Stargazing

Nebulae split into three observable types — emission, reflection, and planetary — and each rewards a different combination of aperture,…

Charles Messier built his catalog as a list of fuzzy patches he wanted to ignore — objects he kept mistaking…

Deep sky objects include galaxies, nebulae, star clusters, and planetary nebulae located beyond our solar system. Amateur telescopes with 6-inch…

A backyard chicken coop with bright white security lighting can wash out 80-90% of the visible-magnitude stars from a backyard…

A moon garden surrounding an observing patio solves a problem most amateur astronomers don’t realize they have: the 20-30 minutes…

Understanding the Bortle Scale The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale, developed by amateur astronomer John Bortle in 2001, rates the darkness of…

Jupiter: The King of Planets Jupiter is the most rewarding planet for telescope observation, showing visible detail at magnifications as…

How to Start Stargazing Tonight You do not need a telescope, a degree, or a dark mountain to start stargazing….