Stargazing Definition and 18 Threads

This experience of mine is based on the Geminids meteor shower this year because during the Geminids this year the moon was 95.9% illuminated! How can I deal with this issue when stargazing next time? Moon phase data from: [Spam link redacted by the Mentors]

My friend and I were looking at constellations to find where T Coronae Borealis will be. There were lots of meteors, despite not quite being time for the Perseids. It was thursday, around 10pm. We also saw satellites, and something else: Singular flashes like from a camera. At first I...

I'm just starting out with amateur astronomy and decided to buy a 10x50 Celestron Up-close G2 binoculars. I believe that tomorrow is the planet parade (the aligning of 6 planets) and I'd like to catch a glimpse of it. In the bortle 7 location that I'm in, I could only see a handful of stars...

Hello friends, I am here to ask for your humble tips and techniques before I can start my journey towards the Sky. I have been passionate about Astronomy, I always adore the stars and I have now decided to observe them with me very eyes. Do you have any suggestions for a beginner equipment that...

Any opinions about the Zeiss Terra ED 10x42 binoculars? OK for simple stargazing? (I have an opportunity to get them very cheap.) They are marketed for birdwatchers, so not sure if they'd be a good choice for simple sky/star watching. (As should be obvious, I am very much an amateur.)

Hello all, First of all thanks for taking the time to look at my post, and thanks ahead of time to those willing to answer my question. I've always loved Astronomy and have done quite a bit of self-study over the years. I have a pair of binoculars but want to get a telescope. I'll start by...

First decent weekend of the year- 4 clear nights in a row. Took these of the waxing moon: The moon was really close to Jupiter on Sunday night: 4 consecutive nights to show the motion of Jupiter's inner moons: one night I could make out Jupiter's red spot, not bad for a 6"...

Janus submitted a new PF Insights post How Representative is the Night Sky? Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.

Hi my question is about how the brightness of stellar objects is effected when we look at them through a telescope. Firstly when I looked through a telescope I noticed there were more stars I could see. Is the reason because a telescope can gather more light than our eye or does it have...

I bought the celestron firstscope about 4 to 5 months ago.in the beginning I was pretty excited and enthusiastic but as time wore on,I found myself away from the scope.now I want to restart astronomy but I would like some tips to make it more fun and interesting so that my scope don't end up...

I want to buy some binoculars, but since I'm new to this thought I'd ask for some advice. I've found a few candidates on amazon, what do you reckon? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7LQ9QU/?tag=pfamazon01-20 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3QH60E/?tag=pfamazon01-20 Then these are really cheap (but...

Hi all. I'm new here but excited to be mingling with so many intelligent people. I'm British but live in Romania (Near Brasov) and 2 nights ago I was delighted to see some of Jupiters moons with the naked eye. I tried to get some pictures but without the right equipment it was a bit of a...

I heard this somewhere, very randomly. I wonder why? Is it because in winter time, there is less water activity, hence clearer weather? But in some area, winter is actually more humid. Please help! thanks!

Does the time taken for a stars light to reach us, relative to it's true position as it moves through the galaxy give us a time distorted view of the night sky? I assume so, has there ever been an attempt to adjust this time distortion to give us a true representation of what we are really...

Is the furthst star in the sky to the left or the right, when looking at the sky towards the south from Georgia (March/winter)?

I live in Southern California, right in heart of Orange County and within walking distance of Disneyland and when I look up at the night sky, on a cloudless day I will only be able to make out at first glance less than a dozen stars (I just tested it by walking outside, 4 noticeable stars at...

Where to look? When I see a news story about when to see celestial events (in this case an alignment) how much to I have to adjust for my geographic position on the Earth?? I am reading a story directed at those in the United States, but as I am currently in a different hemisphere how would I...

I tried to check out Mars and the moon the other night with my new orion dob.. but it was so humid that the scope got all fogged up... is this just something you have to live with? Are nights of high humidity just bad nights to go observing?