Backyard Astronomy II

This course includes 23 Video lectures and several handouts designed to introduce you to the hobby of Backyard Astronomy. The Course is delivered in to 6 easy to digest sections, to fit in to your busy schedule If you are curious about the Night Sky and want to learn more, this is a great course to get you out and observing in the shortest possible time with the maximum enjoyment. This course is a follow-up to an "Introduction to Stargazing", in this course we will continue our exploration of the Night Sky by learning more about the constellations.

In the first section we will learn what the constellations are, where they came from and explore the lore of the constellations. We will learn about the zodiac, the original constellations set The 44 Greek constellations from Ptolemy's Almagest Then we will explore a little of the mythology of the constellations Once we have a fair understanding of what the constellations are and where they came from. We will explore the Key constellations month by month and tour the interesting objects you can see in each, with a pair of binoculars or a small telescope.

I have divided the exploration of the constellations in to four sections for convenience. Each section will cover 3 months and represent a "season" Remember season are reversed between the Northern and Southern Hemisphere so the section covering the Northern Hemisphere Spring, will also cover the Southern Hemisphere Fall.