Naked Eye Astronomy

Beginners Guide To Astronomy

Naked Eye Astronomy

By Shawn Grant

This article is going to carry on the same tradition as the previous article by introducing the beginner to the wonderful world of astronomy. This article also has a lot of information for the advanced amateur as well. We often forget that there is a naked eye universe that is very rewarding. Many beginners think that sense they don't have a telescope that there is nothing for them to do. That is a very wrong misconception. There is a universe of things to do with just the naked eye.

Meteor showers are one of the most spectacular events one can observe. A meteor shower is that basically the Earth passing through a condensed area of dust and the dust flies through the atmosphere that heats up the dust and a glow is seen. The result is a spectacular display. The best way to view a meteor shower in fact the only way to observe a meteor shower is with the naked eye.

There are several meteor showers occurring during the year. The Leonids happens on November 17. The radiant, the point in which meteors appear is near the neck of Leo. The average amount of meteors seen per hour is 15. This shower is best viewed in the morning.

The Geminids is one of the best showers of the year. I remember driving home from work last year a seeing several bright meteors while speeding down the highway. I got home and stayed out for about a half a hour and counted about 30 meteors. This shower occurs on December 13. The radiant is north of Castor and Pollux. You can expect to see between 50 and 60 meteors per hour. The Quadrantids is another great shower. It is occurring just after New Years on the 3rd. The radiant is near the northern border of Bootes. There are about 40 meteors per hour, which makes this a fairly rich shower. When a meteor shower is occurring dress very warm and sit in a convertible reclining lawn chair. It is also a great pleasure to share this experience with your significant other.

Following the paths of our planetary neighbors is a great pleasure and a lot of fun. This will also help you to identify the planets. On October 22, 1997 Mars was nice and bright and just a little over two degrees to the south was Venus. The pair was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. This event happens fairly often and predictions can be found in Sky and Telescope and Astronomy magazines. Observe the moon follow the phases also many of the craters and mare can be seen with the naked eye.

Deep sky observing can be done with the naked eye. There are many deep sky objects visible to the naked eye. The obvious ones are M31, The North American Nebula, Double Cluster in Perseus, M45 and many others. These are easy targets and are often used to judge how good the sky conditions are. Practice averted vision on them. Try to see how much detail you can see. This will help with your telescope observations. There are some other objects worth mentioning about that are fairly easy but are often over looked. CR 399 is an easy naked eye object. M33 can be seen in good skies. M11, M24 and M8 appear as bright patches to the naked eye. If you like some challenges try this. Use a nebula filter and see if you can see the Barnard's Loop, California Nebula and The Rosette Nebula these objects can and has been seen with a nebula filter. Many dark nebulas in the Milky Way are readily visible to the naked eye. The great rift in Cygnus is one out of many others that is a treat. There are 70 or so OB associations scattered along the arms of the Milky Way. OB associations are often over looked even with binocular observers. The Alpha Perseus Association is a great naked eye object. The Double cluster is part of OB1. For more info on OB associations there is a great article on them from Jan 1986 issue of Sky and Telescope.

The starry sky is one of the most beautiful sights available. All you need to enjoy the splendors is your eyes. Even the dedicated telescope users enjoy taking a break from the eyepiece to enjoy naked eye treats. Real science can be gained by observing meteor showers and sending your observation to the IMO. Even with deep sky the challenges of sighting a faint object is just as rewarding as bagging Jones 1 with a telescope. Perhaps the AL should come out with a certificate for naked eye deep sky. The most important thing to remember is to have fun.