Only 3 hours and 17 minutes of astronomical darkness on Saturday evening. Not many mosquitoes yet fortunately.

Comet C2008 R1 (McNaught) is now about magnitude 7.8 and expected to brighten as it nears the Sun, may get to magnitude 2 according to some predictions. Take a look around 4:15 am.

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Tools for Amateur Astronomy

Nevertheless, you can never really get into amateur astronomy if you don’t have tools with you. The good thing is they don’t need to be really inexpensive. In fact, if you just know the principles of each equipment, you can just build your own.

An amateur astronomy will always require a telescope, so you can clearly see the minute objects up in the sky. You can go for those with a little higher magnification than the basic ones. However, you can also create your own, using a very powerful magnification lens, which are available in science stores. There are also digital telescopes now, which can perfectly capture the images of heavenly bodies.

You also need a notebook and a pen, which you can utilize in keeping a log. A person who’s really into his amateur astronomy would surely take note of his observations every time he studies the skies. Who knows you could be discovering a pattern, new astronomical phenomenon, or a star that have not been talked about before? To make it more personal, you can include some of your intimate thoughts.

An amateur astronomy may also need a light filter, so you can directly observe the sun. If you don’t have it, you can greatly damage your eyesight. A star chart is extremely useful too, especially if you want to identify the constellations.
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With these simple equipment, you can already begin your amateur astronomy. Just always keep one important thing in thought. You should always have the burning passion to get to know more about the heavenly bodies. This passion will direct you to the right ways and will allow you to appreciate the earth and the universe a lot better.