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.

You can divide these into three categories: getting to know your equipment, observation site, and 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 a feel for it and how all the parts together. You don't want to fumble in the dark on your first night, wondering how everything fits together while the starry skies glisten above you. Remember to never look directly at the Sun through your telescope, as it can cause permanent eye damage. Always use a solar filter or projection method when observing the Sun.

When you come to set up the mount and the tripod, you should ensure you know how to make the setup sturdy and secure and level the legs. It's also a good idea to work out how to orient the mount for observing - on some tripods, one of the legs needs to be pointing north. Aligning the mount with the night sky is crucial as it allows your telescope to track celestial objects as they move across the sky. 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.

It can get quite cold outside during the winter months and 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 where you intend to observe. If that's from your garden, it's worth finding out which direction with a compass is best and considering whether the view in any direction is affected by tall trees, buildings, or bright lights. If these affect the view and the 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. Try to find a location away from city lights to minimize light pollution and enhance your viewing experience.

If your observation site is away from your home, 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 drive 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 deepen your understanding of the night sky. Remember, it's a learning process, and you're equipped with a good star map or, even better, 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. Dark adaptation is the process by which the eye adjusts to low levels of light, allowing you to see better in the dark. Remember only to 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 let you get used to aiming your telescope. Just remember that because the Moon is so bright, it will affect your night vision, so you are better off observing the Moon first and 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 the brightest object in the sky after the Moon and easily identifiable with a low-power eyepiece. Mars is also a good target but can be more difficult to locate. In addition to planets, you can also observe star clusters, nebulae, and even some galaxies with a small telescope.

Another easy target in the winter months is the Great Orion Nebula, low on the South Eastern horizon. Through a small telescope, you can make out some nebulosity, which refers to the cloud-like appearance of the nebula caused by the scattering and absorption of light by dust and gas. This nebulosity forms the curved shape of the nebula, while a larger telescope may reveal a bit more detail and structure than 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 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. Small telescopes have their limitations, but they can still provide you with a fascinating view of the night sky, 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, when trying to focus on the dark sky and not seeing anything. Been there myself.

Always start with a low power magnification and work 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!