An astronomy blog for the average backyard

.....Why add yet one more blog to the blogosphere, a place with (at last count) about four blogs for every person living on Earth? ([i]citation needed[/i])  Even just looking at the amount of knowledge available on the internet makes it seem like certainly everything must be covered by now.  And it is, possibly.  The difference is that most of these resources seem to make the assumption that you are very familiar with astronomy already, and/or that you live fifty miles away from the nearest small town.  This is a blog that is meant to be accessible to anyone, especially those just getting backyard astronomy (although I hope that I can also keep the interest of more experienced readers, as well), and for those teaching introductory astronomy who might like a starting point and some resources.

.....This is a blog about the universe as seen from your backyard, even if that backyard is surrounded on all sides by streetlights. As hard as it may seem to be, everyone starts out at the same level.  When I was about seven, I got my first astronomy book, and I began learning my way around the night sky. In seventh grade, I got a telescope with a lens that (as it turned out), was actually a little smaller than the human eye. For two years, I tried to work with that, balancing the six-inch long tripod on the bars supporting the chain-link fence around our house.  I could find Jupiter, Saturn, the brightest nebula and the brightest galaxy.  I moved on to a “department store telescope” which turned out to be a cardboard tube with a single lens at the end. I worked with this for four years, adding perhaps a dozen more deep-sky objects to the list of things that I could find in the sky.  For my high-school graduation, I got a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope with a mirror eight inches across. (Some people got cars; if that's you, are you still using that and happy 25+ years later?  I think I'm ahead.)  I hope this establishes my bona fides as someone with a little observing experience, and someone who got here the hard way. You don’t have to do that, and I can help.

.....Many blogs will be tied to something going on in the sky at that time. Over the next couple of months, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, the Moon, meteors, satellites and more will each have entries. My first run through the sky will be by the constellations visible from mid-northern latitudes, providing a map of each constellation, its location in the sky, the names of some of its brighter stars, and some hopefully interesting background about that constellation. 

.....After that, starting next year, I will go through each of the constellations again, describing some of the clusters, nebulae, double stars, galaxies, et cetera, that can be found in that constellation using binoculars.  After I have made a pass like this, I will start investigating what can be seen with a small telescope.  (If you want to look at more of this material, I will be doing this in a more "target of opportunity" way in my other blog, The Messier Pro.)