Astronomy / Space Backyard astronomy

[[VR] optimal_909]

The sky can be surprising sometimes...

I talk about stars and planets to my 3-year old daughters, and once in a while I can show them stuff in the sky. Like about a week ago, after sunset Venus was very bright. Then I've seen a red dot, which is usually Mars - but it was somewhat out of the plane, i.e. was not in-line with Venus and the Moon.

I have an old telescope at my father's place in the countryside, I've got it some 15-20 years ago from my late mother.
I don't even know the specs, but sometimes when I'm there, I take it out looking for planets. Since there were no planets above the horizon, I was checking whether I can see deep space objects and via a phone app, I found a star that is in the Crab Nebula - unfortunately, it was not visible, the bright Moon with big halo didn't help either.

Anyway, I spotted again that mysterious red dot, and when I checked the app what is it... Betelgeuse! Even though it is a pale red dot, the thought that I'm directly staring at a bobbling supergiant gave me goosebumps!

Sometimes you don't even need a telescope to be amazed by the sky.

 

[Para Handy]

Good stuff isn't it?

Can I recommend the freeware program "Stellarium" - it is really very good and you can greatly enhance your enjoyment of the sky with it.

http://stellarium.org/en/

Good luck.

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

I will check it out!
I am using Star Tracker, randomly chose it from the Play store. How cool it would be to have an Elite Galmap overlay...

 

[Patrick_68000]

Once my mother saw a red dot up high in the sky and I went to see with hope

Mars ? Star ? Aliens ?

Alas, it was a Thai flying lantern

 

[Toumal]

Setec Astronomy.

 

[Wotthe Dickens]

Having a dark sky and actually seeing the stars is for me a humbling and inspiring experience and the first time I saw the Milky Way was a revelation!
It saddens me that millions of urban kids actually never see more than perhaps the plough or Orion's Belt!
The only red dots above London are flashing, and on a flight path to heathrow!

One good thing about ED is perhaps if it leads to a few more people going out somewhere dark to see for themselves

 

[Dural]

Having a dark sky and actually seeing the stars is for me a humbling and inspiring experience and the first time I saw the Milky Way was a revelation!
It saddens me that millions of urban kids actually never see more than perhaps the plough or Orion's Belt!
The only red dots above London are flashing, and on a flight path to heathrow!

One good thing about ED is perhaps if it leads to a few more people going out somewhere dark to see for themselves

One of the increasing number things I don't like about living in London is how few stars I can see at night. It's possible to make out some of the major constellations of course but that's not far off all it's generally possible to see. It's such a treat to spend time away from home somewhere without so much light pollution.

 

[Wotthe Dickens]

One of the increasing number things I don't like about living in London is how few stars I can see at night. It's possible to make out some of the major constellations of course but that's not far off all it's generally possible to see. It's such a treat to spend time away from home somewhere without so much light pollution.

Luckily, I moved to the coast some years ago and although there's still light pollution, it's better and it's not so far to go to avoid it. ...

 

[Para Handy]

Setec Astronomy.

too many secrets

 

[[VR] optimal_909]

At my Father's place, on clear nights the Milky Way is completely visible, so it's decent.

However, it can't compete with the best places I've been to. The very best was probably at a top of a pyramid in the Guatemalan jungle. It was dry season, so the air was not humid at all with any light pollution source at least 40km away, even that was a small vilage. With a naked eye, I've even seen several ovalish patches of what seemed to be galaxies. Another great place was in Tunisia at the edge of Sahara, and one of the less populated islands of the Cooks.

 

[AkenBosch]

Good stuff isn't it?

Can I recommend the freeware program "Stellarium" - it is really very good and you can greatly enhance your enjoyment of the sky with it.

http://stellarium.org/en/

Good luck.

I will check it out!
I am using Star Tracker, randomly chose it from the Play store. How cool it would be to have an Elite Galmap overlay...

As Para Handy suggested, Stellarium is one of the best (if not the best) piece of astronomy freeware you can find for Windows/Mac/Linux. As for the smartphone/tablet, I'd suggest to take a look at Skysafari, it's the one I've been using for years and one of the few apps who deserved the honour of actually being paid for from the Play Store. Extremely handy under any kind of sky.

One of the increasing number things I don't like about living in London is how few stars I can see at night. It's possible to make out some of the major constellations of course but that's not far off all it's generally possible to see. It's such a treat to spend time away from home somewhere without so much light pollution.

Same for me living in Turin, the night sky (on very clear nights) consists of Orion, Big Dipper, Cassiopea, Lion, Lyra, a hint of Pleiades. Stop. [mad] The rare occasions I have for finding myself under a sky dark enough to at least see hints of the Milky Way are always a treat and a humbling experience.

As for "backyard astronomy", finally yesterday I had the chance to field test the mount I found and bought at a thrift store for the lavish sum of 30 €. Sold as "photographic tripod", had all the looks of a well preserved EQ-3 complete with steel tripod, control knobs and 1/2 Kg counterweight...the dovetail bar I had to buy to attach my scope to the mount costed me 35 €.

Anyway still a bargain, works a treat:

Spoiler

(a reminder that the Moon actually has colours, they're just very, very muted)

Some random 20-40 seconds stacks from 50 fps video crops:

Backyard (and balcony) astronomy FTW. [heart]