Look through a telescope at an astronomy society
A friend has invited you to do this with them.
Saturn's rings and the craters along the Moon's shadow line look quite different through an eyepiece than on a screen, because the light reaching you is the real thing. Amateur astronomy societies exist to share their telescopes, and many welcome visitors to meetings and observing evenings.
GentleFreeAn afternoonOutdoorsWith othersUK and US
How to start
- Look up your county in the Federation of Astronomical Societies' member list in the UK, or search NASA's Night Sky Network for a club in the US.
- Check the society's own website for its next meeting or public observing evening.
- Go along on a clear night, dress warmly and ask a member what is worth seeing that evening.
Where to go
- Federation of Astronomical Societies, member societies by county (UK) UK
- NASA Night Sky Network (coalition of US amateur astronomy clubs) US
We opened these links on 7 October 2026 and found them to be what we say. Dates, places and prices are on the official page, where they stay up to date.
Plan this
Pick a day, or a month, and we will set out how to get ready, step by step, with a date and a reason for each. The hard part of a day out is the timing: the right season, tickets and getting there. The plan watches the calendar for you.
Read next
Stargazing for beginners: what to see, what to bring and where to look through a telescope
A beginner's guide to stargazing: letting your eyes adapt, the planets you can find without a telescope, why a red torch matters, the honest challenges of cloud and cold, and observatories and astronomy societies near you that will lend you a look through their telescopes.
Trevor Barry's backyard telescope in Broken Hill caught a ten-sided wave on Saturn
In September 2026 the journal Science Advances described a decagon, a ten-sided atmospheric wave, around Saturn's south pole. One of its authors is Trevor Barry, an amateur astronomer who left school after Year 10 and spent 30 years in the mines of Broken Hill. How a homemade observatory ended up in a scientific paper, what the evidence says about looking up, and how to find Saturn this month.