5 Cheap(ish) Things to Take Stargazing

A telescope can conjure images of stunning depth and detail from the night sky. Still, some of my most vivid stargazing memories are of nights that I’ve left the telescope in its case to instead see only what I could with nothing more than my eyes. On these nights, I might catch a glimpse of a spray of meteors as they streak across the sky, pick out a distant planet amid clumps of stars, or maybe just identify a few familiar constellations, all by simply looking up.

Whatever I plan to see up there, there are two essentials that I always need: darkness and time. The first I get by picking the right spot, as far away from any bright lights as possible. Once I’ve found that spot, a few key items help me to stay out there comfortably into the night, for as long as I need to see something spectacular.

Here are five of my favorite cheap(ish) things that I stash in my astronomy kit, before I head out to scan the skies.

See the full list by Ria Misra on Wirecutter's website here.