An author that I follow online does something called Free Fiction Mondays. I like the premise, but I’m going with FlashForwardFriday (FFF). Each Friday, I’m going to give you a preview of something I’m working on, with all the bells and whistles. For the last few weeks, I’ve been talking about an astronomy guide that I want to write. In short, I don’t like a lot of the guides out there already, not because they’re bad or anything, but because they don’t resonate with the way I approach astronomy. Nuances here and there, gaps over there, a metaphor that doesn’t land. And most of them without a “framework” to guide what they are trying to communicate.

My approach is simple — what would *I* need to know to do stuff? Nothing more, nothing less. An overview of the various topics, with enough information to get my feet wet and to be able to move on to the next piece, along with a framework of how it all fits together. That’s my goal. That’s what I want to share.

Let’s start with the cover

When I first started my HR guide, I framed it as a series, aka A PolyWogg Guide to Government. So, I added a swath at the top based on some input from an employee/friend of mine named Kitley. I liked the layout and I’m reusing the general thrust. For most PolyWogg things, I’ve used the same red-eyed tree frog logo since the late 1990s. For this guide, I planned ahead.

I recognized first and foremost that the regular logo won’t work. So, I used an AI tool to generate a red-eyed tree frog looking through a telescope. As I already blogged about, that was a small adventure in both fun and frustration. And then, surprisingly, the algorithm spit out the image you see in the top left corner. Sweet.

I named it the PolyWogg Guide to Astronomy, anticipating that there might actually be more than one guide. I’ll talk about that in more detail below. And, based on the fact that I’m likely to have more “volumes” and I might publish some bits in stages, I added a volume indicator in the top right corner with room for three digits (“01” for two digits of volume and room for a letter for sub-pieces).

There’s the big title of “An Introduction to Astronomy” with the working subtitle of “A brief history of looking up”. The contractor I hired through Fiverr to do the cover also provides me with the PSD (PhotoShop) file so that I can change the wording anytime I want. And I confess, I have a different title in mind, I am just not sure when / where I’m going to use the phrase. “The Stars Are Enough” resonates strongly with me, a phrase that people said to me when I did a survey about some astronomy work we were doing. It was a great line and I intend to use it. But as you’ll see below, I’m not sure WHERE to use it quite yet.

The banner across the bottom is off-white on my other HR guide, but I chose the beige/vellum colour for this one. What shocked me a bit was Jacob’s reaction when he looked at the layout, as he and Andrea were giving me design advice. He immediately said, “Oh, I like it; it matches your website.” Which is not just an “off-hand” identification…it doesn’t just match my website design colours, it IS the website design colour. I provided the exact HexCode for that colour to the designer. And Jacob spotted the link immediately, even though he was just seeing the banner here, no comparison to look at to see it was the same. He has a really good eye for that stuff.

And I’ve recently added a “year” edition tab which will be eventually added to ALL my guides. It allows me to revise and reissue them without having to do a lot of other changes to the cover.

Which leaves just the main image left. I have a photo that I’ll use that I took myself, and to be truly prescient and revealing, a lot of the future photos in the books will be shots that I will have taken myself. I might include other people’s shots as examples (with permissions, of course) but the majority of images will be my own. That’s not just an ownership thing…my shots will be short duration / exposures that will show approximately WHAT you actually see through the telescope with your own eyes. Hint, it isn’t the bright colours you see in the photo above. For now, I’m using a stock photo from Deposit Photos. I may eventually upgrade it (or downgrade it as the case may be) to one of my own photos.

But, again, since I have the PSD files, I can change most of the basic details really easily — certainly all of the text. Colours are more difficult, layouts a bit more difficult too. Hence why I have had the contractor nail the overall structure for me, and leave me to do multiple editions/volumes/versions while just swapping out some text and the main image. It’s all done in layers on the main doc, so even I can do that much.

So, what will be in the volume(s)?

