Stargazing: 7 Surefire Steps to a Stellar Night

Whether you are a beginner or novice stargazer, there are some basic steps you can take to make your stargazing more fun. (Note: This post does include some affiliate links to Amazon to give you examples of what I’m talking about.)

1. Lay a Blanket Down

Whether or not you are stargazing from the grass or from a concrete parking lot, bringing a blanket will help you be more comfortable. After all, who doesn’t want a snuggly place to sit or lay to enjoy the stars overhead? That cozy blanket also gives you a soft surface to lay delicate telescope parts or binoculars. In addition to being soft, it can protect your stuff from  getting as wet as if you were to lay them on the ground, so that you can enjoy your stargazing in peace.

2. Find the North (or South) Star

Depending on where you are, you should look for the North or “South” star. These stars are closest to their respective “celestial poles”. The celestial poles are essentially stationary in the sky and provide a means for finding all other stars and constellations. The North Star, Polaris, is at the end of the tail of the constellation “Little Dipper”. It can be found very easily if you are in the northern hemisphere. Just about every planetarium app on your phone and computer will point to where it is.

The South star, Sigma Octantis (Polaris Australis), is extremely close to the south pole, but it is barely visible to the naked eye on a regular night, much less one with light pollution. Instead, you will have to find the southern cross (constellation Crux), and find where it is pointing. It may be difficult, so you may wish to have an app guide you.

The reason for finding the North and South Stars is so that you can find a steady point while stargazing, and also so that you can point any equatorial mounted telescopes in the proper direction. However, it is not required, and can be very tricky for beginner’s to find.

3. Get Star Charts

Even the best astronomers occasionally need a refresher as to where stars are located in the sky. Install a star charting application like Star Walk on your computer or phone. These helpful apps use GPS to locate your position and show you exactly which stars and planets are around you based on the time of year. Many applications are free. However, if you want a more sophisticated application you can pay for premium applications which offer more features and/or more detailed maps.

If you’d rather put down electronics while stargazing or your smart phone simply has an unreliable battery, you may want to carry a physical star map. Several online stores offer physical maps. Or, if you subscribe to or pick up a copy of Astronomy Magazine, you’ll find detailed star charts that you can bring along with you.

Pro Tip: If you are using a physical map, bring along a flashlight that casts only red light. Red light is the only color of light that prevents you from losing your night vision, which could impede your viewing.

4. Bring Filters for Your Telescope (or Binoculars)

Many amateur and novice astronomers are often disappointed because the views they see through the telescope don’t match what they’ve seen in pictures, on the news, and in textbooks. The difference? Professional astronomers, and most amateur astronomers, use filters. Filters can reduce unwanted light, produce more contrast, or even change the color of the image to make it more dramatic.

Astronomers often have six filters of different colors and one clear glass filter. These glass filters attach to telescope lenses, or to binoculars, where they change the color of incoming light. This is an excellent option.

Glass filters can be expensive, so some prefer to use colored gelatin coated on clear plastic (which should be disposed eventually as it will degrade). For the gelatin, there are options with color, and neutral options. The filter you choose should depend on what objects you are viewing and how often you use your telescope/binoculars to view astronomical objects.

Some telescope companies also offer entire sets of filters at a cheaper price. This includes filters that increase the magnification of your telescope. You’ll see for this kit they range from 32mm to 6mm, the smaller the filter size, the greater the magnification. Here is one option. This is the website, which offers a better description of what each filter does.

If you are more interested in buying a set of a filters specified for viewing the planets, this is an excellent set. It offers 20 different color filters, and each will offer a unique perspective of the planets. You can also use this set on nebulae as well.

Pro Tip: You can buy special filters for your telescope that filter out all of the harmful rays of the sun, thereby allowing you to view the sun in the daytime. DO NOT go cheap on these filters. The only person that will get hurt is you. The best options are Mylar filters (will tint the sun blue) or the more expensive glass filters with metal coating (natural looking sun, but at least 50% more expensive for a good quality one). If you are stargazing during the day, you cannot go without one of these.

5. Check the Weather

Cloudy / Stormy Stargazing Conditions

While this may seem like an obvious tip, it is the most common mistake when stargazing. There are various factors you need to check for if you plan to bring a telescope. Most importantly, you have to check if it will be cloudy or if it will rain. Clouds won’t let you see through them, and rain will not only prevent you from being able to see, but will get you and your equipment wet.

Light Pollution

After you check the weather, you then need to assess your prospective viewing area for light pollution. Light pollution is artificial light that interferes with stargazing. You can check this in advance on websites like Dark Site Finder, LightPollutionMap, or ArcGIS (if you click these links, give them a moment to load the images).

Q: What do you do if you live in the city and light pollution is bad?
A: If you are using a telescope or binoculars, you can buy light pollution reducing (LPR) lenses for your telescope. These are specifically designed to filter out the adverse affects of city lights.

“Seeing”

The next condition to check is “seeing”. This is basically a measurement of upper atmospheric turbulence, which is best interpreted as how “blurry” something looks through a telescope. Good seeing results in better views and images while stargazing. Poor seeing results in extremely blurry, and “twinkly”, stars. Meteoblue keeps track of “seeing” by location (this link takes you to Tampa, but you can change this to your location in the upper lefthand corner). A legend at the bottom of their page tells you how to read these “seeing” charts.

Dew Point

Another often forgotten statistic to check is the dew point. The best conditions are those in which the dew point is the lowest. This is because if the temperature reaches the dew point (which it often will), then dew will develop on your binoculars, telescopes, and cameras while stargazing. Most online services can give you the dewpoint, but I like to check NOAA for dewpoint forecasts. If you hover over the times on the left side, the map on the right will display to show you the values. On that map, you can check more than just dewpoint as well.

Temperature / Humidity

Lastly, check the temperature and humidity. You don’t want to be out in the freezing cold, or the ridiculously hot, unless there’s a particularly interesting astronomical event. Again, you can easily check both temperature and humidity on a weather app. Even if you don’t mind the cold while stargazing, you telescope will. If you need

6. Filter Your Phone & Stargazing Distractions

Many stargazers today find themselves too easily distracted by their phones. Here are two simple solutions to help reduce its distracting qualities while stargazing: 1. Put your phone on silent. 2. Add a blue light filter to your phone. The blue light filter also has the added benefit of helping you have a better night’s sleep.

7. Look for Meteor Showers

Every year there are thousands of meteors that come blazing through the earth’s atmosphere leaving the trail of a “shooting star” behind. You can often look up what times of year these showers will occur and take your telescope or binoculars with you to watch the show. Here is the link to the American Meteor Society website and the meteor calendar.

Pro Tip: Be sure to check to see how much moon light will be out. When the moon is out, the light reflected from its surface will interfere with your ability to see meteors (and stars/constellations/nebulae to a lesser degree).

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In conclusion…

I hope these tips help you have a stellar night! And, as always, be careful when stargazing. Use the right filters and equipment. Do your own research. No risky selfies or stargazing from cliffs, ok? Stay safe and have fun!

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