Welcome!

I’d like to share with you some thoughts on why I love amateur astronomy.

This vast and wonderful hobby has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Most clear nights you can still find me at the eyepiece of a modest telescope or laying back in a chaise or on a blanket, trying to wrap my head around what I’m seeing in the sky above. It helps me keep things in perspective. And in my seventh decade I’m just as amazed now as I was when I was five years old and first saw the Pleiades drift into view as I looked out my window one winter night. It still makes me smile.

Amateur Astronomy can be very formal and technical: Expensive optics, GPS enabled robo-scopes, plate solving programs, imaging equipment with incredible resolution, and lists of unbelievably faint and obscure objects. A lot of the information out there would have you believe that this is what the hobby is all about… not so.

All you really need is a clear night, a star chart, a red penlight, and maybe a pair of binoculars. With just these few things you could spend the rest of your life learning the constellations and their stories; you could view many of the objects hidden amongst the asterisms; you could learn the movement of the Moon and planets, and you could see how the atmosphere changes season to season and even hour to hour.

Here you won’t find anything on astro-imaging, the nuclear chemistry of stars, the physics of black holes, or the complex math behind celestial mechanics. What you will find is simple approach that focuses on the beauty of the amazing things to be found by studying the sky.

One thing I’ve included is a Concise Guide to Amateur Astronomy. Basically it’s all the stuff I wish someone had told me through the years. I think you’ll find it helpful to get started in the hobby and , more importantly, to get you back on the trail when you get lost in the internet search weeds. In the Guide you’ll also find out why I named this site, “ Close Enough Astronomy”. It’s all about knowing when it’s time to quit fooling with your equipment and start looking through the eyepiece.

Also included is a meandering blog on observations, equipment, star parties, and Astro stuff in general that catches my interest.

Please let me have your comments, especially if you find something that needs correcting.

And if it’s clear tonight, go outside and spend some time under the sky just taking it all in. My club has rural, suburban, and urban star parties; there’s always something to see.

Thanks!

Fred Rains

October 2026

Birmingham, Alabama