I’ll start with Chapter 1: An Introduction to Astronomy, which will cover three aspects of astronomy. The first part will cover the two primary questions people have tried to answer when looking up — what am I seeing, and what does it mean? From there, I want to cover the history of astronomy. I’m still a little uncertain about the level of detail to provide, but I want to address how both questions have developed over time. There are entire volumes written just on the history of astronomy, and it’s hard to know in advance how much to cover, but my focus is different than most texts. As I said above, I want to cover just enough to get someone’s feet wet without overwhelming them. I’ll move on and finish on what I consider my all-encompassing contribution — a framework for understanding different parts of astronomy around the world. I hesitate to call it an academic framework, as it isn’t aimed that way, it’s just that I think in frameworks, and much of what I will write about in subsequent volumes will address very specific sub-areas of the framework while touching other areas not at all. It’s a graphic that will say, “Hey this is everything you need to know about astronomy, and I’m writing about stuff down in this little itty-bitty corner over here”. Kind of like drawing a family tree of astronomy and focusing on the latest generation of hobbyists.

Chapter 2 is where I start to question the correct order of things. Some very famous astronomer authors have skipped chapter 1 entirely and immediately moved to explaining what is out there. Introducing people to a breakdown of the Earth, the solar system, the galaxy, the Milky Way, the Universe, Big Bang, etc. It covers the sun, different types of stars, different types of star combinations, planets, other bodies moving around the sky. Basically, it provides a nice inventory of what is out there. Which is good, I just don’t know if it is really next for me. I’m more interested in moving from the “framework” that I ended with in Chapter 1 to the idea of how you can learn about astronomy. I want to talk about university, self-study, astro clubs, star parties, etc. And what I want, what I really really want, is to give people a clear understanding of what they will be doing. Tempering their expectations, perhaps. Maybe even disappointing them. Because one of the themes we discuss in astro circles is how people got department store telescopes when they were young, they were crap, they gave up on the hobby because they didn’t work well, and so they didn’t see anything, got frustrated and quit the hobby. But other people quit because they thought they’d look up, anywhere up, and see the same scenes they saw in Star Wars and Star Trek — bright colourful nebulae, stars exploding outward, exciting planets to dream about in the future, etc. Instead, they look up and mainly see just two colours — black or white. You can GET colours, but not often with the naked eye, even through a telescope.

Chapter 3: The Gear is where I want to talk to people about what gear they will use to do astronomy. It may end up being two chapters, not one; or more likely, I include a good overview in this guide AND I write an entirely separate volume that goes into details on all of it. Either way, the division is clear. The first half is telling people what the basic gear is and how to understand it. I have a section already written that explains how astronomy gear is really just designed to improve on what your body can already do. In effect, you ARE an organic telescope. And different bases, mounts, tubes and eyepieces are all designed to do what your body does, only better. More stable, more rotation, more light gathering, more power in resolving images. I want to show how the various main designs that you might buy — binoculars, Dobsonian, Newtonian reflectors, refractors, Schmidt Cassegrain, Maksutov Cassegrain models — all work. I want to talk about bases and mounts, and how various tools all work — barn-door trackers, ground bases, tabletop designs, tripods with camera-style mounts, tripods with fork mounts, equatorial setups, computerized mounts, etc.

The second half is a buyer’s guide, for lack of a better term. One of the things that is driving my desire to write a guide at all is this section. I am in a lot of fora that deal with astronomy questions, and people all ask the questions in the same way. “Hi, I’m new to astronomy, and I’m really excited. What should I buy?”. That is the most frequent form of the question — what should I buy, a great and obvious question, but with literally none of the information we need to properly answer / advise on the question. Here are some common questions that I, personally, would want to know before advising them what to get:

