Astronomy for Beginners

New to astronomy? Not sure how to get started in stargazing or which telescope to buy?

Here’s where you’ll find observing guides, how-to articles and great astronomy hints and tips. Don’t forget to check out our comprehensive astronomy dictionary.

General Guides | How To Guides | Astronomy Dictionary
General Guides
Even beginners can successfully capture the Northern Lights
How do you take photographs of the aurora?
There’s a logic behind how our Moon appears night after night
Why does the Moon's appearance change?
The alternative to long, single exposures when capturing deep-sky objects
A guide to astrophotography stacking
Learn how to identify the errors that can occur in your telescope’s optics
Understanding optical aberrations
Eyepieces may be smaller than telescopes, but they’re the key to observing
Eyepieces: the basics
How spiral, elliptical and other galaxy ‘morphologies’ are formed
A guide to galaxies
'How To' Guides
Get astro-imaging with your phone, using our step-by-step guide
Build a smartphone holder for your telescope
A device to make swapping between your four favourite eyepieces easy
How to build a rotating eyepiece turret
Take the back strain out of the aligning process with our DIY project
How to build a right-angled polarscope adaptor
There’s more to keeping optical devices clean than spit and polish
How to clean binoculars
How to make the most of this month's lunar spectacle
See and image the 21 January 2019 lunar eclipse
Gauge the size of Jupiter’s most famous giant raging storm with our guide
Measure Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Astronomy Dictionary
Zodiac

Constellations that the Sun, Moon and major planets appear to pass through as the Earth moves along its orbit.

Planetoid

Another term for a minor planet – the official name for asteroids, as used by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Metal

In astronomy, this term is used to describe any element that is not hydrogen or helium.

View the full dictionary
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