Guides

What helps when you start looking at the night sky, and how to get the most out of the NowSky simulators. Each guide ends with views you can open in the simulator.

Observing basics

Watching the night sky without a telescope — choosing a place and time, finding north, telling planets from stars.

• 🔭How do you start stargazing with just your eyes?Dark adaptation, red lights, light pollution and the Bortle scale, moonlight and weather: the basics to know before a first night of naked-eye stargazing.
• 🧭How do you find Polaris and true north in the night sky?Use the Big Dipper or Cassiopeia to find Polaris, learn why its altitude equals your latitude, and how the Southern Cross points south below the equator.