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home sweet home :)

zhgutas

By zhgutas
in Observing - Reports

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zhgutas

zhgutas

Posted
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Hya everyone. Long time no see. :wink: To warn you at first - this is not a proper observing report. A praise for a dark site and all it's glory rather. If it’s not a correct place for it – please excuse me and move it ? . No big stuff in here either, just wanted to share this with you.

Just got back from my month-long holiday and I must say it was awesome. I went back home to Lithuania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuania) for my summer end. The first place to go was my friends lake. (As this is astro forum, I guess I'll skip the fun day-part.) After the sun set, I realized what you call "a dark site". The night was breathtaking.. As the forecast was "cloudy", I didn't take my scope. But you know what? No regrets! I would have spent all the time photographing rather than gazing.. Instead, I understood all those talks about "you don't need a telescope for astronomy" or "a decent pair of binoculars is enough for a start". My heart was beating, since it was the first time in like 4 years. I had had forgotten what does a proper sky look like! The sky was literally packed with stars, and the Milky Way shone as a thick line all across the sky. It was easy to make out all the constellations, and the Pleyades looked lovely in the sky. The first time in my life, I saw Andromeda with my naked eye! And not just a dot. You could make out the elliptical shape the size of a moon or so (I was to excited to measure that :( ) . The Perseids made the night even better, with nice long streaks across the sky one every couple of minutes. I spent like 6 hours just lying in a boat, sipping beer and staring up. This view will keep me up through all the winter ?.

There are actually loads more to say, and more interesting, but maybe later ;) Just to add, I finally managed to get my scope the next time I visited the “dark site” , and even though it was a bit more modest, the night was brilliant.

The thing I wanted to say (and it took more than I thought), that you actually DON’T need a supper-scope for astronomy. There are things, which beauty you can fully appreciate only with a naked eye. And there are nights, when it is even more exciting doing that than staring through a piece of glass. Knowing your way through the sky and being able to tell stories about the things that everyone can see with their eyes, but not even imagine how fascinating they are, makes old-school stargazing perfect to me. I like my lil’ scope, but sometimes, it is nice to do it the same way as the people did thousands of years ago.

Marius

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zhgutas

zhgutas

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Thanks guys :wink:

Just makes British skies seem worse than ever. ;)

I couldn't say that, since I haven't had a chance to try out sites other than my back yard here, but the one at home is waaaay better :( If stars were water, then It's like an ocean in comparison with a tea cup :D

Marius

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Cloudwatcher

Cloudwatcher

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Thanks guys :lol:

Just makes British skies seem worse than ever. ;)

I couldn't say that, since I haven't had a chance to try out sites other than my back yard here, but the one at home is waaaay better :lol: If stars were water, then It's like an ocean in comparison with a tea cup :lol:

Marius

Thank you Marius. Wish I could say that your simile made me feel better.........ocean v teacup no contest! :wink::(:D

CW

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Cloudwatcher

Cloudwatcher

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I'm sure He/She will graciously accept you thanx,Marius. ;)

Just out of interest what gave you the idea that I may have been offended in some way? Was it something I wrote or the the way it was written? A similar thing happened in another thread and I'm beginning to wonder if a change of style is called for. :?

Cheers

CW

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