• Where are you going to use it? Seems like an almost unnecessary question, no? Why would it matter if you’re looking from a backyard or a cottage? If something works well in an urban setting, it will work even better in a rural setting. So seemingly irrelevant to performance, which is in fact true. But the reason I want to ask where you’ll be using it is because I want to know how portable it needs to be. I have an 8″ Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope (SCT). It is absolutely the right design for me, but 6″ would have likely been better than the full 8″. The size I have reduces portability by a significant factor. If it’s going to be on a tripod in your backyard, it may not matter. But if every time you go to use it, you have to lug it down to your car from your apartment, take it down in an elevator, drive out to a dark edge of the city, set everything up, view, repack everything, take it all home again, etc., then portability is a huge concern.
• How much patience do you have when you go to start each time? This also seems like a strange question. But it’s about setup time. One version takes about 60 seconds to be up and running once you have all the equipment out of the car. Maybe another 60 seconds to pop in a lens and point the scope at something. My setup takes about 5 minutes or so to be up and running, if I’m doing it regularly and if I’m organized; if not, maybe 10 minutes or so for the first time of the season. Another popular setup is similar to mine in time, and then there’s a fourth that can take 10-15 minutes to get going. If you’re viewing with kids, you do not want the 15-minute version; they’ll drive you mental. Even without the kids, if you’re the type to be “Hey, I want to limit my setup time”, you need to get the right scope. As an example, I know some people with advanced scopes who can take 45 minutes to set up. FORTY-FIVE MINUTES TO SET UP THEIR SCOPES. Holy moses, I’d be dying. This is a hobby, not a science experiment or my job. Setup is NOT fun for me. And taking it all down at the end takes time too. I want to be able to stow and go relatively quickly.
• How’s your physical health? Say what? What does that have to do with looking through a telescope? My local astro club does astronomy nights once a month, where we set up in a parking lot. And then we stand next to our scopes for about 2-3 hours showing off objects to the public. Some scopes are low to the ground and you sit on a chair; some scopes are on tripods set higher up and you might be standing. Some might be in the middle and you might be stooping. If you have health issues where you might not want to be standing for 2 hours, your setup options CAN change. All of them are usable, but some are more amenable to your situation than others.
• How good are you with electronics and computers? This is a slightly different question than you think. In its simplest form, are you an analog person or a digital person? When I was in high school, I was terrible with machine shop. I can build basic functional things with a skill saw or jig saw, I could build a functional shed if I had to, but it ain’t going to win awards, let me tell you. And I’ll overengineer 95% of the attachments for joints and connecting boards. By contrast, give me a computer or electronic device, and I’m perfectly happy dealing with software or settings, whatever. I “get” that stuff in ways that analog machines baffle me. So, I’m thinking of a specific type of mount called an equatorial mount that uses counterweights, and it is the most analog of designs. If you get it, you get it; if you don’t get it, you are NOT going to enjoy that type of setup. Equally, those who struggle with computers often hate computerized goto mounts. When there’s a problem — and there’s always a problem eventually — they’re flummoxed. These are people who hate trying to adjust the time on their cars, stoves, microwaves when daylight savings hits. They’re not Luddites; it’s just that electronics aren’t their jam. So before I recommend something, I want to know how they feel about manual or automated tools.
• What are you going to use the device for? I know, I know, astronomy. But there are two general uses of scopes — visual astronomy with your eyes or astrophotography (AP) to capture images. All of the scopes are good for visual, but some are better than others for AP. And this is a huge source of conflict in the hobby. There are those who think the only “right” way to do astrophotography is to buy a really powerful scope, a hugely expensive base and mount, and then a costly camera, before you use it in dark skies only where the scope runs for hours every night. There are tons of people who will give you good advice on how to spend a lot of your money as if there’s no budget. I’ve seen discussions online where someone said, “I want to get into astronomy, maybe take some photos through my scope” and they get an immediate suggestion to buy a rig that starts around $5K for the basics. SMH, how can you recommend that when you have NO idea what they are going to be doing???? For example, my framework idea, is that there are basically five levels of potential astrophotographers…100% visual / 0% AP so they don’t need any AP options; 80% visual / 20% AP might be enough to just use their smartphone, some basic setup options; 50%/50% likely going to need more advanced AP options than the basics; 20% visual, 80% AP, definitely needs a good setup; 100% AP, might go for that $5K option to start. I’ve interacted with enough people to know that many of them are only step 1 or 2, and they just want to play with their smartphone for now (I am in this camp, although I can do a lot more).

