Star gazin'

[Phil]

I think I've got a new hobby...

Several years ago, I bought one of those plastic star charts, but it never held my attention for very long at a time.  Last night, I took it outside and learned a couple of new constellations:  Gemini and Taurus.  (Before, I was only familiar with Orion, the dippers and Pleides.)

Any other amateur astronomers in here?  

Phil

[Tom]

I'm real amateurish.  We bought a fair size telescope a few years ago and enjoy looking at the moon and stars sometimes.  I am more of an Orion and Dipper type myself.  I have some charts and National Geographic paraphenalial, and a software package that is supposed to help find the constellations, but my memory is as long as my attention span and it's a new sky every night.

It amazes me that the sky goes by so fast.  It is a constant effort to watch the moon.  Stars disappear from the field of vision almost as soon as I find them.

I find almost as much entertainment in looking at targets around the house.  There is a big nut on a bolt at the top of the power pole about 250 feet from the house that usally catches my attention.  It fills the field of view and I can examine each new little spot of rust that develops as well as be surprized by an occassional insect that wanders by.

I have watched wildlife that will sit still long enough.   They are so far away that I couldn't hit them with a rifle if I were hunting but this thing makes them seem to be touchable.

The advertisements show rings around Saturn but they must have been pictures taken at mount Palomar.  Even Mars is nothing but a brighter light and I have about given up on the other planets.  

The scene that amazes me the most is a view of the Milky Way.  When the word infinite comes into the conversation then this is a good place to start.

I have problems with the logic of the learned who declare that space is finite.  I always ask myself "well what is on the other side of that?"

Perhaps there are some things we weren't meant to comprehend.  

Usually star studiers are looking outward. You know, in the direction of the "Big Bang".  If there was a "Big Bang", why doesn't anybody look the other way and instead of trying to figure out the history of the "infinite", try to figure out the future..........Huh?   :-/   :D

[psychotic1]

We have to know our history, before we can predict our future tom.  You know that.  Without it all we can do is guess, and there are enough politicians and science hacks doing that for us.

I don't recall anybody saying space is finite.  Course I ain't been paying much attention.  When you live somewhere the stars are clouded over 59 days out of 60 you just enjoy that 60th without thinking about it to hard. And then when the aurora kicks in as well... that's something special.

Bruce

[Jeff]

One of my favorite activities when I am at the cabin in the U.P. is to go out and look into the skies. There is absolutely no light polution up there. The sky is 3 dimentional, not like it is at home. With the naked I you can see layers upon layers of stars that I would imagine anyone south of there cannot see. We watch satalites moving easily with the naked eye.

And then, Aurora Borealis. It will humble you. One of the things on my list of things to do is to be dropped off on an Alaskan glacier on a very active night for the northern lights.

 I figure that is the place where one's mind could almost leave thier body.

[Don P]

I like hitting refdesk.com every now and then and hitching a ride on the Hubble, neat pics. Check out some of the archives, I like the nebulas. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

It is something to get really clear sky and just lay out and look. "The surest proof of intelligent life in the universe is that they have left us alone." :D

[psychotic1]

Thank you Don
I've been using that line for a while now, and I'm not always sure my audience gets it.  Nice to hear it used.

[L. Wakefield]

   I bought a Celestron 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector back in Denver in the '70s. Still have it- we haul it out for eclipses (both types) and 2-3 times a year for miscellaneous questions and stargazing. I really need to get it overhauled, as the clockdrive needs a power cord and everything is a bit stiff after all these years. They still make and service them. The front range and places like Mt Evans were incredible with this.

   There is a book still in print- Star Charts For Beginners, I think it is- I'll get the pub and etc when I get back home- that is just the best I've ever seen for your basic intro. Field guide to the Stars and Planets is good if you want the southern hemisphere as well.

   Those were my younger days, alright- the first time I got a good look at scorpio- right on down to the stars at the tail and the claws- the first time I saw the globular cluster in Hercules... it's weird. My dad died when I was 1 year old. I never knew him. I never knew til after i bought my telecope that he'd built a Newtonian reflector when he was still alive. My mom had never told me anything about that. But I wonder if he wasn't nudging me a little bit when I fell in love with the Celestron and just 'had' to have it (took me almost a year to pay it off..) My friends thought I was weird, lugging that thing around- it's easiest to set it up on the tripod and then pick it up in your arms- walking around to wherever- for small adjustments or getting around trees.. they were right about the weirdness, for sure. :D :D :D   lw

[Tom]

I get those nudges sometimes.  Funny.  Sometimes I think my Grandmom hits me in the back of the head.

