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Casus belli

By Casus belli
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Casus belli

Casus belli

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Its standby boats I'm on. I used to work on the rigs, supply boats and diving boats but 10 years of M.E. (Yuppie flu) stopped me doing heavy work. I'm a lot better now but still ain't fit enough to go back to the big money jobs.

Where we're based at theres 5 platforms lighting up the night sky and our skipper is afraid of the dark so we have every light blazing at night too. I do take a pair of 17 x 75 binos with me but any viewing is dependent on good weather which is kinda rare in the North sea. With a rolling and pitching boat its hard to keep any object in view.

When I was younger (a lot younger) I was on deep sea boats which travel the worlds sea's. Almost perfect dark skies nearly every night. Best nights view for me was near the Falklands in 1984. With no pollution light or otherwise and younger eyes than I have now I could see Jupiter's Galilean moons with the naked eye. Another memorable night was spent at anchor at Ascention island watching dolphins chasing flying fish by the light of a distant thunderstorm while overhead the best meteor shower I've ever seen light up the heavens.

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gary1968

gary1968

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Wow CB, :wink:

I'd love to see a truly dark sky at sea, might plan that for the future.

I was watching the free dvd that came with September Sky at Night mag, about the cruise ships up and around the arctic circle chasing the northern lights, that looked great as well.

Gary

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Casus belli

Casus belli

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Hello Gary. I believe there's a company that flys Aurora sightseeing from Leeds airport (despite a quick google I cant find it) Its about £150 for an hour flight. They take off, head north and turn all the lights off. Of course theres no guarantee that you'd see anything but you pays your money and you takes your chances.

I've seen Northern and Southern Aurore a few times from ships and its worth seeing but the best displays I've seen have been from my own home town. I'm about 300 yards from the north sea and theres nothing between me and the North pole. I'm also lucky enough to have a fairly good dark sky site literally next door to me.

The best one I saw was 3-4 years ago. Beautiful bands and curtains shimmering in very vivid colours. I lay down in the grass and watched the best free light display in the world. As it faded I realised I was not alone. All the cats in the neighbourhood were sitting around me. For a second I thought that the cats and I had shared something truly magical, but as I own a couple of cats and I know what they're like, they were probably hoping for some food.

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Daltoner

Daltoner

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Hey welcome!

Thanks for your help on my earlier posts about some advice!

ended up with a celestron starhopepr 8" dobsonian!

having a bit of trouble with it (due to having no clue of telescopes) but should be great once i get going!

Any advice on set up would be great.

Great to have you on board!

Ant

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