Stargazers Mars & Venus 21st Feb

[Timbo]

Walking the beagles this evening I noticed a very bright star in the sky with a smaller that seemed to be 'further' behind it. Now most of the time there is no perception of depth when you look at stars with the naked eye...but tonight there is with these two stars...well planets really as it is Venus and Mars in conjunction.

 

Quite an odd phenomenon! Duff picture I know but only had the phone in my pocket...can't even see Mars in the photo!

 

 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

I`m always looking up at the stars, i can`t afford a ticket in the balcony  : .

 

 

Seriously though, i often look at the stars and marvel at them. To think some of them are so far away that light has so far to travel at 186,000 mps (miles per second) the star itself has long since died.

 

The best night sky i`ve ever seen was in the depths of the Cornish countryside, when some friends and me had a cottage. One of them went outside at nearly midnight and called us all outside. When we got there, it was quite simply the most amazing sight i`ve ever seen, and one i looked at for at least half an hour.

 

The real beauty of it was the fact we were near the middle of Bodmin moor, with no town lights or street lights to give "light polution", and there was no moon. Result?, the brightest star lit night sky i`ve evr seen, and one i`ve never seen the like of since.

 

We do get close down here, but the light polution from Poole and Bournemouth, although 8-10 miles away, still has an adverse effect.

 

A few weeks ago, we had a star lit sky, when the street lights had been turned off, and there was very little moon, so we had a pretty good one then.

 

One thing that surprises me is when you look up on a bright sunny twilight evening, and see all the satelites and space stations glinting in the setting sun light. You can tell when it`s a station or satelite, because they actually twinkle, and the sky is`nt dark enough to allow the light of the stars to shine.

[Guest]

Yes, a nice crisp clear night sky this evening.

 

I noticed Jupiter was very bright too, rising from the East at about 7pm when Orion was due south, as shown in this map from Stellarium.

 

 

[GeoffandWendy]

We had the scope out last night, to look at Venus and Mars.Venus was showing a nice crescent, with Mars a bit hazy, due to its orientation in the sky. Mars needs to be high up, to get the best views. Jupiter as ever, puts on a nice display in a scope, with the bands showing. 

We just had a quick shufty at the Seven Sisters (my favourite cluster) and spent a bit of time viewing the stars of Orion, ending with look at the nebula, just below the sword. Then it was back indoors for a hot coffee, as it was very cold outside.

Can't show any pictures, as I don't have the equipment for astro photography. Looking forward to being amongst those dark skies of Norfolk, so we can do some more stargazing from the peace of the Broads.

[MauriceMynah]

I tried a bit of star gazing when I was on the boat the other day but couldn't see much, even though I took a torch to help.

[BroadScot]

I tried a bit of star gazing when I was on the boat the other day but couldn't see much, even though I took a torch to help.

Ah MM but was the torch "EverReady" to stargaze? Aye ok i'll get my coat!

 

 

Iain.

[Bonzo]

MM.

 

I hope you had a Milky Way or a Mars to chew on to fend off hunger. 

[MauriceMynah]

Exactly the precautions I took Bonzo, I also had a pint of Adnams Lighthouse, but sadly when feeling for my torch, I inadvertently knocked my two bars of confectionery into the river. It was a pure reflex reaction that made me make a grab for the bars, sadly though, that reaction caused me to knock over my Adnams which in turn washed my torch into the river.

In future, all star gazing for me will be done in daylight hours when I can see what I'm doing.

[Bonzo]

MM:

 

Sounds like you have been on the Norfolk Nog too!