Christmas night STARGAZING

A first-time telescope user’s guide

Despite increasing levels of light pollution – around us and shining down on us from orbit – interest in the night sky has never been greater. Aside from the difficulties of the past year, many people have discovered the joy of looking up at the night sky for the first time, and many of them will have asked for a telescope this Christmas. That’s not new; every year, as the Sun sets at the end of Christmas Day, turkey-stuffed newcomers to the hobby eagerly unpack their new telescopes and head outside hoping to come face to face with the beauty of the Universe and maybe even become the next Brian Cox or Patrick Moore. Maybe this year you count yourself among them.

However, as new telescope owners stand there beneath the winter sky, with their wacky Christmas jumpers hidden beneath thick coats and mighty Orion staring down at them,