[L. Wakefield]

   I'm sure some of the numb things I do they are just breathing fire and standing in line to take a swing at me. 'Honorable ancestors' need to be respected in this.. :/        lw

[L. Wakefield]

   OH YEAH (duh..) I'm home now, and can tell you- it is indeed 'Star maps for beginners'  by IM Levitt and Roy K Marshall- most recent is the 50th anniversary edition. Monthly maps are divided into quadrants N E S and W- and you hold them right side up with that base of the page representing the horizon. Every other book I've seen you have to either hold yourself upside down :D :D- or the book upside down- and I get all confused that way. With this book as you turn to face another of the 4 cardinal compass points you just turn the page so another edge points down. Also, if it is 10PM on Nov 15th instead of 8pm, you just go to the next or the preceding map and it shows you how the stars are at that point. There is a planet table, but in the 50th it only goes up to 1997. I guess they may come up with the next edition soon.

   It's published by Simon and Schuster.   lw

[Phil]

L.,

I'll search for the Levitt and Marshall book.  Sounds like it'd be leaps and bounds handier than my little chart (details are too small and the images are pretty distorted).

Tom, a few years ago, a friend set up his telescope in my yard (sorry, don't know what kind it was, just know that it looked expensive), and we were able to see the Saturn rings.  It was pretty amazing.

Outside magazine used to have a little column each month that told when the next meteor showers were coming up.  Don't know if they still do that.

Phil

[L. Wakefield]

   While you're at it, y'all- thank your lucky stars that you do live in a place where you can see the stars- not drowned out by air pollution or bright lights. So you may have to dance around a tree or find a clearing- it's God's earth, and God's sky- the magnificence of Creation. Aurora borealis, meteor showers- I'm in love..   lw

[woodmills1]

i have one of those two disk circle things that you line one up for the day and the other for the hour and it quite maps the sky.

[Bibbyman]

Yesterday at daybreak,  I drove past a large snow crusted field in a creak bottom,   I noted about 20 wild turkeys out in it.  A tom was strutting and looked as big as a 55-gallon drum.  I've seen this scene many times before but never with snow covering the ground.  It was somewhat surrealistic.

Stepped out on the porch last evening to bring in an armload of firewood to fill the stove before bed.  I took a moment to look up at the starts that were out brighter than usual.  Just then two shooting stars arced downward across the sky.  It had been a while since I'd seen a falling star.

These two events of nature were nice bookends to my day.

[JoeyLowe]

I fancy myself a amueter astromer. Oh the heck with it.  I like gazing at stars too.  I have a couple of telescopes and several charts laying around here.  This was one of my top ten reasons for leaving the hustle and bustle of big city life.

[Cedar Eater]

I gaze at the twinklers every now and then. My favorite is Jupiter, because you can see some details and see the moons too. I've got an 8" Meade dobsonian reflector. Since I moved back to Michigan, I haven't had a big field to view from. I'm planning to put a small platform out in the swampgrass.

[Forester Frank]

The heavens are amazing! Look at the response this post gets. We are all touched in some way by God's creation.

Wakefield - you just about made me cry. :'( Your earlier post was very touching.

The most amazing place I have viewed the stars was in the Mojave Dessert. No influence of outside light. The stars felt as though they were on top of you. I wonder if our soldiers in Afghanistan have the time to gaze at the stars above and think about life back in the United States?

[Forester Frank]

I just thought of another great time to view the stars. While I am running in the early, early morning.

Last year while training for the Chicago Marathon I would get up and run before work. I had to get up pretty early, as marathon training requires that you run a few miles. Anyway the morning was so peaceful. No cars. No noise. The stars are beautiful are there to guide you.

I run for about an hour and I am amazed at the speed at which the stars change position (Yes, I know it's the Earth rotating). Anyway I love it, and encourage you all to get up and at least take a walk. My labs love it too!

