Keep looking up.

So you had your eyes on sky and wondered what's out there in cosmos. You wanted to find out by buying yourself a good amateur Telescope. And oila,you've got one. So now what.?

Here's when the real adventure starts. I am here to tell you some tips and tricks onto how to use your first Telescope and how to get most out of any Telescope.

1)Use it as much as you can.

The Telescope you have bought is really useless if it sits in a garage for around 11 out of 12 months in an year. You need to get it out and use it. If you live in a suburban area and have no clear sky,atleast observe moon and some bright stars/planets that are visible. You can always travel outside the city/get clear skies someday in your area too.Just wait for it. Also Don't shy away if you've got 70mm refractor and somewhere some insta guy is using 8-inch moskutov/dobsonian with computerized goto mount,with all those fancy barlows and astrophotography cameras. He is none of your business. Just be happy and curious about your own journey that is about to begin. 

2)Learn skills.

You have to spend time on learning about astronomy and become a skilled technician while using a Telescope. Otherwise you'll just end up restricting yourself  to watching moon and some random objects far away from you. If you want to watch nebulae, star clustes, meteor showers etc you need to put some effort.

Read about astronomy in websites and astronomy magazines,learn how to collimate your Telescope (if you're using a Newtonian reflector),learn about technical terms like focal length,magnification, different types of eyepieces,Smartphone adapters,T-ring barlows, softwares such as stellarium,how to properly polar align your opticaltube,how to do star hopping,how to read setting circles and star charts,how to stack images on astrostakkert etc. 

3)Patience and experience. 

Like any other subject,you'll learn practical astronomy by being patient around it,doing it again and again. You'll gather new skills as time goes by and troubleshoot things very well. For example,if your Telescope doesn't show mars in its full glory except like a big bright orange dot,you'll buy a planetary filter. Or otherwise if your tripod is shaky you'll suspend a sand bag from it to absorb vibrations. You'll eventually start using night mode in stellarium while observing deep sky objects, you'll find new ways  to cool your Telescope quickly and clean the mirror using camel brush etc. You get what I'm talking right.? Time and experience will teach you a lot. This is a field where you learn by doing. 

Also regarding the patience, I cannot stress this factor enough. You will feel cold during nights,you'll get bitten by the mosquitoes and catch fever,your Telescope will tilt a lot eventhough you balanced it well,Sometimes you'll even get afraid to watch night sky all alone when everyone else is sleeping. Who knows the object you're trying to see is not clear enough because of atmospheric refraction and you may have to wait 3-4 hrs for it to rise up,etc.But it's all worth it. The joy you get when you see things your eyes never saw before is just unparalleled.  I cried out of happiness when I saw orion nebula and Andromeda galaxy for the first time in my life. No amount of money can buy you that adrenaline rush or happiness. So if you're a person who never owned a Telescope and still reading this article, I request you to buy one,in whatever budget you have. Your life will not be the same again. 

**CLEAR SKIES**