# When was the last time you just looked at the stars... MIB



## Paul Meccano (Dec 20, 2020)

The thing is right, it takes a clear sky with very little light polution to be able to stare at the stars with any clarity. I go to my local cemetary when walking the dog (it's massive) and due to the fact there are no lights there at night the sky comes alive.
Anyone else have a local spot if town or City bound?
If so what draws you in?


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## Rodders (Dec 21, 2020)

I love in Essex, so there is a lot of light pollution. The last time i genuinely looked at the night sky was when i went to see my best friend in the Dordogne. It was beautiful. I always spend some time looking at the stars when i am over there.


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## Allegra (Dec 21, 2020)

Look at the stars tonight guys, something is happening: 









						The Great Conjunction: Jupiter and Saturn align closest in centuries
					

The planets pass each other in their respective orbits around the Sun every 20 Earth years, they haven't been this close in the sky since 1623.




					www.euronews.com


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## HareBrain (Dec 21, 2020)

Allegra said:


> Look at the stars tonight guys, something is happening:



Sadly it's going to be cloudy here. I saw the two planets last night, through tripod-mounted binoculars, and managed to see one of Jupiter's moons.

Although the conjunction is special, I think I'm right in saying that the individual planets aren't particularly bright, because they're on the far side of the sun from us at the moment. I've seen Jupiter on its own, in the east, much brighter (with at least three moons visible through the same binoculars).


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## Allegra (Dec 21, 2020)

Here will be cloudy too.


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## kythe (Dec 21, 2020)

Locally, there is an astronomy club who will be live-streaming their view through a telescope.  Nothing truly compares to watching the night sky with your own eyes, and I think I will go out to "stargaze" after the peak.  But the fun part about an astronomy club is seeing and learning about what is going on from more experienced people.


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## mosaix (Dec 21, 2020)

Allegra said:


> Here will be cloudy too.


And here.


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## reiver33 (Dec 21, 2020)

Don’t worry, I have it on good authority that the CERN tractor beam will be pulling them into naked eye view as part of a Global Defence Initiative test (and putting them back in position afterwards). Should be a great show!


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## Paul Meccano (Dec 21, 2020)

Allegra said:


> Look at the stars tonight guys, something is happening:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I reminded myself to mention that. Then I forgot
Well done


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## Pyan (Dec 21, 2020)

Rodders said:


> I love in Essex, so there is a lot of light pollution. The last time i genuinely looked at the night sky was when i went to see my best friend in the Dordogne. It was beautiful. I always spend some time looking at the stars when i am over there.


Do I really want to know what you get up to in Essex, Rodders?...


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## CupofJoe (Dec 21, 2020)

About thirty years ago I went wild camping with a friend. Just us and couple of bivvi bags and a really big sky.
There was no other light around and we lucked in to the Perseids or some other meteor shower. For most of the night we watch flashes and darts of light all over the sky. We even watched satellites cross from horizon to horizon. It killed us for the next day's hike as I think we got about two hours sleep.


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## Danny McG (Dec 21, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> For most of the night we watch flashes and darts of light all over the sky


And in the morning the triffids were harvesting all the blind people


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## CupofJoe (Dec 21, 2020)

Danny McG said:


> And in the morning the triffids were harvesting all the blind people


No, the Dope was really pure. No one went blind...
Spacey but not blind.


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## kythe (Dec 23, 2020)

I do not have a telescope or fancy camera.  This is the Jupiter/Saturn conjuction picture I took with my cell phone camera.  Aside from the grainy quality, that is about what it looked like to the naked eye.  Many astronomers with nice telescopes streamed the event, and I did watch one of those as well.  But to me it is still a personal experience to see it myself.


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## Robert Zwilling (Dec 23, 2020)

Waiting for the Jupiter/Saturn conjunction but the clouds are either already here or start to gather by late afternoon, first bands, then it just clouds up.


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## Alex The G and T (Dec 23, 2020)

Fog-Belt, Humboldt Bay Area, behind the Redwood Curtain, is a terrible place to want to be a stargazer.  If it isn't raining in the winter, it's foggy, summer nights.

I did get out to the top of the hill tonight; the day after the closest conjunction. (Because yesterday was rainy)

Shoulda brought a tripod.

300 mm lens, handheld.


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## Paul Meccano (Dec 28, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> About thirty years ago I went wild camping with a friend. Just us and couple of bivvi bags and a really big sky.
> There was no other light around and we lucked in to the Perseids or some other meteor shower. For most of the night we watch flashes and darts of light all over the sky. We even watched satellites cross from horizon to horizon. It killed us for the next day's hike as I think we got about two hours sleep.


That sounds like one of those nights! They are precious. I't mde my skin tingle reading it


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## Paul Meccano (Dec 28, 2020)

CupofJoe said:


> No, the Dope was really pure. No one went blind...
> Spacey but not blind.


