Astronomy for Beginners
New to astronomy? Not sure how to get started in stargazing or which telescope to buy?
Here’s where you’ll find observing guides, how-to articles and great astronomy hints and tips. Don’t forget to check out our comprehensive astronomy dictionary.
General Guides
'How To' Guides
Astronomy Dictionary
Accretion disc
A disc of interstellar material around a celestial object, such as a star or a black hole, that has formed by matter being attracted by its gravitational pull.
Black hole stars
Astronomers know that in the early Universe, black holes with masses many times that of the Sun roamed space. But they’re not sure where these monsters came from. Enter a new theory – black hole stars. Black hole stars were supermassive stars in the early Universe. At their centres were massive black holes, formed by crushing gravity. As a supermassive star became more massive and grew, the black hole at its centre would have gorged on the star’s gas and would also have grown. Eventually the star would begin to die as it cooled down and, in doing so, would expose the massive black hole at its heart.
Supernumeraries
These are the faint rainbow bands seen on the inner edge of a rainbow. They appear when rain droplets in the rainbow are comparatively small and of a similar diameter to each other.
