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There are two primary websites amateur astronomers use A LOT:

CloudyNights.com is free. AstroMart.com used to be free, but now has a variety of membership options starting at $15/year.

Both offer similar content, include Classified Ads for buying and selling used equipment. Both have a ratings system. Sellers and buyers there want to maintain their 5-Star rating, and a long history of excellent reviews indicates that a seller is likely to be trustworthy. One could argue that AstroMart buying is "safer" because the fee weeds out lazy scammers.

I've heard arguments that because of the fee the AstroMart forum's activity has decreased over its free-access days.

If I have a question about equipment, there is generally a review, an article or a discussion on CloudyNights. It's my GoTo source for pretty much everything.

There are a lot of other sites with forums, but those are the two biggies.

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Lunar Eclipse - Sunday May 15, 2022

This lunar eclipse will be a nice one if you live on the west coast.

Here's a detailed general overview: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/total-lunar-eclipse-may16-2022/

Here's some details for San Diego: https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/usa/san-diego

This guide's time and directions is based on San Diego; times will vary by time zone; direction will vary by your lattitude.

Over San Diego, the moon will rise at 7:33p already partially in the Earth's shadow.

You don't need a scope or binoculars, just a site with a view to the southeast.

It will rise at an Compass Heading of 114-degrees. Pick out a site ahead of time with a clear view to the East Southeast (24 degrees south of east (about where the sun will rise that morning). (Troop 4: Mt. Soledad; Kate Session's Park? Crown Point. The Yacht Club!).

There are two big changes to the moon during a lunar eclipse: color and "phase".

Color: most full moons are stark white once they clear the horizon. Our atmosphere scatters light, so some sunlight will always get to the moon. The reddish hues we seen near sunrise and sunset are the hues that get to the moon even when it's fully in shadow. Dark and red.

Phase: as the moon enters the full shadow of the earth (the umbra), it appears to go from full to half to crescent to new to crescent to half to full. It does so over a period of 90 minutes rather than 28 days.

Maximum eclispse is 9:17p PST.

Note that you don't need telescopes or binoculars to see the color change or the "phase" progression. Photos - even with your phone - will capture the changes.

(secret observer hint: full moons are the least interesting time to look at the moon. The terminator - the very sharp day/night line - is the most interesting part of the moon to observe. You can see it move over the course of an hour or so: tips of mountains rise into or sink out of sunlight, valleys grow or receded as the sun rises or sets on them. Early astronomers were able to estimate the heights of the mountains with a little shadow trigonometry. Full moons don't have terminators: no cool shadows!)

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I originally started this site to support the parents and students at a couple of schools where I was placing scopes (inspired by the NHAS Library Telescope Program and supported by STEM Grants from Bentley Systems.

One of the challenges of getting a telescope is knowing where to point it. I got my first scope when I was eight years old. It wasn't until the GoTo revolution that I was able to target anything other than the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Orion Nebula.

I've participated in Astronomy Outreach events and have helped friends get telescopes. I'd like to help them "get wondrous" lest their enthusiasm wane.

I'm a long-time intermediate observer, and like other things in my life: I might not know much, but I'm eager to share it.

Enjoy!

-jeff martin

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Checkout Procedures (for school staff)

Check Out

In order to maintain a custody trail, please do not check out scopes to people not listed on the calendar within the dates shown: online calendar to show used/free dates.

Jeff will send an email if any changes are made to the schedule.

Check In

Please notify Jeff when a scope arrives. We'll need to check "inventory" and perhaps check mirror alignment prior to notifying the next recipients.

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Hi,

Welcome to GoOutLookUp.net!

This website aims to help new astronomers ("observers", actually) enjoy the night sky. We talk sky, skills, and equipment Sky, Skills, and Equipment.

I'm Jeff; each letter in this site has been typed by me - no AI. And, clearly, insufficient spelling and grammar checks.

