Milky Way... starry starry night and other amazing stuff

At the northern lights we had a majestic shooting star and a young American girl was practically hysterical with delight at getting both together It was worth it to see her reaction

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I’d love to see the northern lights ,I can remember seeing the Hale Bopp comet in 1997 (that was an amazing sight to see with the naked eye)

Carol… It is easy to find out when certain “sky-shows” are expected and from which direction.

What I do is find a dark spot and put a deckchair as low as it will go… or a blanket on the ground… in the direction from which the “sky-show” should be coming. It is important to be comfortable… just lie there, relaxed and let my eyes take-in whatever is overhead. As Nellie says, so much is done with the peripheral vision… so I don’t “roam the skies” to much, just take it all in gradually…

Stella will definately try this ,maybe I’ll wait until it gets a bit warmer at night though.

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There are some sights… on a dry winter’s night… but yes, you do need to wrap up warm… I sat up all night once… but I was younger and fitter in those days… :slight_smile:

Because cone cells which react to colour and require bright light to function well are concentrated in the centre of the retina whereas around the edge there are essentially rod cells which react to black and white and function well in low light. So look next to things in the dark and you’ll see them better - try it with the Pleiades :blush:

Sorry… too late… but interesting

A few years ago I was at a folk camp in very rural Gloucestershire. I am an ISS spotter and had seen we were due a very clear siting At the time my cousin and myself stood in the field and sure enough over it came really bright.We shouted to a friend in the next tent so he joined us and we watched for minutes, suddenly there was a loud whoosh and the most vivid green meteor shot right above our heads ,just amazing

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If you folk missed this… Saturday morning… you can still catch it tomorrow… Sunday 18th November… get up early… wrap up warm… and get out there… “Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Nov. 17th and 18th with rates as high as 15 meteors per hour.”

GREAT NEWS: :grin::grin::grin: The comet Macholtz to the NE of Venus was first picked up by veteran comet hunter Don Machholz, observing with his 18.5” reflector from his California home on the morning of 7th November 2018.

Japanese comet hunters Shigehisa Fujikawa and Masayuki Iwamoto picked the icy interloper headed into the inner solar system just a few hours later.

The find was confirmed over the next 24 hours. Even in these high tech days there is still room for the amateur astronomer.

The comet is currently at around +7.5 magnitude so visible with binoculars.

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It will be moving across the sky (without any flashing lights) :wink:

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I am a serious ISS spotter and have an app on my iPad that tells me when I can see it wherever I am. I had a good viewing Sunday night and saw two other satellites while I watched

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This is the time of year to look out for the Perseid meteors. See the following article:
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower
One of the things we love about our corner of France is how clear the skies are and (for the moment) what little light pollution we suffer. It’s wonderful to see the Milky Way in such detail right above us.
The meteors may not be so visible this year as they coincide with a bright moon, but still fun to look out for “shooting stars”.

One of my best memories of the Persids is a few summers ago,camping in a field in very rural Gloucestershire, I knew we were due the ISS and we timed our return to the tent to coincide. The ISS was stunning and we got a friend out of his tent to look as well. A few more campers came past and asked what we were looking at , so a little crowd gathered .Suddenly an enormous meteor flew over greeny purpley just indescribable,one of those once in a lifetime things

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