How would you like to see the farthest thing visible to the naked eye? It’s possible, but you’ll need to bundle up and sit back on a lawn chair. Your neighbors may think you’ve cracked up sitting out there in the winter, but you’re on a mission! You’re out in the cold to find the Andromeda Galaxy, the next-door neighbor to our own Milky Way Galaxy, home to our sun and possibly another 300 billion or so stars, and Lord knows how many other planets! It is possible to see the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye, but you need dark countryside skies to pull that off. If you’re trying to spot Andromeda in areas compromised by light pollution, you better have a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.
Just make sure you let your new telescope and all the eyepieces you will use sit outside for 30 to 45 minutes so the glass and mirrors can acclimate to lower temperatures. Otherwise, you can get some really blurry and funky views. Once you settle into your lawn chair, try to give your eyes a good 15 to 20 minutes to adjust to the darkness and get your night vision.
If you’re using any star map or the diagram included with this column, use a headband flashlight with a red lens to avoid ruining your night vision. You can buy those at a hardware store or anywhere that sells camping gear. You can use a smartphone app like Sky Guide to find it.
It works great. Just make sure you put the screen in red night vision mode. The best way to find the Andromeda Galaxy is to locate the.
