(If you missed part 1, you can find it here.)

Amateur astronomy doesn’t really require any equipment at all. Mostly, you need time: time to allow your eyes to adjust to the darkness, and time to watch whatever might be going on up there. Whether aboard your boat or ashore, you’ll want to find a comfortable reclining or semi-reclining position, so you don’t get a sore neck. Ashore, this can be as simple as a blanket and a patch of grass or beach. Seriously, though, make yourself comfortable; otherwise, you won’t watch for very long. Obviously, turn off or move away from all the lights you can. And dress warmly, since your body temperature will start to drop as you spend time inactive.

Then, just watch. Just look. Just see. If you’re stargazing with somebody else, it’s nice to get comfortable and talk, except that you’re in the dark, and you’re not making eye-contact with the other person. Instead, you’re staring into space, having a discussion, and interrupting occasionally to comment on something you’ve noticed in the sky above. If you’re alone, it’s even easier, since you can just let your mind wander. Try not to fall asleep! The trick is to allow some time to pass, allow your eyes to dark-adjust, and allow yourself to begin noticing things in the sky.

Perhaps, at this point, you’re beginning to realize that it’s not as simple as stepping outside, looking upward, seeing something wonderful, and then returning your attention to terrestrial affairs. It’s not that simple, but it isn’t difficult, either. It takes time, and you’ll see more and more as the time passes, not only due to your eyes becoming more sensitive. Believe it or not, you’ll see more at the end of your session than you did at the beginning, because while you were out there you learned how to look at the sky! I’m absolutely serious: you have to learn how to look at the sky. You have to learn how to look through optics, as well, but we’ll talk more about that in a later installment.

I know, it sounds bizarre, but a view of the sky is not something that can be apprehended by the human brain in a single glance. A neuroscientist specializing in visual cognition could provide a full explanation, but I’ll have to resort to an analogy: remember those “Magic Eye” posters from the 1990s? If you stared at the pattern and sort of let your eyes relax, all of a sudden you could see the hidden 3D image. Looking at the sky is kind of like that, except that progress is more gradual; it isn’t an all-or-nothing thing. As you do it more, your eye-brain system begins to sort, filter, spot patterns, and notice irregularities within the visual field; you will probably experience this simply as seeing stuff that you didn’t see before. The more time you spend at it, the better your brain becomes, at least until you start to fatigue. Completely separate from allowing your night vision to develop fully, you will literally see more if you spend some time looking at the sky.

So set a goal: Spend 30 minutes looking at the sky. 30 minutes is good because it takes about that long for your night vision to develop fully. Don’t work at it. Don’t try to make yourself see more. Just relax and look. Let your eyes wander to whatever draws their attention. Your brain is doing the work, and you can’t really speed up the process by trying harder, or concentrating, or anything like that. Let the time pass, and let your eyes wander, with no particular expectations.

Don’t be surprised if you really are tired at the end of 30 minutes! While your conscious mind has been relaxed, slightly bored, or free-associating like mad, your visual cognition centers have been working overtime trying to make sense of this unfamiliar datastream. Good thing it’s nighttime, because you’re probably ready for bed about now!

Yes, I said I would talk about gear and gadgets. Navagear is all about gear and gadgets! But I genuinely feel it’s important to bring the right mindset to astronomy. If you can begin to explore the heavens with your naked eyes and a bit of patience, you’ll get a lot more out of the experience when you do start augmenting it with powerful tools. Amateur astronomers can geek out about gear and technology at least as severely as boaters do, so don’t worry…there will be plenty to discuss before we’re done! Stay tuned, and “keep watching the skies!”

(Skip ahead to part 3 or part 4.)