Are you a professional astronomer or scientist?
No, just an enthusiastic amateur and life-long space nerd. You can read more about me here.
Can you actually see anything from the city?
Yes! The Moon can punch its way through urban light pollution and is breathtaking to observe. Planets like Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, which are close enough to appear as disks (as opposed to very distant point sources like stars) show considerable detail. Targets like the Pleiades (an open star cluster) and the Orion Nebula (a gas cloud where stars are being formed) are also fun to view from the city.
How long have you been doing this – and why?!
I started doing street astronomy in 2018. But I’ve been a space nerd all my life. Books about space exploration, astronomy, and science in general have always lined my bookshelves.
In 1998 I got my first telescope as a Christmas gift from my girlfriend. (She’s now my wife of 23 years.) I immediately began sharing the night sky with friends and family from backyards, even as I clumsily learned to use my new equipment.
In 2018, frustrated by how infrequently I could get out of the city to observe, I set up my telescope on a NYC street corner for the first time. It was an act of defiance more than anything else. I assumed I wouldn’t see much. I was wrong. (See Can you actually see anything in the city? above.)
I also assumed that passersby would think it very strange to see someone with a telescope and stay away. Also wrong. Within ten minutes I had a line of excited people, eager to observe.
I realized I was on to something.
How much does all that equipment cost?
A lot. 🙂 But the night sky is free for anyone to enjoy, no equipment needed. A star map or book is helpful if you want to learn the constellations and brightest stars (see book recommendations below).
If you’re keen to observe through a telescope, there are affordable, entry-level options. More on that below.
What astronomy books and apps do you recommend?
Books: The Monthly Sky Guide (10th edition): the one book to have if you only have one!
Night Sky with the Naked Eye is also great. It doesn’t have the incredible, full page star maps that The Monthly Sky Guide has, but goes into much more detail. The two are perfect for any aspiring stargazer – and are first-stop resources for many experienced stargazers, including me.
Turn Left at Orion: the essential accompaniment for new telescope owners. Learn how to find targets and what they’ll look like in the eyepiece. Hint: they won’t look like Hubble photos!
The Stars: A New Way to See Them: excellent for learning constellations and the night sky in general. At a glance it may look like it’s just for kids, but it’s not.
Apps: Sky Safari, SkyView, What’s Up.
What telescope do you recommend for beginners?
Learning to use a telescope is challenging at first. Setting up unfamiliar equipment in the dark, peering through the eyepiece at a small circle of sky suddenly filled with hundreds of stars you couldn’t see before, the cold, the insects . . . It’s amazing that any of us make it through those frustrating first nights out.
But astronomy greatly rewards patience and perseverance. If you think you’ve got what it takes, read on.
First, before buying anything, you should learn the night sky. See What astronomy books do you recommend? above. You can spend a lifetime studying the night sky with just your eyes.
Also before buying, consider attending star parties hosted by local astronomy clubs. A club event will have several or even dozens of amateur astronomers with many different kinds of telescopes. It’s a great way to experience the views, ergonomics, and size of the different types. And a great way to learn from experienced observers.
Second, please do not buy anything from Amazon. There is so much junk for sale there and you’ll receive little, if any, after-sale support. And do not buy anything that advertises its magnification in loud all-caps. 500x, 750x, or greater magnification are absurd advertising gimmicks.
I also do not recommend telescopes that rely on smartphones for use. This is a new approach to make finding targets easier for beginners. But I don’t like using smartphones in the field and there’s no substitute for learning the sky.
Third, please do buy from a reputable retailer that specializes in astronomy. There are several. My favorite is Astronomics. It’s a family-owned business that’s been around for decades. You can call (often the owner answers the phone) and get great advice.
In fact before buying anything, read Astronomics’ excellent primers on telescope terminology and the buying guides on their website. You’ll get a good grasp of the technical terms and what might work well for you.
Finally, after these lengthy preliminaries (and keeping in mind that if you ask ten amateur astronomers for their recommendation you’ll get ten different answers), I think that a good-quality 70 to 100 mm refractor, on a solid alt-az mount, is the ideal intersection of sharp views, ease-of-use, and portability.
There are other options with different trade-offs. For example, a person who is mechanically inclined might be comfortable with a less expensive telescope that occasionally requires basic maintenance in the field. A good retailer like Astronomics can help you find a solution within your budget and that suits you.
(If you want to know what telescope and mount I use, I’ve listed my equipment here.)
Binoculars are a great option and often much less expensive. Keep in mind that, unlike even the smallest telescope, typical-sized binoculars won’t resolve planetary detail like Saturn’s rings. But they will show beautiful sparkling star fields and some of the larger, brighter deep sky objects like the Andromeda Galaxy.
10×50 is a good size for astronomy. (The first number refers to the magnification (10x), while the second number (50) is the size of the lenses in millimeters.)
Larger lenses take in more light, revealing more stars and detail. But size and weight become a factor. You may want a monopod or small tripod to steady the view. Smaller choices like 8×42 can work well and are easier to manage. Expensive image-stabilized binoculars are excellent for hand-held astronomy.
For binoculars specialists I recommend the nice people at Oberwerk , another small family-owned business.
Feel free to contact me with questions about buying your first telescope.
Do you think there’s intelligent extraterrestrial life out there somewhere?
Short answer: Yes. (But no, they are not secretly living among us or spying on us from orbit.)
Long answer: In the 1990s astronomers developed the first equipment capable of detecting exoplanets (planets around other stars). The detection parameters were extremely narrow due to the limitations of that technology. Expectations were low.
In 1995 astronomers discovered 51 Pegasi, the first planet orbiting another star. The second followed in 1996. Then two more in 1997 and 1998.
As the technology and techniques have improved, the detection parameters have widened: the ability to detect more distant and more kinds of planets improved. And so the rate of discovery has increased so that to date there are 5743 confirmed exosolar planets.
Most of these planets orbit stars within a few hundred light-years of our own solar system. Our galaxy is 100,000 light-years wide; it contains about a trillion stars. We’ve only examined a few thousand–a tiny fraction–of those stars for exoplanets.
How many more planets are there in the Milky Way? How many different environments exist on those worlds, both those we can imagine and those we can’t yet? What is possible with so many planets and 13 billion years to work with?
And that’s just our galaxy. There are trillions of galaxies.
Do I think we’re alone? No. It’s only a matter of time before we discover them. Or they discover us. If they haven’t already. 🙂
Our radio and television signals have been propagating in all directions since the 1930s. Anyone within 90 light-years of us who is listening for signs of a technological civilization could have detected them.
Contact, one of my favorite science fiction movies, tells a story of what might happen if someone detects our transmissions – and replies.
