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What is Dirt Cheap Astronomy?
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If you have been poking around the internet trying to decide if you want to take up the hobby of astronomy you may be thinking that it is an expensive hobby. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. It can be dirt cheap. I have not spent more than $40.00 at any one time (and that was funded in such a way that I put $6 in my pocket before the deal was finished), more often my purchases have been in the $10 to $20 range.
Dirt cheap astronomy isn't for everyone. If you want to be able to look at anything and everything in the sky you are not going to be able to do that dirt cheap. If you want to be able to take award winning photos of the most distant galaxies you are not going to be able to do that dirt cheap. If you want instant gratification you are not going to get it dirt cheap.
But if you don't mind putting some effort into it knowing that there are limits to what you can do, and if you enjoy the challenge of seeing just how much you can do on a very limited budget, read on.
The first principle of dirt cheap astronomy is never buy anything new if you can avoid it. Just like someone who wants a dirt cheap car will look for "a deal" on a 20 year old car and will avoid luxury cars even when they are 20 year old, the dirt cheap astronomer will bide his time until the right deal comes along. And he will be more concerned about usability than cosmetics, a few scratches in the paint and a minor dent can often result in a steep discount.
So, what does it take to get started? If you are really cheap, nothing. You can do a lot of astronomy with the naked eye. You can learn the constellations, how to spot planets, and where various things are in the sky. You can track the path of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn against the stars. You can watch Venus and Mercury become morning and evening "stars". You can watch lunar eclipses. You can watch meteor showers. All astronomers worked with the naked eye until 1608, and many of them spent a life time doing it, you can easily spend an hour or two once or twice a week.
Ok, so you want to do more than naked eye astronomy. What do you need to buy? The first thing that comes to most peoples mind is a telescope. Most astronomers will tell a budding novice to start with binoculars, and I agree with this. Before you can point a telescope at something you have to know where it is, and many things are easier to find in binoculars than in a telescope. Why? A pair of binoculars have a much wider field of view than the average telescope, letting you look at a huge chunk of the sky at one time. You might already have a set of binoculars, and if so you can start as soon as it gets dark.
More on Finding Cheap Binoculars
Ok, we've been looking at the sky with binoculars for a few weeks, and can point to The Orion Nebula, The Pleadies, two or three planets, and maybe even the Andromedia galaxy. And we want a telescope. Cheap Telescopes are not as available as binoculars, but they are avalible.
More on Finding Cheap Telescopes
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