The stargazing thread

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Pupik

Pupik

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We know you do it. Tells us how, why, and when.

Viewing: Naked eye, telescope, binoculars, what-have-you.

With friends, lovers, alone?

Share a great stargazing spot near you (or been to, if distant) with the rest of us, or any other great night-sky experience.
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Kathy and I went to a park about 2 hours from our house about 3 years ago, it was quite literally in the middle of nowhere, about 25 miles from any town. There wern't many tress around there, which was nice.

So I stop the car, and it's a cool (optimal for Florida stargazing, no mosquitoes!), clear, moon-less night. We get out of the car, and it's so dark at eye level because there are no city or street lights. Nobody lives around here.

But as we slowly turn our heads up, we suddenly see more stars than ever before. The Milky Way arms are visible to us for the first time; it is spectacular. We are so awestruck, that we don't even leave the side of the car (it's so dark anyhow).

This was a feeling of love and fear all in one, afraid to move away from what I knew (that the car was still there, and I couldn't see squat in front of you), yet comforted by the stars above, feeling as if I had been the first to discover them.

I think the whole expereince lasted about 15 minutes (we weren't prepared for how cold it was), but it was amazing.
 
Sometimes in the summer, me and my girlfriend would ( and will )ride to a little lake with a small beach, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and lay down on the sand and just look at the stars for hours.

It's a beautifull place, and a perfect opportunity to just clear your head and enjoy a magnificent view with the person you love!
 
HOLY @%#$!
this is corny​
.

in a good way.
i used to do this with my girlfriend, usually in the spring. i live right on the edge of a huge forest/ravine-type thing, so there's lots of places to go into seclusion. i built a floor in the top of a tree near the house, so we could've gone up there, if we hadn't separated :mad:.
it was always really cool, watching meteor showers once in a while, and she'd always ask me these weird philosophical questions about God and why we're all here...oh, great. now i want to go call her.
 
I like floating in our pool on our backs with my wife and son at night and trying to pick out different constellations.
Did you know you could see satalites?
 
I see the Int'l Space Station every now and then from these latitudes. It just stays "stationary" for a few hours, but it's as bright as Jupiter.

It's bizzare seeing a satellite sometimes. A bright, star-like object just fades in... and then....fades out over the span of a minute ot two. Quite neat.
 
I'm probably one of the few people in L.A. County who can even see any stars, since the light pollution hasn't overflowed into my area yet... :p

In fact, we often get professional stargazers that set up camp near my house. One time, they even let my dad and I use their obnoxiously huge telescopes! :) It was really cool... the guy showed us a twin-spiral galaxy, and you could clearly see the spirals and how they were two galaxies that were right next to each other.
 
Good Thread.

My wife and I go camping up in the mountains in Northern AZ and it's absolutely incredible. It's the clearest air in the USA and there is no light pollution. We walk away from the campfire and lay on the ground and look up. Our campsite is only a few miles from the Lowell Observatory.

I have a 60mm telescope but one night it got blown over and broke the eye piece. I'll replace it eventually. I miss seeing Saturns rings and Jupiter with it's stripes and moons.

Anyone remember about a month ago when there was a Leonid meteor shower? Well I stayed up all night hoping to get some photo's of it and only saw one or two, which was really disappointing because all sources said there'd be 2000 - 5000 an hour.

I'd love to have a bigger telescope to see deep space objects. They're expensive for a non-essential item, though.

There's a bed and breakfast in Southern AZ with an astronomical theme. They have little seminars and very powerful telescopes you can use. Gotta go there sometime.

My neighborhood is pretty bright at night but I can still see more than I could back in Chicago where it's bright and polluted.
 
South Florida's light pollution is really bad, but on a cool, clear, moonless early morning (~3 to 5 am), it improves and worth it. You do ahave to go about an hour away to get the deep-sky stuff.

I miss Gainesville in that respect. Great viewing all night long, and if you went 15 minutes outside the city, it was truly awersome viewing. The Perseids (sp?) were great every August, almost worth losing a pint of blood a night to the unoffical state bird, the mosquito!
 
I took an astromeny class this semester, and it really made an interest of mine into a nightly thing. Since I finally have an idea of what I am looking at, I tend to look up more often.

Did anyone catch that metor shower we had last month? My girfriend and I were up till about 4am watching the sky, must have seen like 50 or more shooting stars! Very cool! Some to even appear to be on fire, with colors of red, orange, blue, and bright whites!
 
Originally posted by Magic069


Did anyone catch that metor shower we had last month? My girfriend and I were up till about 4am watching the sky, must have seen like 50 or more shooting stars! Very cool! Some to even appear to be on fire, with colors of red, orange, blue, and bright whites!
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That was the Leonid meteor shower I stayed up all night to see and didn't see anything. There was supposed to be 2000 - 5000 and I saw maybe two. *Pft* I had my tripod and 800 speed film and was really psyched. What a disappointment.
 
Originally posted by pupik
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I think the whole expereince lasted about 15 minutes (we weren't prepared for how cold it was), but it was amazing.
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ohhh, come on! You live anywhere in the Northern part of the US(North Dakota, MINNESOTA, Wiscinsin, or ALASKA!) and then go back down there and see if it's really that 'cold'
 
Originally posted by rjensen11
ohhh, come on! You live anywhere in the Northern part of the US(North Dakota, MINNESOTA, Wiscinsin, or ALASKA!) and then go back down there and see if it's really that 'cold'
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I can say from experience, living in Chicago until I was 26, and living in Arizona for the past four or five years, that "cold" is relative. But I also know from experience that northerners have no sympathy for that :p
 
Originally posted by milefile
That was the Leonid meteor shower I stayed up all night to see and didn't see anything. There was supposed to be 2000 - 5000 and I saw maybe two. *Pft* I had my tripod and 800 speed film and was really psyched. What a disappointment.
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i got up at 5 AM...massive cloud cover. none like it until 2098, or something.
 
