An expert's tips on getting started in stargazing, 'spooky science' and more: Your astronomy ...

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If you've ever wanted to get involved in astronomy, October might be a great time to get started. Here are some tips from the American Museum of Natural History's Sr. Education Manager, as well as info on a special Halloween-themed event.

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00:00 October is a great month for stargazers, even if you're a beginner.

00:04 Tonight we have more with Jackie Fadry. She is an astrophysicist and senior education manager

00:10 at New York's American Museum of Natural History.

00:14 Jeff Cornish asked her how to look for meteor showers this month.

00:17 You can start looking at the beginning of October and watch it kind of increase in the number of

00:23 fireballs that you'll see in the sky or what some people call lovingly shooting stars and then it'll

00:29 peak around October 19th or 20th. So you've got kind of the month of October to play around in

00:35 the sky and get your bearings and look for some of these beautiful streaks of light that you can catch.

00:42 Any quick tips for beginners who are interested in getting started in astronomy?

00:47 I always tell people the same thing. People want to jump to a telescope. They're like,

00:53 "What telescope should I buy?" Absolutely do not get a telescope first. The very first thing you

00:58 need to do if you want to get into stargazing or if you want to get into astronomy, you have to

01:03 know the nighttime sky. So my first and foremost recommendation is to learn the constellations.

01:11 No matter where you are in the United States, from New York City where we're super light polluted

01:16 here all the way out to like big sky Montana or somewhere else where you get these gorgeous,

01:22 crisp, clean skies, you can step out each night and find bright stars, find where the planets are,

01:30 orient yourself so that you know exactly what you're looking at and watch for a season. You'll

01:36 notice how some constellations rise, some constellations set at certain times of year

01:42 and you'll get used to it and then you can start taking yourself to the next level which is maybe

01:47 binoculars where you can look for deep sky objects. And only then would I recommend moving on to a

01:52 telescope because at that point you will have started to understand what's possible in the

01:57 nighttime sky. Later in the month brings Halloween and you have a program at the American Museum of

02:02 Natural History called Spooky Space and this sounds pretty compelling. Could you give us a

02:06 little bit of a preview of some of the scary cosmic mysteries you'll be sharing? Yeah, so we

02:12 are doing a special program on Halloween at the American Museum of Natural History where I'm

02:16 going to guide people through an immersive science experience where I tell some of the

02:24 ghoulish science stories of the sky. This is more or less like we know that there are asteroids out

02:31 there but is there anything that's going to hit us? How often might that occur? I'll show where

02:36 the hazardous asteroids are that astronomers watch carefully to make sure that no one's on a close

02:43 approach orbit. I'll also show some of the phenomenal imagery that's been coming in from

02:48 the James Webb Space Telescope that shows the remnants of dead stars or the remnants of massive

02:56 galaxy collisions. All of which can end up looking very scary in some ways which is the same kind of

03:05 thing that happens on Halloween where you get excited about ghosts and goblins and all that.

03:12 None of that is in space but I'll keep with that kind of theme to get you a little bit scared but

03:18 also safe because it's science. That sounds great. That sounds like a really really fun event. Well,

03:22 we appreciate you Dr. Jackie Farrity, Senior Scientist and Senior Education Manager and

03:27 Astrophysicist at New York's Museum, American Museum of Natural History. Thanks again. You're welcome.

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