British Astronomical Association

Supporting amateur astronomers since 1890

Tutorials

These tutorials and guides offer helpful step by step advice on equipment and observational techniques. You can search by topic and difficulty level, from starting out to advanced. For those new to astronomy and observation, we recommend our starting out page as a guide to this section.

Eyepieces
2017 Aug 11 - Starting Out
David Basey

Measurement of double stars
2017 Aug 3 - Intermediate
John McCue

Observing the Sun
2017 Jun 26 - Intermediate
Lyn Smith

Guide to Processing Spectra Using the BASS Software
2017 Jun 10 - Advanced
Andrew Wilson

Focusing by diffraction
2017 May 25 - Intermediate
Ron Arbour

Observing and Drawing the Night Sky
2017 Apr 26 - Intermediate
Stewart Moore

Jupiter and the amateur astronomer
2017 Mar 25 - Starting Out
Tobias Long and James Dawson

Saturn as a planet
2017 Mar 22 - Starting Out
Mike Foulkes

Robotic telescope astronomy – what’s it all about?
2017 Mar 22 - Intermediate, Starting Out
Damian Peach

Aurora – a beginners’ guide
2017 Mar 21 - Starting Out
Sandra Brantingham

Using filters for visual planetary observations
2017 Mar 20 - Starting Out
Paul G Abel

The Phases of the Moon
2017 Mar 19 - Starting Out
James S Dawson

Star trails
2017 Feb 28 - Starting Out
James Dawson

Atmospheric dispersion and its effect on high resolution imaging
2017 Feb 26 - Intermediate
Damian Peach

Figure 1. The Quickmap home page in its default setting.
Introducing QUICKMAP – an invaluable resource for the lunar observer
2017 Feb 2 - Advanced
Bill Leatherbarrow

Binoculars for the travelling astronomer
2017 Jan 9 - Intermediate, Starting Out
Stewart L. Moore

The phases of Venus
2016 Nov 21 - Starting Out
Paul G Abel

Observing Meteors
2016 Sep 24 - Starting Out
Paul G abel

Six stars that vary
2016 May 22 - Starting Out
Paul G Abel

Right ascention and declination
2016 Mar 22 - Starting Out
Paul G Abel