Reddit reviews The Backyard Astronomer's Guide
We found 13 Reddit comments about The Backyard Astronomer's Guide. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Reddit reviews The Backyard Astronomer's GuideWe found 13 Reddit comments about The Backyard Astronomer's Guide. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
An 8" Dobsonian reflector telescope, such as the Orion XT8i with Intelliscope to help you find your way around the sky. $640.
The book NightWatch, $20.
The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, $30.
A planisphere. Get one appropriate for your latitude. $10.
A comfortable camping stool for sitting at the eyepiece, or your back will quickly complain. ~$30.
SkySafari for your iPhone/iPad, $3.
A pair of good binoculars, 8x50 or 10x50, $120.
A nice wide-field (62-degree) eyepiece, like the Explore Scientific 24mm. $140.
That's about $1000.
One more thing to add: a dark sky. Priceless.
I'm a budding amateur myself! Here's what I recommend based on their level of helpfulness.
Start listening to Astronomy Cast
They pretty much cover every topic you can think of in detail and they're really fun to listen to. They're probably the best astronomy podcast or radio show in existence right now.
You can also check out Pamela Gay's other project Slacker Astronomy
There's also 365 days of Astronomy
Which are little 5 or 10 minute user contributed podcasts each day.
For general knowledge. Wikipedia is your friend, I also rely on /r/space and /r/Astronomy to keep me in the know and I read Space.com and Universe Today
For books. I have two in my collection so far. The backyard Astronomer's guide
and Turn left at Orion
Both are excellent books.
I also do not own a telescope. Since I'm just beginning I picked up a pair of Celestron 15x70s which are kind of the go to "beginner" binoculars.
Upvoted both for the scope recommendation (yeah, a 6" Dob would be as decent a scope as you can get for $300) and for the advice to try them at a star party. Let me put it another way: at this stage, you don't need to buy a scope, you need to learn about scopes and what you can see with them. Once you know more, you can decide what scope is good for your circumstances (what you can do with the same 6" Dob in a big city vs the country side is very different).
Read [this book][http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448]. It will take you to much higher level of understanding of amateur astronomy. You may decide to buy a bigger or different scope, you may decide to be content with a 6" Dob or you may drop it. All of these happen. A book such as the one quoted will help you figure out which is the right thing to do for fewer $$ than scope. Enjoy.
Buy the book The Backyard Astronomer's Guide.
It will answer so many questions you have in getting started. It is a bit more expensive, but it will save you tons of time and money that you may spend on the wrong thing down the road. It's one of those books that comes in handy all the time when learning about astronomy.
It covers the basics of telescope types, what you should expect to see, what to avoid, where to look based on where you live, etc.
You need to learn a few things before you can fully enjoy a new hobby like this. It is a great book.
If you're going to be looking into the academic side of it, you will definitely be encountering some math. A degree in astronomy will be nearly tit-for-tat with physics majors in math classes. I'm not either (engineering, here) but from what I've heard they are very much alike.
I would say that starting at a community college is a great idea! Higher chances of boosting your grades and looking more attractive to other universities. If you do, maybe consider transferring to a larger, more prestigious school once you've got a a good foundation/GPA. Not necessary, but a great move if possible.
I got a book this past Christmas to fuel my armchair-interest in astronomy - I believe it was recommended by this subreddit too! Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448
Good luck!
http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundred-Telescope/dp/0521781906
http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448/ref=pd_sim_b_3
Astronomy is an expensive hobby. I would start (for about $100) with:
Where you go from there depends greatly on your viewing habits/locations (e.g. will you generally be looking in light polluted skies or nice dark skies, any interest in astrophotography or just viewing? Do you want to spend a lot of time viewing the planets?, etc.).
Also keep in mind that having a telescope with no accessories is kind of like having a car with nothing in the engine compartment. You also need a few eyepieces, a telrad or some other mechanism to help with spotting, and soon you'll want filters, a spotting scope, a CCD (if you want to do astrophotography), a better mount, etc.
Anyway, I'd advise to start with those first 3 components and see how you like it. :)
I've been reading [The Backyard Astronomer's Guide] (http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/product-description/1554073448) which includes a lot of information about telescopes, equipment, finding your way around the night sky, observing objects in our solar system and the deep sky, and photography. It's not super scientific and written in an easy-to-read style with lots of great photos. It encompasses just about everything about basic astronomy and observing the sky.
This.
https://www.amazon.ca/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448
Oh, gotcha. I understand now. Then yeah, get him a telescope and he'll appreciate it. More than anything it shows that you pay attention to him and care about his hobbies. Also, be sure he has a copy of Stellarium (it's free) and for future presents you can get him copies of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide and Turn Left at Orion not to mention the countless accessories that are available in the astronomy world. Just pop back over to /r/astronomy if you need more ideas!
Edit: Stellarium link
I run an 8" schmidt-cassegrain and from my backyard balcony on clear cool nights I can see some spectacular stuff in the city (some colours on Jupiter, the rings of Saturn if I am lucky, some larger nebula). If you don't want to spend a fortune, and are okay with something bulky get him a Dobsonian, the larger the aperture the better light collection and a better chance he can pierce through the light pollution of our city. Some Dobsonians can be broken down for easier transport.
For better viewing head to a park (nose hill, fish creek, etc.), or better yet out of the city (I know not feasible).
The U of C has an observatory south of the city towards priddis/millarville, and I believe they have open nights for amateurs that you and your son could visit to get taste for things. If you contacted the U of C they might be able to get you in touch with the people that go and you could car pool out there to see what its like. While there talk to the people on what to get him, and get some contact info help get things setup, they are super friendly as a community.
To feed his appetite you could buy him the The Backyard Astronomer's Guide which has tons of great info.
Edit: Forgot to say... When I got started it was with a reclining lawn chair and some binoculars, you can work your way up from there if he really stays interested.
Turn Left at Orion is often recommended. It seems to be great for learning about navigating and observing the night sky with binoculars or a telescope and what you can expect to see.
I have the Backyard Astronomer's Guide, which is extremely comprehensive and teaches just about everything such as navigating the night sky, information about the various types of objects, observing with the naked eye, binoculars, and telescopes, details about different types of telescopes and accessories and how to use them, and a few sections on astrophotography.
However, it is a bit hefty and not super cheap. And it doesn't include a detailed sky atlas (but it does talk about them).
Stellarium is a very popular planetarium program. It's awesome. And free!
My favorites are:
The Backyard Astronomer's Guide, http://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Astronomers-Guide-Terence-Dickinson/dp/1554073448
A Guide to Backyard Astronomy (I found this one at a 2nd hand bookstore, not sure if it's still in print. This is my absolute favorite because of some great starhopping tours they put in the back)
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Backyard-Astronomy-Starhopping-Exploring/dp/187701933X
EDIT: Here's an example of one of the starhop tours in A Guide to Backyard Astronomy. http://imgur.com/a/enXLO
The icons clearly indicate whether the target is a naked eye, binocular, or telescope object.
Of course there's the ubiquitous Turn Left at Orion. I can't say much about it since I've never actually gotten around to reading it. http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Left-Orion-Hundreds-Telescope/dp/0521153972
Alternatively, check out http://eyesonthesky.com/
as well as Mr. Fuller's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/eyesontheskyDOTcom
The "Basics" playlists are damn good, and unlike a lot of other sources, the practical demonstrations on video make things super clear to understand.