A beginner’s guide to observing the night sky with a manual telescope

The night sky is not an impenetrable “blanket of stars.” There is depth and detail that can be navigated and known, probed and plundered for rewards — and the best way to do all of that is with a manual telescope. Sure, you can get a motorized computerized “go-to” telescope and even one of the best smart telescopes that self-align and do all the work for you. Arguably, they also take much of the reward and leave you none the wiser. Can users of smart telescopes find Polaris, the North Star? Probably not. Do they know where the fabulous images of nebulae they produce actually come from? It’s doubtful. Manual telescopes don’t find celestial objects for you — you find them yourself. However, it’s the only way to build sky literacy. Observing manually connects you to a long tradition of stargazers who learned the patterns of the sky by heart.The learning curve can be steep, even with one of the best beginner telescopes. Knowing where to point a manual telescope is a challenge for beginners. With narrow fields of view, it’s easy to miss even bright targets unless you understand where objects are, how to navigate the sky and how to move your telescope. All telescopes use lenses and/or mirrors to collect and focus light. There are several types of telescope — the main two being refractors and reflectors — as well as Dobsonians and catadioptrics (Schmidt-Cassegrains and Maksutov-Cassegrains). Let’s assume you already have one of the best telescopes. How does it move? There are two mount types — alt-azimuth and equatorial — each of which moves differently and has its own learning curve. To lessen any confusion, here’s everything a beginner needs to know about observing the night sky with a manual telescope, and a glossary of telescope terms. 1. Understand the night skyA reflector telescope is ideal for observing deep-sky objects. (Image credit: Getty)The night sky is not static. Thinks of it as a celestial sphere surrounding a rotating globe; as Earth rotates, the stars appear to move across the sky — rising in the east and setting in the west, just like the sun — which is why objects drift out of a telescope’s field of view over time. Since it’s not static, the celestial sphere requires two coordinate systems to help you understand this movement and find objects in the night sky:Altitude and azimuth: typically shortened to Alt-Az, these describe where something is based on your position, with altitude meaning how far up in the sky an object is, and azimuth, where it is from left to right.Right ascension and declination: typically shortened to RA/Dec, these are fixed coordinates that rotate with the celestial sphere, similar to longitude and latitude on Earth. 2. Manual telescope mounts and how to use themThis Skywatcher 200P is a powerful tool for surveying the night sky. (Image credit: Josh Dury)A mount allows you to manually move and position a telescope. They come in two primary flavors: alt-azimuth (alt-az) and equatorial (EQ). However, pointing a telescope at the night sky and hoping you hit on something will not work because a telescope’s narrow field of view makes even very bright objects hard to see unless they’re precisely centered. Here’s why both mounts exist and how best to use them. Alt-Azimuth mounts: Best for beginners and found on almost all low-cost models, these are simple (alt-az) mounts that move a scope up and down and left and right. Intuitive, easy to use and quick to set up, the constant adjustments required to track an object make it less accurate. That said, you could easily use an alt-az mount your entire life and never notice. Locate a bright object, such as the moon, a planet or a bright star like Rigel, Vega or Arcturus, then use the finder scope or red-dot finder to roughly align the telescope.Begin with your lowest magnification eyepiece‚ typically 25mm on a beginner’s model, for the widest field of view. Once your target is centered, you can switch to higher magnification, such as 10mm.Move the telescope ever so slightly every few minutes to keep the object centred. If the object is drifting through the field of view from left to right, place it on the far left to keep it in view for as long as possible.Use a manual telescope as a stargazing tool. (Image credit: Getty Images)Equatorial mounts: A step-up choice, EQ mounts follow the sky’s natural motion. With one axis tilted to align with Polaris, the North Star (in the Northern Hemisphere), an EQ mount hence moves in sync with Earth’s rotation. While EQ mounts allow smoother tracking, particularly at high magnification, they are nevertheless complicated (and somewhat intimidating) to set up and typically include a counterweight, making them heavy and more expensive. Understand that perfect polar alignment is not necessary for visual observing — getting as close as you can is fine. In the Northern Hemisphere, point the telescope mount roughly north and set the mount’s tilt to match your location's latitude, using Polaris, the North