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
Neutrino
A tiny elementary particle, with essentially no mass and no electric charge, that hardly interacts with matter and can pass straight through it. These particles are created in nuclear reactions in the Sun and supernovae. Very high-energy neutrinos may also be created in active galactic nuclei or gamma-ray bursts.
Photon
Light can be considered to take the form of waves or particles; these particles are called photons.
Histogram display
This is the graph that appears on a camera’s LCD screen plotting pixel brightness along the horizontal axis, and the number of pixels at each brightness value along the vertical axis.
