Dig deeper than the big dipper with these astronomy tips for stargazing in the backcountry.

Four hundred years ago this month, Italian scientist Galileo Galilei published the first book of astronomy, Starry Messenger. It reported such discoveries as the moon is pocked with craters, Jupiter is orbited by moons, and “light clouds” in the night sky are actually clusters of stars (such as, the Milky Way). In honor of this milestone, which forever changed man’s relationship with the heavens, I spoke with an expert astronomer George Beimel, board member at the Museum of the Rockies, for tips on stargazing in the backcountry.

1. Pack In During the Quarter Moon. There are two in every month: waxing—growing toward a full moon—and waning—diminishing toward no moon. A quarter-moon provides just enough light to setup a hillside observatory (for our purposes, throwing down a blanket and pouring a cup of coffee), and yet the moon sets in time for the stars to come out.

2. Get As Far Away As Possible. “Light pollution” primarily refers to the effect of city lights drowning out the nighttime sky. Of course, that wasn’t a problem for Galileo in seventeenth-century Italy, two hundred years before the advent of streetlights. But today’s astronomic scientists go to great lengths to get away from light pollution. The Keck Observatory, for example, was built atop Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And still, that view of the sky is on par with what backcountry horsemen in the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains see every night.

3. Bring Binoculars. A quality pair of binoculars packs about as much punch as a backcountry astronomer needs, and are much more portable, durable, and user-friendly than their telescope counterparts. On the low-end of the market, an 8x all purpose binocular offers a better view than even Galileo enjoyed (his first telescope was 3x magnification), while truly fanatical stargazers might opt for a set of 20x astronomy binoculars with image stabilization. No matter what model you choose, be sure to bring a tripod mount. The slightest movement (a breeze, even your breath) disrupts the view at high levels of amplification.

4. Read the Night Sky. No discourse on astronomy is complete without mention of constellations.  They’re the piñatas, or the party favors, of the night sky.

“I think of the lines of a constellation like the boundary of a city limit,” Beimel says.  “A city’s outline isn’t what matters; it’s what you find living inside that’s interesting.”

The constellation Orion is a good example. Focus your binoculars on the second star in Orion’s Belt, and just below you’ll see Orion’s Nebula. To the naked eye, it looks like a fuzzy spot in the sky, but through binoculars, swirling clouds of galactic gas come to life.

And to think, most backcountry users retire to their tent just as the action is about to start.