Find your horizon
Choose a repeatable viewpoint. A roofline, chimney or distant tree makes a useful reference when you compare where an object appears on another evening.
A night-sky notebook · No telescope required
Look up. Slow down.
The sky is not quite the same twice. Start with the Moon, a familiar rooftop and a few minutes without a bright screen.
Begin at the horizonFirst subjectOur nearest neighbour
Useful toolA small paper notebook
MethodReturn to the same view
The nearest night-time landmark
A familiar Moon, a changing view.
The Moon does not make its own visible light; we see sunlight reflected from its surface. As it travels around Earth, the amount of the sunlit half we can see changes. That shifting view gives us the familiar sequence of phases.
You can follow the changes without a telescope. When the Moon is visible, sketch its shape and its position above a nearby roof or tree. Add the date and time. Over several observations, a page of simple drawings becomes a record of change.
Build a way of looking
From the ground, with curiosity
Notice the light
Compare the bright and dark parts of the Moon. The boundary between them is called the terminator. Its position changes as the illuminated shape grows or shrinks.
Keep the time
A sky sketch is more useful with a date and time. Add a brief note about clouds and the direction you faced, even if the drawing is only a small curve.
A page for the evening
Let one observation be enough.
Make a Moon notebook
Draw a row of empty circles on a page. Fill one whenever you see the Moon, shading the part that looks dark. Write the date and time beneath it. If clouds hide the sky, leave a gap; it belongs in the record too.
Try a horizon sketch
Draw the outline of the view from a window or a safe outdoor spot. Add only the brightest objects you can see. Repeat from the same place on another evening and compare your two pages.