[L. Wakefield]

   Honestly, I do recommend- look for the globular cluster in Hercules. It is marked in the Levitt and Marshall book- that's how I knew to look for it. Herc is overhead in July, at 10PM. Depending on the type of telescope, overhead may or may not be a useful place. With the Celestron it's fine once you locate the object, but using the finder scope is usually an on-your-knees, broken-neck-feeling thing. Once you find it, it'll knock your sox off. Glob clusters are just different. I can't imagine what it would be like to have one close.    lw

[Frank_Pender]

We look at the stars her in Oregon, when the clouds part long enough.  We try and sleep out on deck most of the Summer around here. ;)    but, the best stars iI get to see, are the ones in my wifes eyes when she looks at me. 8) 8) 8) 8) :D :D

[Forester Frank]

Oregonian Frank

That doesn't sound like March Madness, but LOVE!

Will the Ducks prevail this tournament? It may be written in the stars.

Now we will need a new thread - March Madness. Maybe Jeff can provide a link to ESPN.

[Forester Frank]

Oh and Wakefield. You inspired me to want to get a telescope rather than new hcokey skates. Stars in sky rather than stars on ice.

[Phil]

The Mojave Desert and a cabin on the UP sound like great places to view the evening sky.  Here in eastern Kentucky, reclaimed surface mines are pretty good, too.  Ain't much to look at in the daylight, but not bad for star watchin'.

Phil

[Frank_Pender]

Looking at the stars got me this Tree Farm and my Wife all in the same night.  We were argueing as to which was the kite or the big dipper in the sky on our first date.  We were walking in the Dallas City Park (after  hours, another story) and could not view to well through the trees in mid-October.  So, we drove out a highway headed to the Pacific Coast.  Out there on a high secluded hill, over which the highway went, lost the bet.  We then decided to go the additional 40 miles to the beach and watch the sun rise.  It was already 4:00 am.  When I brought her home she asked if I wanted to go for a walk on "her farm". ;)  I agreed.  after about 30 min. of walking on some old skid trails I looked around and saw all of the timber surrounding us and asked her to marry me. ;) Here we are. 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Phil]

Frank,

I married a Kentucky woman (any Neil Diamond fans in here?) whose grandfather owns about 200 acres of forest land.  We're now living on it rent free, with the freedom to walk on it, hunt mushrooms on it and so on.  Not a bad dowry, I'd say.  However, her grandfather chided her a bit when we first moved up here, saying, "You're supposed to marry OFF, not marry ON."

Phil

[Tom]

I've got some hip boots around here somewhere.  I best go see if I can find'em. :-/

[whitepe]

I've got an 8 inch Celestron Schmidt Cassegrain also.
I used use it a lot when I moved out into the country
in the late 1980's.  Tried some photography
with it but I don't have any scanned just on prints.
Here is a photo that I took from my front steps several
years ago of the Aurora Borealis. If you look close
you can see the big dipper.

[ADfields]

Makes me feel right ta home! 8)

[whitepe]

AD,
I'll bet.  I think that I read somewhere  :P
that you can see Aurora's about 200 days a year
in Alaska.    Did you know that simultaneously
with the Aurora Borealis that there is a mirror
image Aurora Australis?  I saw a picture taken from some space satellite that showed both Aurora's at the same
time.

I bought a video tape from some source in Alaska
that had some great video footage of the Aurora.

Whitepe

[ADfields]

We see it best when it's cold cold COLD and clear out.   Out moose hunting you step out of the tent to tend to things and you cant go back in till your toes are blue. ;D   There are a couple things I miss about my old home state of Arizona but Alaska shure can make it hard to remember what.
Andy

[ARKANSAWYER]

JeffB,
  I have been out on that Alaskan glacier at 45 below watching the "night time rainbows" dance across the sky.  It makes a sound and I sware that you can feel the static from it.  It would be worth the trip.  
   When we build the new barn we are going to put a "widows watch" on top for star gazing.
ARKANSAWYER

[Ianab]

Best night shot I got was this one of local Mt, was doing 30 sec time exposure and got shooting star in the top right of the shot
I will post link to the pic cos if I compress it it may vanish... it's not amazingly clear.. but look close and it is there...

Ian
http://www.geocities.com/ianab/night/mtnite2.jpg

[OneWithWood]

Nice shot, Ian.