Triffid invested not digetsted


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## Paul Meccano (Dec 28, 2020)

kythe said:


> I do not have a telescope or fancy camera.  This is the Jupiter/Saturn conjuction picture I took with my cell phone camera.  Aside from the grainy quality, that is about what it looked like to the naked eye.  Many astronomers with nice telescopes streamed the event, and I did watch one of those as well.  But to me it is still a personal experience to see it myself.
> 
> View attachment 74011


I'm proper pleased for you! Sorry I'm late seeing this, its awesome, so personal.... I love those moments


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## Extollager (Dec 29, 2020)

I had a good view of the Saturn-Jupiter conjunction on the 21st.

Last look at the night sky was -- last night; it'll soon be a night sky out there now.  I live in town, but it's a town of about 2,000 in rural North Dakota, so night skies are decent.  At the right time of year I can see the Andromeda galaxy with the unaided eye on a clear night.

I saw a flash to the west around dusk last night -- I don't know what that was.

Looking at the night sky if you can is a good thing to do.


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## Allegra (Jan 1, 2021)

At friends last night. What was the strange light above the clouds, moon shadow? I don't remember seeing that or an aeroplane when taking the photo. I like that even the moon was bright, you still could see some stars.


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## Extollager (Jan 1, 2021)

Allegra, that could be lens flare.  Another possibility is that it's the lunar equivalent of sun dogs -- ?


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## Allegra (Jan 1, 2021)

Extollager said:


> Allegra, that could be lens flare.  Another possibility is that it's the lunar equivalent of sun dogs -- ?



I'm pretty sure it's the latter.


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## jelizaga1 (Jan 25, 2021)

A weekend ago, the weather was dry and only slightly cool, and the skies were clear in Monterey California. I got lucky and stayed by Asilomar beach that Saturday night. Starry skies...makes me smile thinking about it, as the area where I live welcomes a storm.


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## Ellizze (Jan 25, 2021)

A week back, I suppose. Went for a casual walk and found a bunch of em.


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## Guttersnipe (Jan 28, 2021)

My dad was really into astronomy when I was a kid. Sometimes we'd get up really early, go to a secluded spot, and see what we could find. I have good memories about catching a couple meteor showers. Nowadays, it just doesn't engross us as much.


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## pogopossum (May 11, 2021)

There is an international program, "Dark Sky" listing places that are particularly free of light pollution, for star viewing.
Many of these are in the US, as our Southwest has many wild and frequently unclouded spots.
But it is international.
LINK
And here is a LINK 2 to Brit locales.

Miz Pogo and I are going to our nearest, in Pennsylvania,USA, as part of a trip this summer.


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## JunkMonkey (Jun 29, 2021)

I have pretty dark skies where I live.  And my bed is right under a big skylight in a low coombed ceiling - on  the darker side of the house.  So when it's not fecking raining (which it does a lot round here)  I get to lie in bed and look up at the stars sometimes.  I don't know whether it's because I'm so far north but I nearly always see at least one polar orbit satellite going overhead each time I do.  There's no mistaking them.


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## alexvss (Jun 29, 2021)

Think I've never went stargazing my whole life, but if someday I have the chance to go to a "dark sky park" I won't miss it.


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## Saiyali (Jun 29, 2021)

I look at the night sky all the time! I live on the side of a hill with no other town for miles in the direction I see (west) so I get an amazing view of the western sky from N to S - but no eastern view (because of the hill). I love the movement through the seasons, and sometimes I try to picture the spinning and wobbling of the ball I'm stuck to the side of. But the scale is too vast .. and honestly, the whole idea of being inside a film of air around a rock that is essentially careering around a star again and again, wobbling away in the void is .. a bit scary if I look too close at it...

I have a simple telescope but i tend to prefer just looking with my eyes. Making a mental map of our immediate vicinity, you know .. for when I get kidnapped etc.

My favourite astronomy site is In The Sky.org because you can set it to show your actual sky, then it's easy to learn about what's what.

I'm really into names of stars and other celestial bodies from languages other than English and cultures other than European. I like that stars and planets and the moon are features of every human experience ever, and in fact more so than now because of the amount of light pollution we live with. I suspect stars played a bigger role in everyone's life before the spread of science and technology that has explained so much of what all that stuff in the night sky actually is, and what it means. Or rather, what it means that _we _mean.

Here's a picture of Saturn through my telescope a couple of years ago. Not exactly Hubble! But recognizable.
(the actual view was much clearer .. this was from a phone camera held against the eyepiece .. low tech DIY!)


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## Rodders (Jul 1, 2021)

I thought this chart symbols of both the Zodiac and the Solar System was quite interesting.


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## Ori Vandewalle (Jul 1, 2021)

Saiyali said:


> Here's a picture of Saturn through my telescope a couple of years ago. Not exactly Hubble! But recognizable.
> (the actual view was much clearer .. this was from a phone camera held against the eyepiece .. low tech DIY!)
> 
> View attachment 79672



I've got a similarly blurry Saturn picture from a few years back:





I live in a suburb outside of DC, so I'm never far from city lights, and there are plenty of hills and trees around to block the horizon. But I've got two telescopes and a pair of binoculars I wheel out from time to time, and I can occasionally get some bad cell phone camera pics of what I see.


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