I don't star gaze, I don't have a telescope. But theres a telescope on my 'to buy' list when I get a job. Although I did stay up all night on Monday, and at 4am I went out side hoping to watch the sun rise but it was overcast. It was quite moving when I went out to the footpath and all I could hear was birds signing, no cars. It was quite peaceful.
 
I enjoy looking at the stars. Wether it be with a companion;) or just by myself.

I've lived in some pretty remote area's of the country and that has lent me some great opportunities to see the stars. The most memorable experience would probably be while I lived in Vermont. I was driving to school one day when I looked out the window to see the Northern Lights, a full moon and the Hail Bop comet all positioned in a row! It was amazing. I stopped the car and just stood there and looked at it. Needless to say, I was late for class. But when I arrived and the insturctor was begining to question my whereabouts, I explained the sight that I had seen and then the whole class went out to look.
Now I live in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. There is absolutely no light polution and alot less atmosphere to block your view. When the moon isn't out, you can actually see the Milky Way. It's like a cloudy band that streaches across the entire night sky. Quite amazing I must admit.
 
I heard somewhere (although I may be making it up), that the higher altitude you're at, the easier it is to see stars. Is that right?
 
Originally posted by boombexus
When the moon isn't out, you can actually see the Milky Way. It's like a cloudy band that streaches across the entire night sky. Quite amazing I must admit.
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Northern Arizona is like that, too (San Fransisco Peaks, Coconino National Forest). I'm going there the day after Christmas. I only wish my telescope wasn't broken.

Also, I remember when Hail Bop was around last. That was amazing. One night I had to walk very far and I was a little pissed about it but then I saw the comet and almost tripped several times because I kept staring into the sky instead of watching where I was going.
 
Originally posted by Cobraboy
I heard somewhere (although I may be making it up), that the higher altitude you're at, the easier it is to see stars. Is that right?
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Definately. There is less distortion from the atmosphere at higher elevations as opposed to sea level. That is why you will find most of the telescopes positioned atop of mountains.

From my experience altitude has made quite the difference but I think that the thing that has the most impact on being able to see the stars is light sources near by. Such as cities and the like.

I couldn't see a star when I used to live in DC but I also lived on an island off the coast of Maine, that's at sea level and I could still see the Milky Way.

Just get away from the city lights is the best recomendation.
 
Originally posted by Cobraboy
I heard somewhere (although I may be making it up), that the higher altitude you're at, the easier it is to see stars. Is that right?
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Yes. It's because Earth's atmosphere distorts the light. The less atmosphere above you the less distortion. It's also due to less polution, both particulate and light. Go to the mountains and it's truly awe inspiring.

One of the terrible downsides to industrial/technological life is our losing the night sky.
 
When I was up at 4, I was looking East but I couldn't see the sun and then I looked N-NE and saw a yellow circular glow and I figured that was the city. It pissed me off that it was overcast. The only day in the year I was up early enough and I couldn't see it.

My only stargazing area is in a place call Tapeka Point, a 2km drive over a few hills from Russell (that town and the area, Bay Of Islands, plays an important part in NZ's history). The nearest town of more then 10,000 people is a 100k drive south (that place is called Whangarei - lets see you americans say that properly :p) So its fairly dark at night. We're going up there on the 27th or 28th so hopefully, I'll be able to wake up at about 4:30-5:00am and go out to the point (a 15min walk) and see the sun rise. It's an amazing place. It's the tip of the BOI penninsula so there is a 270 degree view of the ocean, hopefully I'll be able to see the sunrise from the ocean :D. I'm quite excited about it really. I'll try and get some pics for you guys. :D :D
 
Originally posted by milefile
and almost tripped several times because I kept staring into the sky instead of watching where I was going.
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Many a time have I found myself loosing my footing because I'm looking up at the stars and not where I'm walking!:O
 
I think one of the most amazing times to be outside looking into the sky is immediatly preceding dawn when the moon is still up and the sky itself is very clear so you have the pale light of day peeking over the horizon, the moon, and the brighter stars all in the sky at once. It really gives me the sense hat I am standing on a rock floating in space, going around the sun, which has another rock going around it. It's this big awareness of the physics of the solar system and I realize I am a speck of dust in this enormity, only significant because I see that it is beautiful, all of it, all the way down to the specks of dust admiring it.
 
Speaking of space, I had a friend I worked with on work experience in Year 10 (or 5th grade). Anyway he's probably the most experienced computer buff I know.

He used to be interested in telescopes. And he was going to pick up this ultra smart £15,000 telescope when the price came down. Now as you probably know, telescopes for some reason don't go up or down in price. So he abandoned hope and became a computer veteran.

Anybody here have to give up stargazing because of prices?
 
I haven't really had to give it up, but it is definitely limited.

I've hear this saying about fast cars, "speed is expensive, how fast do you want to go?"

You could also say "telescopes are expensive, how far do you want to see?"
 
I can't see any stars from here because of all the city lights.:( Youd be surprised how much light a little town produces.:rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by milefile

One of the terrible downsides to industrial/technological life is our losing the night sky.
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Aye. Score one for the country bumpkins.
Hale Bopp is what got me interested. You could see that monster even in the worst light pollution. Case in point, I pulled over where two interstates meet in S. Florida, and could still see it quite clearly.

I'd advise anyone to enjoy naked-eye viewing first; buying a telescope should come afterwards. I have a small telescope, but I'd rather take a pair of binoculars with me instead. Or just all 4 of my eyes.

I enjoy seeing all the stars together, just as the ancients did.
 

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