[L. Wakefield]

   I am so glad this thread was renewed recently. It gave me the chance to re-read the entire thing.

   This year, about 2 months ago, the moon and ( it must have been) Venus were putting on agreat show. I think this time around Venus was above the moon. It reminded me of the year my first marriage finally crashed and burned. During my last effort at reconciliation there were a few nights down in WV where an absolutely gorgeous crescent moon had Venus pendant from it at just such a distance that it would have made an incredible earring or other piece of jewelry. The sky was like black velvet and you know that illusion you get sometimes of the moon being larger than usual- it's more often when the moon is full and just risen, but it was operating to some extent with the crescent moon in this case.

   I figured the Goddess of love was giving us her best wishes.

   It didn't work out- he finally married my best friend- left me for her after 17 years of marriage- but I have the memory of the heaven's fantastic show (plus I got the farm and the kid- don't tell ME I don't know what the valuable stuff is..)  lw

[L. Wakefield]

   Another great trio in the sky is the bull, the hunter, and the dog. Orion, Taurus, and Sirius. Many nights when I do chores in the wintry months- well after dark- Franklin is running beside me, the snow is crunching (or squeaking) underfoot, and I go down to feed the herd- Mike has not yet put down the big bull (Buster Brown)- and albeit that I have to make sure he keeps a civilized distance, it's a treat still to have his company. He's a good bull, peaceable, good with the calves, takes care of the ladies (cows, that is..)...

   So I get done chores and walk back up to the house with the stars blazing down.

   Who has stories to tell of the stars and constellations in the southern hemisphere? I have looked at the charts but have never had the chance to see them for myself.   lw

[Weekend_Sawyer]

 One night in November 2001 I was heading into the Turtle Club in Fox near Fairbanks Alaska. I got out of the car and saw the Aurora. It was the second time I have seen it, the first time was when I was a kid. The best way I can describe it is if you were to use charcoal and draw a rainbow on a dark background then take your hand and smear it around. I walked into the bar and said. "There's a nice looking Aurora going out there, how often does it happen?" Well the bar just about emptied. The bar maid said it happens often enough, It's just too beautiful to miss. I had to agree.

[ADfields]

It happens about a couple times a week around Fairbanks in winter but but it could be every day and it would still get you outside in -40 weather!!!   It's FOR SHURE the best winter show in Fairbanks.
Andy

[Haytrader]

I don't know about "the best show" in Fairbanks thing. I saw some Dan G shows at a bar called Telons when I was there in the military in 1970........ 8)  8)  8)

[ADfields]

The hot spot in Fairbanks now is Sudz-N-Sudz.   It's a bar with a laundry mat inside so you get drunk and do your wash. ;D   Onley in Alaska!
Andy

[Phil]

I don't know, Andy.  There was a bar/laundry combo in Knoxville called Harvey Washbangers, and I've heard of one in Cincinnati called Sudsy Malone's.  I can't imagine why the combination of activities seemed like such a good business idea to three different people, but I suppose it works.

Phil

[Bro. Noble]

Was at my neighbor's place up Bryant creek last summer.  He's got one of those big telescopes on a tripod.  He lives right where the highway crosses the creek and is crowded with half-clad swimmers and sun bathers.  Curiosity got the better of me and I just had to ask him if he used it to watch the stars or something else.  He started gettin mad and talking about the rings around Pluto and that mass of stars (the Babe Ruth) so I had to apologize.  I was relieved to learn I was wrong about him :P

Noble

[ADfields]

So he's a shy peeping Tom? :D
Andy

[Tom]

Somebody call for a shy peeping Tom?

[Jeff]

And he's got a BIG telescope. I saw it. Said he watched the moon and stuff too. I dunno...

[Tom]

[ADfields]

Tom, If thay are a mooning thay must know your a peepin? ??? :P

[Haytrader]

Noble,

Sounds like your creek is a popular place. Once when we were vacationing at some friends in Flagstaff, we went to a place south of there called Slippery Rock to do some swimming. I beleive it is a state park. Anyway, it was a job just to find a parking place and once I did, I noticed two girls in the convertible (top down) next to us changing into thier smim suits. They didn't seem to care who saw them. My wife made me turn my head... >:(

When we got to the water, there was no need to turn your head, cause there was somthing interesting going on anywhere you looked. My wife didn't enjoy herself much that day but it was one of my most memorable trips. Oh, and those huge rocks in the fast moving stream sure were spippery..... 8)  8)  8)

[Norm]

I lived in Phoenix while I was going to school in the mid 70's. One of the popular places to go in the summer when it was real hot was up to Sedona. I had forgotten about going skinny dipping with my wife and some friends and it was at slippery rock. Ah the ignorance of youth ;D  

BTW that water was really cold.

