Tim, your point is well taken - you can only learn it ultimately by doing it. Yet I think there is some validity to the idea. Though it comes naturally to some of us, others have some difficulty making overall sense of the sky even with a planisphere, and may not even know where to start. Eventually, those with an interest will have to do exactly what you say, but we can help with some basic explanations, like how to use the planisphere, the idea of star-hopping or things like the precession of the stars and the celestial equatorial/polar concept. That along with some hands-on demos might get people kick-started to do their own learning. JM2C Eric -----Original Message----- From: pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tim Jones Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2013 3:03 PM To: pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [pasmembers] Re: Night Sky Training Event - Your input is requested While I appreciate the intent behind this, the only way to learn the night sky is to get out under it and look up. A session here or there really is not going to help. Imagine one of your music students that you only see 2-3 times a year because their schedule doesn't allow them to practice the instrument more often. Just how quickly do you think they would learn to master the instrument? Learning the night sky is very much like learning to play an instrument. While a bit of guidance will help keep the student on the proper track, it only practicing regularly that results in the student learning to play the instrument. My recommendation for learning the sky - get a Planisphere (either an app or a real one) and spend evenings looking at the sky and learning the lay of the land (so to speak). You don't even need a telescope for that. Tim