Astronomy Magazines.....your introduction to amateur astronomy

In an attempt to be more consistent with my blogs, I have decided to review not just telescopes and accessories, do writeups on my many dark sky trips, or how to articles on how to improve ones observing, but to also educate newbies on the currently available observing aids out there. These can be magazines, books, or even apps. What better way to kick off this new series of blogs by doing a spotlight on two of my favourite astronomy magazines, Astronomy and Sky and Telescope?

You want to know the best kept secret? Getting into amateur astronomy is not as hard as you think. Most people think the first stop is the library. In many aspects that it true. Beginner books are a great source of information. However another way to get into it, is via magazines. This is the way I got into the hobby all those years ago, picking up a copy of Astronomy at a local newsstand!!!!! There are many pluses to using magazines, one of which is that the content is the most current and up to date. Also monthly magazines feature monthly starmaps, which makes navigating the night sky easier (kinda like a monthly planisphere!), and also an almanac of events occurring in a that certain month. Other information such as planet rise and set times, sizes, moon phases, etc are also provided.

The two biggest magazines, and the ones I still follow to this day, are Astronomy and Sky and Telescope Magazine. Sure there are others such as SkyNews (Canada), Sky an Space (Australia), Astronomy Now (UK) and BBC's Sky At Night (UK). I have bought copies of these magazines in the past and they are all pretty good and serve observers in their respective countries. However in my opinion, the best of the best is still the original two, with BBC's Sky At Night coming in at a very close second!!!!

Astronomy magazine, based in Waukesha, Wisconsin was first conceived by Stephen J. Walther and was first published in August 1973. The first official Sky and Telescope Magazine, a merger between Hayden Planetariums "The Sky" publication and Perkins Observatory (Ohio) "The Telescope" saw daylight in 1941. Many magazines have come and gone. However these two have stood the test of time, and have even spawned several other shorter lived publications under their umbrella. One of my favourites was Deep Sky Magazine, which was the brainchild of Astronomy magazines current editor David J. Eicher, and Night Sky, a Sky and Telescope offshoot magazine aimed at wet behind the ears newbies. Deep Sky Magazine (from the Astronomy team) was ahead of its time in that it featured in depth articles on pushing the envelope with bigger telescopes and peering deeper into the universe (and it was choke full of eyepiece impressions of deep sky objects). Night Sky went the other way and featured back to basic articles on telescopes, etc, as well as simple star hops for novices. Both these publications will be missed.

The parent magazines have undergone massive changes over the years too, reflecting the current state of amateur astronomy. Its hard to say which one I like better. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. The main focus of the Astronomy magazine has always been astrophysics and cosmology (and this is still very evident till today). Whilst by no means my favourite topic, some of the articles gave deep insight into the inner workings of our universe. What I did love about the old Astronomy magazine was the spotlight on deep sky objects and other objects of interest grouped by constellation. Since I was a full hands on (or rather eyes on) amateur, I found this part the most interesting. I remember pouring over the information provided, the brilliant (by yesteryear standards) photographs, and David Eicher's pencil impressions of deep sky objects (this section was later resurrected in the late 2000's, but rather than going by constellations, they spotlighted two objects per month). These articles were later collected and published in a hardcover book form entitled "The Universe from Your Backyard". There were also extensive articles on deep sky objects, spotlighting planetary nebula, nebulae and other deep sky objects. These articles too were later collected into a hardcover book "Stars and Galaxies".

The Sky and Telescope of old focused more on amateur telescope making (ATM). Articles on observing was very limited. One notable from the Sky and Telescope of old though was Walter "Scotty" Houston's Deep Sky Wonder's column (yup it was a column in the beginning), which was also collected into a hardcover book, aptly named Deep Sky Wonder's. Scotty's column was short and sweet, and it challenged us to push the boundaries of our observing. This burden was later shouldered by Sue French, but by then the lil column had blossomed into a full on article. Still, I found Sky and Telescope to be lacking in articles on observing and deep sky objects (its slowly changing now and they have more articles on observing, with guest writers such as Ken Hewitt). What it lacked in articles on observing, it more than makes up with technical articles on telescopes, particularly "in-depth" reviews of telescopes and other assorted accessories such as eyepieces, barlows, filters etc. Don't get me wrong, Astronomy magazine does have their fair share of telescope reviews too (mostly from scope guru Phil Harrington of Star Ware fame). Its just every time I read a scope review from Astronomy, I was left wanting more. This was duly satisfied by the reviews provided by Sky and Telescope. In a way, you can say that both magazines exist in harmony and fill a particular niche. I for one found it very hard to choose between the two, and have, at some stages, bought both of them. So which magazine is the one for you. I say pick one and give it a go. If you were like me, you probably end up getting subscriptions to both, since they compliment each other so well (plus Astronomy has Stephen O"Meara writing for them, my all time favourite deep sky author). Oh and by the way, you now have the option of getting a digital subscription too. This makes reading this magazines a whole heap easier on mobile devices.

Next stop....deep sky observing book reviews....stay tuned.....