with your eyes and continue in a straight line to the next star youll see Polaris. Its really, really easy to spot because its so bright.

Once you find Polaris that will face you North because its pretty much directly about the North Pole. This means that once youve found Polaris, youll be able to locate other things in the night sky. If theres something specific you want to look at and you know that North is in front of you, it means to your right will be East, South behind you and West to your left.

Polaris, the North Star, is in the tail of Ursa Minor, which is also known as the Little Bear.

You can see a couple of stars in this constellation with your naked eye, says Hannah. Look for Draco the Dragon, which runs between Ursa Major and around Ursa Minor.

The Summer Triangle is one of my favourite things to spot. You cant miss it, says Hannah. Its made up of three really bright stars. Theyre called Deneb, Vega and Altair.

Whats really beautiful about the Summer Triangle is that if youre somewhere dark enough you can see the stripe of the Milky Way running through it.

It also has a wonderful story behind it in Chinese folklore. The story is about two lovers - Vega and Altair - who are separated by a silver river running between them, which is the Milky Way. The story goes that once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, which is Chinas Valentines Day, the third star, Deneb, becomes a bridge of magpies so the two lovers can meet for one day.

It just shows that when we look up at the sky, its not just what you can see, its also about the culture around the stars and the stories they tell us.

If you decide to invest in a telescope you will be able to make out the constellation of Virgo, which is up in the South at the moment.

Virgo has a really bright star youll be able to spot called, Spica, says Hannah. In Virgo you can also see the Sombrero galaxy. Its a spiral galaxy that youll be able to see side on. It has a bulge in the middle, which is why it looks a bit like a sombrero.

A telescope will also allow you to see the stars different colours. When we look at the stars we just assume theyre all white, but this isnt the case at all.

If you look closer at the Summer Triangle with a telescope you can look for a star called Albireo. Its about halfway between Vega and Altair, says Hannah. If you look with your naked eyeAlbireo will just look like one star, but with a good pair of binoculars or a small telescope, you can make out two stars. One of them is blue and the other is orange. Its part of a double-star system.

A stars colour is due to its temperature. Its the opposite of your kitchen taps, says Hannah. So blue stars are hottest and red stars are the coldest. It goes red, orange, yellow, white, blue from hottest to coldest. For comparison, the Sun is a yellow-white star. Our Sun is actually not a very exciting star, its just the closest one to us.

Another colourful star Hannah suggests looking for is Arcturus. Above Virgo is a constellation called Botes or the herdsman, says Hannah. It really stands out because its got a really bright giant red star called Arcturus. You can see that easily with your naked eye.

If youre prepared to head out at 3am, you will be able to see Jupiter and Saturn in the southeast, says Hannah. They are quite low down on the horizon. You can see those just with your eyes. Theyll be pretty much the brightest things in the sky.

You can find out more about astronomy and stargazing on the Royal Observatory, Greenwich website, including monthly blogs about what you can see in the night sky. Find more e-learning guides on The Curiosity Academy.

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Astronomy: A beginner's guide to stargazing wherever you live - Stylist Magazine