I have a YouTube channel where I share similar info by yapping and gesturing rather than typing: YouTube Channel: Go Out Look Up

The Big News:

The Great 2024 Total Eclipse

Quick Reference Shortcuts:

I want to Learn about the Sky
I want to learn about how to be "an Observer"
- I have a new scope at home. Now what? click here: New Scope at Home
- What about the sun? Solar Observing!
I want to Learn about Equipment

Latest:

a new musing: Boring Annoying Miracles and one from 1995 Nothingness? (beware, it's a "poem" (you'll never see another from me).

"Garbage" Scopes - Any value at all?

I am fortunate to have a nice view of launches out of Vandenberg (which is a complete surprise to boy who group up near Kennedy (which, by the way, launches rockets straight out to sea - directly away from people. Weird to see rockets coming closer to you!)). This video got about 165,000 views, which YouTube points out is 164,000 more views than my normal videos).

New: When to "Go Dark" (planning when to "head to the dark skies")

New: a collection of SpaceX Vandenberg launch videos I took: Rocket Launches

Lunar and Planetary Viewing: easy beginner targets, anywhere

The Four Awesome Solar System Objects - and Mars

Always

Just like most of the stars and most of the "Deep Sky Objects" (DSOs, aka, "Faint Fuzzies"), the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn are (almost) always visible on any given night. Unlike "Faint Fuzzies", the Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn are visible anywhere on the globe - including bright city skies. Faint Fuzzies are typically washed out in bright city skies (and around a bright moon). The only real variable in observing the moon and bright planets is: are they visible in the evening sky or the morning sky? If you're willing to get up or stay up, almost the entire sky is visible on any given night.*

(*full technical disclosure: in the northern hemisphere the southern horizon limits how much of the Southern Sky you can see, you can see the full Northern Sky. In the Southern hemisphere you are limited by your northern horizon. Other than this "Latitude Limitation" only a narrow longitudinal band of sky (north to south) the sun straddles will be not visible (the sun washes out the sky after sunrise and before sunset),. he nearly the entire sky is "up" over the course of every night).

The Moon is so bright that it washes out a lot of the "Faint Fuzzies" even in a dark sky. Consider how the Sun washes out the stars (they're all still there, just not visible in the Sun's glare). But Jupiter and Saturn are bright enough where the moonlight doesn't bother them.

Here are your planetary targets to scale in a single shot summary:

Size Scale - nearest to and farthest from Earth

The Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, are always good targets, they're big and bright.

Mars is iffy. It's so small that we can only see it well when we're close to it - a couple months before after Opposition every 26 months.

Now

Saturn and Jupiter are really good targets right now.

Now is a good time to look at Saturn

Hurry, the "rings are disappearing"!!!!

Here's the info: Saturn - Life's most Certain Thrill

Saturn's Rings' Tilt over its Orbit — Saturn's Rings' Tilt (over its 29-year Orbit)

Jupiter is always excellent to view, but now we're really close to it (bigger, brighter, more detailed!)

Jupiter rotates in 10 hours, the Great Red Spot will be visible in any 5 hour interval!

Jupiter and Io over two hour lapse - by San Diegan Mark Collins — Jupiter, Moon Io and its shadow over a two hour timelapse - by San Diegan Mark Collins

Jupiter - always awesome!

Eyepieces? Why are some so expensive ($700 and up)? Why? Which should I buy?

Answers (in text and video) are here: Eyepieces

Past "Headlines"

The Eclipse of October 14

Info about the: Annular Eclipse October 14, 2023

San Diego: begins 8:09am PDT, maxes 9:26am, ends 10:52am
Orlando: begins 11:52am EDT, maxes 1:26pm, ends 3:02pm

Get your eye protection: Looking at the Sun - Precautions
The Eclipse Experience - Partial vs Total
- While this is an annular/partial eclipse, it's a good warmup for the Great Total Eclipse of April 2024!
  - What's it's like experiencing a total eclipse? Here's the 2017 Total Eclipse in 360 degrees
The Joys of Solar Observing! Note that while eclipses are rare, observing the sun - safely - can be an everyday activity. The sun actually has visible "weather" that changes from day to day.