How to View the Night Sky
Please note: I do not endorse or sponsor any products on my website. It was through extensive reading and YouTube videos on how to buy and use a telescope that I ended up buying the items listed below. Please exercise due diligence when buying your first telescope and accessories.
Four important things to know before you are able to view the night sky!
First: Do research before you buy a telescope. Stay away from low-cost telescopes. Buy one that you will be satisfied using anytime when the opportunity presents itself in the night sky.
After extensive reading and research on how to buy and use a telescope, I ended up buying this refractor telescope. As a bonus, it is also a good daytime spotting scope (for terrestrial usage).
2nd: Telescope eyepiece: the part you look into to view the night sky. The two eyepieces that came with the package are subpar and very difficult to see through.
I have two eyepieces that I primarily use: the Orion 8-24mm and the Celestron Ultima Edge - 24mm.
Orion 8-24mm Pro Lanthanum Zoom Eyepiece
I mainly use this eyepiece for viewing most objects in the night sky, such as planets, Earth's moon, and stars. It basically has multiple eyepieces packaged into one. If you buy eyepieces separately, for example, 10 mm, 16 mm, 20 mm, etc., you will get tired of changing them in and out of the telescope. This eyepiece saves time and money. With this eyepiece, all I have to do is make sure the focuser on the telescope is focused correctly on an object, and then I just zoom in and out on the object or any other object that I want to view.
I use this eyepiece to view the moon and stars. I can also view Jupiter and Saturn with this before switching to the Orion eyepiece for a closer view. As you can see, this eyepiece is large for a reason. It gives generous eye relief. Eye fatigue is a main problem when viewing the night sky through an eyepiece. The better the eyepiece, the less eye fatigue there will be. Everyone should have at least one big eyepiece to get a wider-field view of the night sky.
24mm Ultra Flat Field eyepiece designed for 1.25” focusers
Incredibly crisp views from center to edge of field
Fully multi-coated, 8-element lens design for excellent light transmission
Wide 65° apparent field of view allows you to see more of the night sky
Generous 29mm eye relief and fold-down rubber eyeguard for comfortable viewing with or without eyeglasses
3rd: You need a 2x or 3x Barlow lens
What does a Barlow lens do?
A Barlow lens can increase the magnification and allow the short focal length telescope to achieve its maximum usable power. Perhaps the biggest benefit of a Barlow is that it doubles the number of magnifications available to you, effectively doubling the number of telescope eyepieces in your repertoire. 2x Barlow lenses are the most common.
I have two Barlows to choose from. They are the Celestron 93529 X-Cel LX 1.25-Inch 2x Barlow Lens (Black) and the Celestron 93428 X-Cel LX 1.25-Inch 3x Barlow Lens (Black).
2x doubles your eyepiece magnification, and 3x triples your eyepiece magnification. The eyepiece is attached to the Barlow lens as shown below. Then the bottom of the barlow attaches to the telescope.
Note: This is not the telescope that I have, but it's the same concept of how to attach the eyepiece to the barlow, and then the barlow to the telescope.
4th: Some advice before peering into the night sky.
Make sure you have a clear night sky before viewing. Cloudy or even partly cloudy night skies are not good conditions for viewing, nor is it if the weather is too hot or too cold to be outside.
Understand that to view common celestial objects from Earth, we need to know when that object rises and sets. The internet or a free astronomy app can give you this information. For example, it is important to know when Jupiter and Saturn rise and set so that you can prepare your telescope for viewing. Normally, I have to wait about 1.5 to 2 hours after Saturn and Jupiter start to rise in my area because they also need to rise above some of the tall trees that are in my backyard.
The StarSense cellphone app that comes with the StarSense Explorer DX 102AZ telescope is a good app to use. Also, these two cellphone apps, SkyPortal and SkyView Lite, are free and good to use. Search for them on your cell phone and install them.
The most common objects to view are Jupiter, Saturn, Earth's moon, and the stars. Other objects might be harder to view, depending on your location and the amount of city light pollution. Some objects are just too far away and dull to look at.
Smartphone-app-enabled telescopes are fun to use, but only when you can calibrate them as accurately as possible. I have been able to implement it with the StarSense Explorer DX 102AZ telescope. However, I would rather just plan what I want to view for the night and use the Finderscope to find my objects.
Don't be disappointed if what you see is not even close to what is shown on the internet. However, you will be surprised at what you can achieve from the images seen through your own telescope.
Please check out my Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus photo links. These were taken in the past few years. They were taken with my cellphone attached to the Celestron StarSense Explorer DX 102AZ telescope.