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How to become an astronomy star

Posted on 14 Apr 2009 at 11:58

In between Google Earth and the specialist apps sits a third option: Worldwide Telescope (WWT) from Microsoft's Research division. WWT offers the 3D planets, horizon simulation and accurate motion of the dedicated apps, but combines it with the educational and content-creation features of Google Sky. Plus, like Google Earth, it's free.

In many respects WWT is the superior product, marrying excellent planetary and deep-space imagery with a slicker interface and superb content-creation features shaped around the concept of tours. Not only can you follow tours created by various astronomers, institutions and publications, you can also make your own using text, voice-over and any images you import or capture. It's also easy to flip between observing objects in the visible spectrum and the radio, infrared, x-ray, gamma and microwave spectrums used by professional astronomers. At present, WWT doesn't seem to have captured the imagination of a wider community in the way Google Earth has, and some features are distressingly US-biased, but as a tool to explore the planets or make the cross into "practical" astronomy, it's arguably a better bet.

There's one other web-based service that might appeal to armchair astronomers, and that's SLOOH. SLOOH gives you access to live imagery from large, well-situated telescopes in the Canary Islands, Chile and Australia, allowing you to follow preset missions to specific planets or objects, or to "reserve" control of the telescope and target it yourself for a five-minute period. At $50 (£35) for a year of access or $15 (£11) for 100 minutes, SLOOH isn't cheap, but it's cheaper than buying your own telescope and - if you live in a built-up area with heavy light pollution - you'll see an awful lot more.

Computer-controlled telescopes

Virtual astronomy can be an end in itself. As Robin Scagell, vice-president of the UK's Society for Popular Astronomy puts it, "there's quite a big gulf between looking at Google Sky or whatever and actually taking it up practically", and many users "are as likely to be content with that and just say 'wow'". However, if using Worldwide Telescope or SLOOH gives you the astronomy bug, PC technology can help you take your interest much, much further.

At the simplest level, you can use a program such as Stellarium, Starry Night or WWT to plan an evening's viewing, working out a list of objects to observe then getting your bearings as to how to see them, using the classic "starhopping" technique where you find obvious landmarks, such as the stars in Orion's belt, and use them to find nearby objects (for example, the Orion nebula). You don't have to splash out on a telescope to begin with. Astronomy Now's Keith Cooper recommends "a pair of 10 x 50 binoculars to get started; they're inexpensive and you'll be surprised how much you can see through them".

Web-based resources such as Weather Underground can help plan observations in advance, and if you have a laptop you can take your star charts out with you. Just lower the brightness or use the special "red screen" mode in your chosen astronomy program so that your eyes stay adjusted to the darkness.

If you're willing to invest more, you can buy a telescope with what's called a GoTo mount. These start at £250-£600 inc VAT for a Celestron NexStar SLT or Meade ETX, and are designed to align themselves automatically using location information you provide and available features of the night sky. After this, you can control them with a simple handset and get them to point at anything in their library of stars, planets and deep sky objects at the press of a button. What's more, with a cable - sometimes optional, sometimes supplied - you can hook them up to a PC or laptop and use a program such as Starry Night, The Sky, Stellarium or WWT to control the telescope and find objects in the same way. If you already have a laptop, you can set up a computerised observatory for as little as £350 exc VAT.