Astronomy for beginners

A sense of wonder: from a dark-sky site a wealth of deep-sky objects can be seen even with the naked eye, including the Milky Way, Orion Nebula and star clusters such as the Pleiades and Hyades. Credit: Mixetto/iStock/Getty Images

Deep-sky astronomy: a beginner’s guide

A good telescope combined with excellent viewing conditions away from light pollution will give you incredible views of the night sky. Credit: iStock

Amateur astronomy societies in the UK and Ireland: a guide

A set of LRGB filters allows the capture of full colour images of celestial objects using a sensitive mono camera. Read our review of the Astronomik L-RGB Type 2c Colour Filter Set here. Credit: First Light Optics

An astronomer’s guide to filters

Astrocamp in the Brecon Beacons is an event run by passionate astronomers, located under some of the best dark skies in the UK Credit: Jamie Carter

Star parties: a guide to attending an astronomy event

Credit: Cheltenham Science Festival

The best UK science festivals for astronomy

Solarsphere is one of the UK's best known star parties, and takes place annually in August in the beautiful Welsh countryside. Credit: Pete Williamson

UK and Ireland star parties: a guide to the best stargazing events

Man looking through telescope. Credit: Panther Media GMBH/Alamy Stock Photo

A buyer’s guide to telescopes: getting the most from your equipment

Finderscopes and mounts are basic accessories that will help you - and your telescope - navigate the night sky and locate celestial targets. Credit: BBC Sky at Night Magazine

A buyer’s guide to telescopes: astronomy accessories

Man looking at the stars with telescope beside him. Credit: iStock

How to choose your first telescope

The top two images show a simulated Airy disk, appearing as a series of concentric rings. The bottom two show coma aberrations. Image Credit: Steve Richards

Optical aberrations: how to fix errors in your telescope

Woman with telescope under winter night sky

10 common astronomy mistakes

The best night-sky shape to use as a guide is the Plough: it’s large, bright and visible year-round in the northern hemisphere. It has two stars called the 'pointers' that point to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris is almost exactly above Earth’s axis at the North Pole, so doesn’t move and shows which way is north.

How to star-hop the night sky

Telescope stats explained

Telescope stats explained

The various parts of an altaz mount.

A beginner’s guide to altaz mounts.

The typical elements of an equatorial mount; on display here is the Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro. Image Credit: www.thesecretstudio.net

A beginner’s guide to equatorial mounts