The tools needed for backyard astronomy are your eyes, dark area in which to sit/lay down on (perferably away from house lights, street lights, headlights from passing cars etc.)and a pair of binoculars. Oh and let's not forget...the bug repellent for use in the spring/summer months!

This page is going to be broken into 5 separate areas. All of which will be in plain simple English. After all the whole purpose of this is to have fun and enjoy ourselves.

The 5 areas are as follows:
1) Satellites
2) Constellations
3) Planets
4) Northern Lights
5) Personal Stories

1) SATELLITES:

If you see a moving "star" and it's moving at a steady pace and not burning out (like a "falling" star) then you are seeing a satellite. Just remember to smile and wave. You never know who may be taking a picture of you....so be friendly!

2) CONSTELLATIONS:

Big/Little Dippers

Everyone is familiar with the Big/Little Dipper. They are one of the most common constellations that can be easily seen. Did you know that if your eye were to follow the "handle" of the Big Dipper and keeping with the imaginary curve...it will point you to a star called Arcturus. This star is our nearest Giant Star. In comparison to our sun it is 23 times larger, 4 times more in mass and is also 115 times brighter. Keep in mind though it is also 36 light years away from us! In other words...this star is very bright and can be spotted rather easily.

You can also locate the North Star using the Dipper as a guide. Line up the "lip" of the Dipper and create an imaginary line straight across to the next star (known as Polaris). It will be hard to see because it is very faint but that faint star is The North Star.

Orion

Another common site is Orion (The Hunter) and can seen better in the winter season. During the spring/summer/fall seasons it is still present but doesn't rise until the early morning hours. Orion's belt (3 stars in a row) are usually the easiest part of the hunter to see. Once you find the belt you can then visualize the "shoulders" and "feet". Now don't forget one MUST use their imagination to see these. It's like connecting the dots but in this case your connecting the stars.

Cassiopeia

This constellation can be found by spotting a large "W" in the night sky. It is very pronounced and again easy to see.

There are many constellations in our night sky and depending on where you live you may or may not be able to see the ones mentioned above. For example in Bahamas they have what is called a Southern Cross but us Canadians will never see that (unless we are vacationing in Bahamas at the time). We have a Summer Triangle and by using one of it's stars leads us to our own Northern Cross. I have difficulty finding the Northern Cross and usually end up getting my dad to point it out to me by using a high beam flashlight. Mind you once you use the flashlight it takes a while before your night vision can be restored, so it's used as a last resort.

3) PLANETS:

The easiest one to see is Venus. It is the brighest and can be seen in an early evening sky. Jupiter can also be seen in the early evening but is not as bright as Venus. Saturn is a little harder to see but can be distinguished by it's yellow colour as can Mars being red in colour.

Keep in mind that all the constellations and planets I have mentioned here can be seen with the naked eye.

The moon is my favorite for viewing through binoculars. You can see the craters much clearer and again...you will lose your night vision as the moon is awfully bright seen through binoculars!

4) NORTHERN LIGHTS:

This has got to be my favorite wonder of the world. The Northern Lights. They dance in our night skies and can range in colours from white, blue,green and red. They are amazing to see. There is a scientific explanation on how they are created and even though I am aware of this...I still perfer to believe that they are created by magic.

5) PERSONAL STORIES:

There was this one time a friend and I were coming home from an evening out and where driving along a country road, when I happened to look up at the sky and saw that the whole sky was dancing in red. We pulled over onto the side of the road, got out of the car, jumped up on the hood, leaned against the windshield...and watched the Northern Lights. It wasn't long before we had company as more motorists stopping to see what we were looking at..also climbed up on their cars to watch nature display her best!

Another time my dad woke me up around 2:00a.m. from a deep sleep to inform me that "you just HAVE to see this!". So humoring him because I knew he'd keep pestering me...I got up and went outside. This was in the middle of winter and it was darn cold out there too! But it was worth it! He had Saturn lined up in the telescope and at that time the planet was tilted on an angle and was at it's closest cycle to Earth. Because of the tilt, the closeness and the crystal clear night, it was possible to actually see the individual rings that surround that planet. It was a truly awesome sight. The tilting and being close to Earth occurs in a 30 year cycle. Combine that with a clear, cloudless night and you have a near once in a lifetime experience.

Well I hope you have enjoyed your sky seeing trip with me. Please remember to sign my guest book on your way out..and don't forget to look up....cause there's a whole new world of wonders up there!