Once I know the answers to those five questions, I can tell you which of about 6 or 7 common setups are likely right for you. And then, within those setups, there are some commonly recommended options at various price points. Good starter scopes, those that are maybe a little more advanced, and those that are even more advanced still. Different price points for different budgets and levels of interest. My buyer’s guide isn’t that different from most at this point. My value-added is in helping them understand their choices, and what they would be buying, not in which specific models to choose. There are other guides out there that have good advice, ONCE you choose a model that’s right for you.

Now, as with the idea of not being sure when I talk about what’s “out there”, I feel like this gear chapter could or might not be the right place to give advice on other more advanced elements of scopes and setups. Like basic stuff in the form of diagonals and eyepieces; adjusted viewing with reducers, barlows, or filters; the options for finder tools (scopes, TelRads, etc.); and other options like wedges. Essentially things that physically go with your basic setup, and not yet addressing larger accessories. Or do I talk about Star Sense and other accessories that you can add now too?

Chapter 4: Setting up gives me pause. I want to include instructions on how to use EACH of the main setup options from the buyer’s guide. But if I was to break that out into a separate volume, should I do the same thing here? Should I write a separate guide where Chapter X is “Setting up and using your Dobsonian telescope” and Chapter Y is “Getting started with binoculars”? I’d also have details about aligning your finder tools and viewing instruments, and a whole detailed chapter or two on GoTo scopes. In this main guide, it would give the basics without a lot of extra bumpf. Other scope info would include polar alignment, packing/unpacking, power, collimation, cleaning lenses, etc.

Chapter 5: Practical Astronomy is about getting going once you’ve covered the setup in Chapter 4. I would backtrack a bit and talk about what you need for accessories that are NOT necessarily astro-related. For example, I’m in Canada and people do astronomy all year round. I do not. I am a warm-weather astronomer, and I do not enjoy touching a metal scope in the winter. But even in April and May, if you’re standing around in a parking lot doing astronomy, you need warm boots on your feet to stop the concrete from sucking all the heat out through your shoes. But there are other things like bug spray, flashlights, etc. With that stuff out of the way, I’d go through a quick equipment list check if you’re viewing somewhere other than your house (yeah, it’s happened to all of us…we head out to a nice dark site and realize we forgot something important like our battery power for the computerized scope or all of our eyepieces or our tripod!). If you’re just in your backyard, forgetting something isn’t that big a deal; driving 2 hours and realizing you can’t set up is really annoying. Checklists help. Okay, so then you set up, and you’re ready. What do you need next?

Well, did you plan your viewing for the night? Did you check the weather apps before you even set out or are you just winging it? When you chose the location, did you take into account light pollution? Do you have a list of targets you want to look at? Do you know how to find objects in the sky, navigate with a star finder, maps, RACI finder scope, app? Do you know about averted vision? And once you find something, then what? There are options around using a logbook to record your observations, maybe you want to snap a photo, maybe you want to try sketching?

I generally view Chapter 5 as a “how to” guide for a successful night out observing. Sometimes, I think it’s overkill. Other times I think it is too long for this guide but not long enough for a separate guide. Maybe a separate guidelet? I don’t know yet. I haven’t seen anything like it in the various books and resources I have. Does that mean it isn’t needed or that it would be a good added resource?

Back at Chapter 2, I mentioned that many astronomers start with an inventory of what you can see. I wouldn’t do it there, I want to start here, with Chapters 6-15: What’s out there. I have a small problem though. A bunch of these bits could be expanded and broken into separate guides. And a couple DEFINITELY will be. So let’s see what I have in mind:

