Seeing the stars is a hard thing to do when you are young. This is one of the reasons why I want to tell you some useful things about stars on this blog - so that when you do get the chance to see them with your own eyes you are able to look for the things that are interesting. When you are young every minute of star-gazing time is precious.
I’m writing this in July. In the UK, where I live, it is summertime. This should be a good time for seeing the stars because the skies are often less cloudy and it is normally nice and warm outside. The evenings are warm but they are also light, which is where the problem begins. That big star very close to our planet that we call the Sun is still in the sky or has only just gone down under the horizon and the sky is still too bright to see any stars. They are there, of course. They are there all day but imagine trying to see a small candle flame at the end of the road when someone is shining a powerful torch up close in your face - you just won’t see that candle.
This time of year most children go to bed when it is still light outside. Or should do. By the time the stars are properly out and nice and bright it is nearly midnight! That is no good at all even for many grown-ups. Things are different in winter in the UK. Nights are much longer and around Christmas time it can be dark by four o’clock in the afternoon and it will stay that way until nearly eight o’clock in the morning. That gives us 16 hours of darkness where we might be able to see the stars! That sounds much better, doesn’t it? But it is winter and it is more likely that there will be bad weather and clouds in the way that block out the stars. If there aren’t it is quite likely that the sky will be beautifully clear and full of stars but it will also be very cold outdoors and after a short while you’ll want to go back inside and warm up.
When it is warm outdoors in summer, the sky is light in the evening. When the sky is dark in the evening in winter, it is often also very cold. So you see it really is not easy to watch the stars with your own eyes when you are young living here in Britain. I have been thinking about this problem and I have some ideas about how to get outdoors and see the night sky. Here are my ideas:
Idea 1 - If the weather forecast says the sky is going to be clear one night in Spring (February to April) or Autumn (September to November) that might be the time to go outdoors when the sky gets dark earlier than the summer but it is still warmer than in winter.
Idea 2 - It is difficult to see most stars on warm, light summer evenings but it is sometimes possible to see planets. Mercury and Venus can sometimes be seen in the sky shortly after the sun goes down and when they are there they are usually very bright. Sometimes Mars and Jupiter are also in the sky at this time of year and can be seen earlier in the evening twilight before the stars come out. It is best to look at a star chart on a phone application or on the internet before you go out to know if there are any planets up that evening and where in the sky they will be.
Idea 3 - The same is true for the Moon in summer. It will be in different parts of the sky at different times of the month but there will be one week every month when the Moon will be in the sky and easily seen during the early evening, if the weather lets you.
Idea 4 - On a cold clear winter evening wrap up really warm and go outside for just ten minutes and see how many stars you can see. Don’t worry about looking for anything in particular. Just stand underneath them and enjoy the view. Then keep that memory safe. Whenever you see a photo of stars you can remember that you stood under the same stars yourself. Even just ten minutes of sky-watching is better than no minutes.
Idea 5 - Keep reading my blog posts about stars as and when I post new ones on this web site. When you are able to get out next and see real stars you may be able to find some that I’ve been talking about and know some more about them.
There is nothing like seeing the stars for yourself in real life, rather than hearing people talking about them, or seeing pictures of them on television or in a picture.
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