What to Expect From Your First Night With Your First Telescope

How to get the most out of your first night observing with your first telescope, including what to observe and when to observe.

To get the most out of your first night observing with your first telescope, there are a few things you should take the time to carry out before carrying your new telescope outside and pointing it starwards expecting to see the heavens revealed in all their glory.

You can divide these into three categories - getting to know your equipment, getting to know your observing site and getting to know the night sky.

Get to Know Your Telescope BEFORE Your First Night Out

First of all, have a go at setting up your telescope during daylight hours, and in the warm, to get the feel for it and how all the parts together. You don't want to be fumbling around in the dark on your first night wondering how everything fits together while the starry skies are glistening above you.

When you come to set up the mount and the tripod, you should make sure you know how to make the setup sturdy and secure, and how to level the legs. It's also a good idea to work out how you should be orientating the mount for observing - on some tripods, one of the legs needs to be pointing north. If you have a motor drive, it is also worth knowing how to align the mount with the night sky, so that you do not need to keep moving the telescope during observations.

During the winter months, it can get quite cold outside and can be a shock on your first night. I've even had my tripod frost over on cold evenings. Be sure to wrap up warm and wear gloves when going out.

You may be tempted to point the telescope out a window and stay in the warmth of the house, however, this is a bad idea. Even worse is to point the telescope through the glass. Window glass is optically poor quality and has many internal reflections. You will notice this when looking out the window at the moon and notice several ghost images. Also, viewing out a window severely restricts your field of view and the temperature difference between the warm indoors and the cold outdoors will create thermal distortions, spoiling your first night viewing.

Getting to Know Your Observing Site

This leads to the place you intend to observe from. If that's from your garden, then it's worth finding out which direction is which with a compass, and considering whether the view in any direction is affected by tall trees, buildings or bright lights. If these do affect the view, and a location where the effect is minimised. It's also worth remembering that while a clear northern view is useful for aligning to the Pole Star, the best horizon to have clear is a southerly one.

If your observation site is away from your home, be sure to check access times. Some car park gates are locked after a certain time and you don't want to be locked in on your first night out. Check for nearby roads - will any passing cars be driving towards you with high beams on? If so these will severely impact your enjoyment. Is the site safe and secure? Are there any obstacles you can fall over or into when you can't see at night?

Getting to Know the Night Sky

You may already have some knowledge of the stars and constellations, through naked-eye stargazing or from using binoculars, and while it's useful to know something about the sky before you start observing, your first telescope is a great way to get to know the night sky better. You should certainly have access to a good star map, or even better an interactive planetarium software such as the excellent and free Stellarium .

Before going outside, get your eyes accustomed to the dark by turning the lights out in the house. This way your eyes can get adjusted to the dark, while you remain warm. Remember to only use a red light torch!

The most obvious, and easiest, first target is the Moon. Through a telescope, the barren landscape becomes filled with craters, mountain ranges, rilles and other amazing features. It is easy to locate in the sky and will allow you to get used to aiming your telescope. Just remember that because the Moon is so bright it will affect your night vision, so you are probably better off observing the Moon first, then getting your eyes dark adapted.

Depending on the time of year, the two largest planets, Jupiter and Saturn, are very good to look at with a small telescope. They are also easy to locate, often being the brightest object in the sky after the Moon and are easily identifiable with a low-power eyepiece. Mars is also a good target but can be a little more difficult to locate.

Another easy target in the winter months is the Great Orion Nebula, low on the South Eastern horizon. Through a small telescope, you should be able to make out some nebulosity which forms the curved shape of the nebula, while a larger telescope may reveal a bit more detail and structure to the Sword of Orion.

A Few Points to Remember on Your First Night

At this early stage on your first night of using a small telescope, don't expect to see views like the ones you see in the magazines and books of Hubble images. Even with high magnifications, planets, galaxies and nebulae will still look small, but just remember that you are looking at them through your telescope, which is picking up photons of light that have been travelling light years through space to get to you, and that sense of wonder and satisfaction won't be far behind.

It's a good idea to check the weather forecast before you head out each time, not just on your first night. All too often you look outside, and it's clear, take all your equipment out, set up and align everything, look up and it's clouding over.

Don't forget to remove the tube or lens cover. It's easy to forget, especially on your first night, and when trying to focus on the dark sky and not seeing anything. Been there myself.

Always start with a low power magnification and work your way up towards a higher magnification. The larger the millimetre number (e.g. 25mm) the lower the magnification. Lower magnification gives you a wider field of view and a better chance of locating objects. Once you have located your target, you can swap the low-power eyepiece for a higher power.

Above all, wrap up warm (if it's winter) and have fun!