Astronomy Information for Beginners

Were you bitten by the astronomy bug while you were out stargazing last night? Suddenly feeling inspired to learn the more about wonders of the night sky, the solar system, and all the science behind them all? Sky and Telescope Magazine has a page on its website that will serve as your guide to astronomy for beginners.

Check out what's up in the night sky this week. Get advice for buying your first telescope. And find the best coverage you’ll find online of upcoming celestial events such as eclipses and meteor showers.

Ali Matinfar captured this image of stargazers under the Milky Way from the Mesr Desert in Iran.
 Ali Matinfar / Online Photo Gallery.

What's Up In the Night Sky Tonight?

The best guide to astronomy for beginners is the night sky. All you really need to do to get started is look up - preferably at night! You'll find an amazing treasure chest of astronomical wonders, even if you don't have a telescope.

Sky and Telescope's most popular (and free) offering, "This Week's Sky at a Glance," guides you to the naked-eye sky, highlighting the major constellations and planets viewable in the evening sky, with occasional dips into a deep-sky territory. Insight Observatory shares this guide weekly on its social media pages such as Facebook and Twitter.

If you'd rather listen while under the stars, download Sky and Telescope's monthly astronomy podcast and take it with you when you venture out tonight for a guided tour of the night sky.

Or do your own sleuthing with their interactive sky chart.

If there are any major celestial events, such as comets, eclipses, or meteor showers, you'll find all the latest information (including instructions on where to look and detailed sky charts) in their observing news section.

For more information on astronomy for beginners please visit http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-information/

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Your New Telescope's First Targets: The Moon and More

The Moon is one celestial object that never fails to impress in even the most humble scope. It’s our nearest neighbor in space - big, bright, starkly bleak, and just a quarter-million miles away. An amateur telescope and a good Moon map can keep you busy forever.

"Here are three crucial tips for getting started," advises Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine.

See if you can identify these noteworthy features around the time of the full Moon. Some of the most prominent craters display bright rays: splashes of impact debris. Image by Bob King.

The Moon is well-placed in the evening sky this week (December 25–31, 2017) as it waxes from first-quarter to gibbous toward full. It's full on the night of January 1st. But the full moon is actually the worst time for telescopic Moon viewing because it is full, directly sunlit face lacks the shadows that cast mountains and craters into sharp relief. The waxing and waning phases are better, especially for features along the terminator - the lunar sunrise or sunset line. Here you'll see lunar features standing out at their best. The terminator moves quite a bit from night to night, revealing new landscapes when the Moon is waxing and covering them when waning.

Read the full article at  http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/what-to-see-with-your-new-telescope-3/

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Light Pollution Is Increasing

When scientists are disappointed with their results, it's usually because they were following a different hypothesis than where their data leads. In the case of the switch from sodium lights to LEDs, though, it's more than that.

“Honestly, I had thought, assumed, and hoped that with LEDs we were turning the corner,” says Christopher Kyba (German Research Center for Geosciences). Kyba researches the spread of artificial lights and how it affects our nights, and as a former member of the board of directors of the International Dark Sky Association, he also advocates the use of improved lighting practices.

But in the November 22nd Science Advances, Kyba and colleagues show that we are farther from the goal of dark, starry skies than ever.

World maps showing the rates of change of the lit area of the world (left) and the measured brightness of each country (right) during 2012–2016. Warmer colors in each map correspond to higher rates of change. Note that Australia is an odd case: wildfires increased the country's lit area, but this effect was not included in the radiance analysis. Kyba et al. / Science Advances.

More Lights, Brighter Nights

Qatar nighttime lights Outdoor lighting in Doha, Qatar, between 2012 (cyan) and 2016 (red) as seen from the Suomi satellite. Areas newly lit since 2012 appear in bright red. Kyba et al. / Science Advance The team used the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership weather satellite to measure the change in global light emissions between October 2012 and October 2016. The VIIRS instrument is the first-ever calibrated satellite radiometer designed to measure nighttime lights – earlier investigations were often based on uncalibrated sensors on military satellites.

VIIRS observes the Day/Night band (DNB), which picks up visible through near-infrared wavelengths. Each pixel covers ½ square kilometer, a higher spatial resolution than previous instruments, which enables scientists to investigate neighborhood-scale changes, rather than a city or national, for the first time.

The researchers’ findings will not please astronomers: Earth’s nights are becoming brighter.

Read the Full Article by Jan Hattenbach at http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/lost-led-revolution-light-pollution-increasing/

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