Astronomy

Observation, sketching and what I've learned so far.

Starting out

First things first - a map

When starting out with astronomy, many of us think that buying a telescope is the first step. However, it is more important to get a good star atlas or a map of nightly skies, so that one knows what to look for and where to look for it.

You may be familiar with constellations such as Orion, Big Dipper or Cassiopeia, but there are many more constellations, asterisms (patterns), and bright stars to first familiarize ourselves with.
These patterns and stars are useful guideposts as we observe the nightly skies with bare eyes, binoculars (yes, binoculars!), or telescopes.

Equipment

Red Light
Before one buys binoculars or a telescope, a red light source (such as a headlamp) is a must.
Regular flashlights disrupt our night vision, making it harder to see stars and other deep sky objects. Red light preserves this sensitivity and allows us to see better at night.
This is useful when needing to look at the sky map or star atlas, or even write down notes or do some sketching or astrophotography.
Fortunately, red light headlamps are relatively affordable and with one of those and the Free Monthly SkyMap, you are ready to head out and locate stars, constellations, and asterisms without any other tools.
Field Journal
Also reccomended is a journal to write down your observations and other points of interest while observing. Writing down notes such as date, time, location, temperature, seeing conditions, what you saw, who you were with, and any other unexpected happenings (satellites, nightly visitors such as raccoons and opposums), will make your observations much more memorable.
Optics - Binoculars and Telescopes
OK, you've got your "star-legs" and are ready to more closely observe nebulas (nebulae), double stars and a host of other nightly exibits.
One of the nicest and most surprising things about binoculars and scopes is their increased light gathering ability compared to human eyes. Whereas with your eyes you may see one or a few stars in a particular spot, with optics, you will see a great deal more. You will be able to see stars and asterisms you didn't even know were there.
Rather than reccomending which type of binoculars or telescope to get, I will briefly go over some pros and cons of each.

Binoculars range in prices, mostly determined by their magnification power, aperture size, quality of their optics, size and weight, and other features such as waterproofing or fogproofing. Some of these features are more important for other hobbies, such as concerts, sporting events, hunting, birding or general nature observation.
Of course, depending on your interests and activities such advantages and multiple use cases may be just what you're looking for.
Binoculars are easier to carry in and out of the house, and can go with you on vacations easier than a telescope. Binoculars also give a "wider" field of view, giving more "pleasing" views of asterisms and objects.

Telescopes on the other hand will give you closer views of particular objects. However, just because something is closer and bigger in your eyepiece, doesn't necessarily make for a more enjoyable experience. At higher magnifications, objects move much more quickly through your eyepiece, requiring frequent adjustments to your telescope.
(There are rotating telescope mounts that can alleviate this issue, but they do have their cost.)

If you have access to binoculars, print out the monthly sky map, and on a clear and dark night, head out and see if you like what you see.
Otherwise, find a local astronomy club and take a look through each. Then you can evaluate cost, convenience, and views that appeal to you most.

Personally, I use both. "Binos" are easy to bring out of the house and take a quick look around. Then depending on time available, temperature, viewing conditions and what is visible, I may bring out the "scope". But in either case I bring out my red light lamp, map and journal.

Sketching

At the very least, one shuld make observation notes while observing the nightly skies.

In additions to notes, sketching is a popular side-hobby that many of us practice to record what we see through the viewfinder. Sketching can take many different forms - from basic and simple sketches to more elaborate color drawings to very specific, color correct, and accurate representations of "through the viewfinder" views.

A sketch of Moon and Jupiter rising over Colorado mountains.
An example of a sketch, a naked eye observation of a crescent Moon and Jupiter rising over Colorado Rockies.

Astrophotography

The most important piece of equipment for astrophotography is your wallet.

You'll need a good to great telescope (so you can capture as much light as you can), a good to great equatorial (rotating) mount (so you can track your target), a good to great camera (so you can record the light that comes in) , and then a computer and software to process what you captured.
But, with all that, you can get some photos that will impress your friends and family.

(Sadly, getting NASA quality photos can be difficult even with great equipment, simply due to the atmospheric abberations that affect all ground based telescopes.)