• Chapter 6: Constellations & Asterisms — I want to cover the main 88 Western ones, as well as a number from different calculations. Ideally, I could get it down to a set 20-30 that are more easily found that combine from across the various cultures. I could see MAYBE using a star finder to pick a handful for the guide and developing a separate larger example, and all of these are visible with the naked eye.
• Chapter 7: Earth-centric elements — It sounds a bit odd to start with Earth, but I would cover basic things that you can see with the naked eye, like sunrises and sunsets, nightscapes, aurorae, halos / sundogs / clouds, zodiacal light, etc. And likely something about man-made satellites. It wouldn’t necessarily be a long chapter, but would cover the basics.
• Chapter 8: The Sun — I would love to do a whole separate guide(let) about the Sun, but I simply don’t think I’d have enough materials. I could cover sunspots, eruptions, and eclipses, and maybe the special tools used for the sun / observing safety, but I think all I have to say would fit in the main guide.
• Chapter 9: The Moon — I absolutely want to do a full and separate guide to observing the moon. I want to cover movement of the moon each night, phases, terminator shadows, craters, ridges, and eclipses, oh my. But I want to go even deeper…in addition to a special combination of pictures of the moon through a full cycle of a month, I also want to do an in-depth set of photos of everything you can see on each of the 28-day cycles. I’m envisioning 3 pages per day of the lunar cycle with the full-on picture of the moon for that day, plus zoomed-in shots of the moon to show various features that people can look for that night. Probably about 100 pages or so on its own. For the main guide, maybe about 4 pages would be my guess.
• Chapter 10: The Planets — Other authors with more sophisticated resources have exhausted anything I would add on the planets. I won’t do a separate guide, and even for what there is, maybe a page or even only a half-page on each one.
• Chapter 11: Other system objects — I would intend to cover comets, asteroids, meteors and showers, as well as dwarf planets, but like the regular planets, I don’t have much to say myself that hasn’t already been said.
• Chapter 12: Stars — this would go beyond what I already covered with constellations, talk about different types of stars, look at splitting stars, etc. I would probably include some lists of good stars to look for, both for brightness or colour.
• Chapter 13: Galaxies — The Milky Way, some spiral examples, some planetary examples, etc.
• Chapter 14: Clusters — Open clusters and globular clusters.
• Chapter 15: Nebulae — Types, emission or reflection, dark or comet, etc.

Now, here is where it gets REALLY interesting. I know that I can wrap up here, and do chapter 16 on further adventures in astronomy. I could cover things like further astro resources for amateurs, although I likely would have covered that in the up front Chapter 2 for learning about astronomy. Similarly for astronomy clubs and institutions out there, special events like astronomy day, or even certificate programs. I might not have covered “maker” events to get into DIY astronomy things.

But to be honest, I’m not really done with my astronomy writing. Picking up on the maker theme, I will likely get around to 3D printing things to go with my astronomy hobby. A Dobsonian tabletop scope, maybe some other scope options. Accessories too.

I’m contemplating a chapter on Electronically-Assisted Astronomy aka cameras as an observing tool, not just for imaging.

Another chapter could be good on types of observatories that are out there (I had to search pretty hard to see the various designs that I found).

But the big scary question is what do I do about AstroPhotography? There are lots of guides out there on AP, no doubt. Things written by far better experts than me. Yet I feel most of them are written at a highly technical level, and don’t really “dumb it down” enough for newbies. And, to be honest, I don’t want to talk about really advanced AP. I want to talk about the options, and what you can do with a simple smartphone. Some ideas I have for a separate guide would include:

• The history of recording observations — sketching, film, digital, and expectations of beginners;
• Possible instruments — pencil, smartphone, point and shoot cameras, DSLR, webcam;
• Spotlight on smartphone options — adapters, adapters, and more adapters;
• Modern image capture — sketching, star trails, Android vs. iOS, DSLR and DSLR+, laptop/desktop, MAXIM DL, ASI Cap, focusing methods;
• Major processing tools — PIPP, AST, Registax, GIMP, Photoshop, PixInsight, Nebulosity;
• Types of processing tweaks — filters, tweaking, stretching, etc.;
• Production of images — recreation, science, art

Yeah, I lost track too

I don’t know how many “extra” guides there are vs. the primary volume. But it starts with the intro and goes from there. Some of this will take me several years to do, while others might be done this year. That’s the beauty of the template for the cover page. I can slap a cover on a sub-area and make it available on the website while I work on other pieces.

And, eventually, I’ll ask all the astronomers out there — what have I missed?

In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed a flashforward look at what I plan to write in the future.