[Tom]

There's a Slippery Rock in west N. Carolina too.  As a camper at Ridgecrest Baptist Boys Camp we would go there at least once a summer, sometimes more.  It was alongside the road behind the trees and we were about the only ones there.  Sometimes there would be a handful of others.  I went by there about 10 years ago and the place had been found.  There were cars parked bumper to bumper on either side of the road, concessions being sold, a dressing room had been built.   Kinda took the fun out of it, I figured.

That running stream water is co-o-o-ol-l-ld.  The closest thing we have to that in Florida are the springs in the North central part of the state, like Silver Springs.

[ADfields]

It's "Slide Rock" not Slippery Rock (but it is slippery ;) ) in Oak Creek Canyon half way between Sedona and Flagstaff on highway 89A.   It's about an hour drive from my home town of Chino Valley. 8) 8)   I spent a lot of time at Slide Rock as a young man looking at the red rocks and Manzanita bushes. ;) ;D  

Now back to the topic of "star gazin" :D :D :D
I had the good luck to shake hands with Roy Rodgers and Dale Eveins at Slide Rock back in the 70's 8) 8)
Andy

[whitepe]

Re-reading some of these posts makes me want to get my
telescope out again.  One of the neatest things to look
at with a telescope in the summer sky is the bottom most star of the Northern Cross.  Actually it is not one star but is a binary star system named Albireo. I guarantee that the first time you look at it in a telescope it will take your breath away.
To the naked eye it is white, but in the scope you will
see two beautiful jewels, one blue and one orange.

At one time I had thoughts of putting up a dome in my front yard. I am still annoyed by the 307 foot radio tower that went up in 2002 that ruined my view of the sky to the north.
Complete with strobes at the top and half way up. It
makes my bedroom look like there is lightning outside.
When I bought this place in 1987, one consideration was to get a dark spot outside of Peoria for using my telescope.

Jeff's right about the night time sky in the U.P.   At present
absolutely no light pollution.  I have taken my telescope
to the U.P. several times. The scope is kinda neat for
spotting Great Lakes freighters coming through the
Mackinaw Straits.  Port Dolomite is just
down the road from my in-laws place.  Several times
I have conversed with wives of crewmen aboard freighters
as the ships were coming into Dolomite and the wives
had not been with their husbands for a couple of months.
Talk about emotions bubbling to the surface.
One fall a freighter was coming up empty from Detroit and
to save time they had de-ballasted before they had come
around into the straits from the east.  They were too high in
the water when the winds coming through the straits hit
them broadside.  They almost lost the ship and when they
finally got to Dolomite, several crew members resigned.
Sailors are a brave lot and my hat is off to the courage
of those folks.  

[Mark M]

Speaking or peeping toms - did you ever hear of the famous Finnlander peeping tom from the Yoo-P?
His name is Leukin Anapeekinen. Do you know him Chet  :D

[AtLast]

Here in Norther Michigan I have property in  a place called Indian River. My family regularly go there to " get away". Some of my MOST plesent memories that I share with my kids are the nights we would lay on a blanket and look at the stars. Up there its SOOOO beautiful...no light to glare out the stars. You can watch satillites tracking, shooting stars by the dozen, and to see the look on my kids faces and know they appreciate what they see. Probably the MOST fantastic thing I have ever see is the Aurora ....un BELIEVEABLE!!!...breath taking...sends the old shivers down the spine type thing...The first time they were old enuf...we would walk into a medow and Id have binoculors...Id tell them.." look up and see how many stars you see with just your eyes...than Id hand them the binocs....and their reaction...well lets just say we do it every year...

[Bigdogpc]

Light pollution is a problem where I am but I do occasionally get out the telescope and look up.  The Lord knew what he was doing when he give us all that sky and twinkles!