Based on the time of year in which you’re planning your observation, choose a source from the monitoring target list, which includes exoplanet transits, variable stars, and asteroids.
Be sure to check the astronomical weather on the night you’re going to the telescope.
Choosing Targets
Latitude, longitude of Towson, MD = 39.4015° N, 76.6019° W
- What range of RA is observable on the night I’m observing?
- The Stellarium sky simulator is a great tool for figuring this out. Set the location, date, and time and use the equatorial grid. This tutorial will get you started.
- Another more straightforward approach is to look up the Local Sidereal Time for your location (use the coordinates above for Towson) and use that information and the time you plan to observe to determine what range of RAs are accessible. See the Basic Terms page for a definition of LST.
- Here are some constellations viewable from the northern hemisphere at different times of the year.
- What target should I choose?
Choose from among the objects we are monitoring:
- What time of night is my target at the highest elevation/lowest airmass?
- We want to observe targets when they reach their highest elevation above the horizon (or their lowest airmass, the amount of atmosphere you’re viewing through) on a given night. Use this Airmass calculator to help determine the optimal time to observe your target.
Weather
Checking the weather for astronomical observations means checking not just whether it will be raining or not, but more detailed sky conditions like darkness (affected by the moon phase, for example) and transparency (affected by water vapor, more important for observations in the infrared). Baltimore Clear Sky gives this kind of detailed information.
