Now you’ve got a Star Chart, you can now start using it to find your way around the sky..... if using the Astronomy software I suggested, it’ll be more accurate if you enter your location into the settings.... you can find the longitude/latitude positions for your backyard with the excellent GOOGLE EARTH software, or websites such as MULTIMAP.

Finding your way around the sky is easier than it appears..... it’s simply a matter of finding an easy to recognise landmark (or should that be “skymark” / “spacemark”?) in the sky..... I find the Moon + the Constellation of Orion are good ones to start off with..... then imagine this landmark (or one of the stars on it) as a kind of clock face..... Top = 12O’clock, Bottom = 6O’clock, Leftside = 9O’clock, Rightside = 3O’clock.(well that’s how I do it anyway)
     
Once you’ve seen something on the skychart you fancy trying to find, simply work out where it is in the sky from your chosen landmark in the sky...... if it’s a fair way round the sky from there, then you may want to try making your way round from several other stars in the sky to get to where you want to look at... such as, this thought pattern: “Right, there should be a star at 2O’clock from there.... there should be another one at 12O’clock from there...... and the one I’m looking for should be at 3O’clock from there.. oh look! there it is! I’ve found it!”.
     
At some point, you’re probably going to want to look even closer at these objects.... now for this, you don’t NEED a whopping great big telescope for this task (for starters they’re quite tricky to aim at the bit of the sky you want to look at)..... a pair of 10x50 binoculars will do...... I get by fine with mine (despite the fact they’re broken on one side)...... even the pair of 8x21 PRAKTICA binoculars I got as a free gift for joining a bookclub aren’t too bad for observing...... for more advice on this, check out the excellent articles on the SKY&TELESCOPE magazine website written by clever people who know more about these things than I do.

To learn more about what’s up there in the sky, check out the links on my web directory, and the books I recommended HERE.