Caribbean has some DARK skies!

[Welrod50]

Just returned from a cruise ship in the ridiculously warm Caribbean. Aside from seeing some very interesting people and places, I also spent an hour at the front of the ship last Tuesday night under clear skies marvelling at just how much one can see under proper dark skies. The Roaches near me is dark, but not like that! Ended up showing a couple where Polaris was and one thing led to another and I ended up giving a few folks a bit of a tour of the stars. But there were so many, even I got lost a bit from time to time. And it was cloudy every night thereafter It was very easy to see some bright clusters, and the concentration of stars along the Milky Way arm was very evident. I must say, what I viewed that night will stay with me for a long time to come. It was spectacular! And also a great interest to many other folks who obviously weren't usually interested in the stars ( had no idea what was what) as there were a lot of ooh's and wow's to be heard. I tried to get my mrs and the kid involved, but the bingo beat me I'm afraid. Anyone else have their own views/memories to share?

[starman1969]

Interesting. I expect Polaris was pretty low in the sky from that location.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Truly dark skies are becoming rare. I spent some time in various deserts, and some other very dark regions, and the skies there were awesome. The Negev Desert (1980) was one of my first experiences of truly dark skies as an amateur astronomer. Scanning the skies with a little a little rich-field scope, or just binoculars was awesome.

[m.tweedy]

When I was in Mauritius the skies there were very dark. Setting up the little WO66 had the security guards round in a flash-they loved it as none of them had ever looked through a telescope before. Another night I had a couple round and gave them a tour of clusters and a perfect view of Jupiter that they had never seen before. They went away very happy.

Here is a quick snap of the sky i took when there

[laser_jock99]

The oceans must count among the darkest places as there is so little light pollution (assuming you're far away from gas flaring stacks and the Japanese squid fleet!). One of my best views of the Milky Way was on night passage from the Scilly Isles to Jersey. About halfway across you are 50 miles from the nearest land and it's quite dark. We turned off the nav lights for a while to admire the stars and were also treated to a trail of bioluminescence in the yachts wake. Magical.

[ian_j_kirk]

Thats awesome. Me and the wife are just looking at booking a cruise to the Caribbean for next year. Will be taking the binos for sure

[Welrod50]

Interesting. I expect Polaris was pretty low in the sky from that location.

It was indeed, much lower than here. Cassiopeia was absent below the horizon, and Orion was still quite high up - very odd for the first few minutes until I got my 'eye in'. The view of the Milky Way was not dissimilar to Michael's photo above (albeit the cloud structures were not quite visible, it wasn't far off).

The front of the ship was blacked out and only the lights to the port and starboard sides were lit, so the front was a great viewing place. Like I said before, it really was a spectacle!

More please...this is cool

[Welrod50]

Thats awesome. Me and the wife are just looking at booking a cruise to the Caribbean for next year. Will be taking the binos for sure

Ian - you must!! I half thought about taking my 12x50's but their weight and nostalgic value put me off. I'm now toying with the idea of getting a small set of 8x 32's or similar to take in hand luggage for next year. It was quite easy to pick out M42 in Orion with the naked eye so even a modest set of bino's under those skies would be quite superb I'm sure.

[Welrod50]

Oh and let me share this....

Whilst pointing out Jupiter, Regulus and others to a small group of people on the ship, a lady came around and after she had finished commenting on how beautiful the sky was, she proceeded to ask her husband to take a photograph. He did. The camera flash seemed like a naval flare gun in that darkness! The second attempt came and I turned away and shut my eyes tight. The third go led to me asking him not to use the flash as A. it was pointless and B. it was ruining my night vision. He asked me how he might take a photograph and when I told him he needed very, very steady hands and at least a 30 second exposure even under such darkness he replied "oh ok, thanks" and wandered off to have a go. Perhaps he couldn't see my grin or my tongue in my cheek with his night vision destroyed. Or maybe he hadn't noticed that the boat was moving either.

I'm still grinning about it now. So, if by some strange chance my friend, you happen to be reading this post and you have a very posh looking DSLR and you used flash on the Thomson Dream last Tuesday night, please don't do it again and I was only kidding!!

[euphony]

When I was in Mauritius the skies there were very dark. Setting up the little WO66 had the security guards round in a flash-they loved it as none of them had ever looked through a telescope before. Another night I had a couple round and gave them a tour of clusters and a perfect view of Jupiter that they had never seen before. They went away very happy.

Here is a quick snap of the sky i took when there

Woah!

Where were you in Maritius to take that??! Were you in hotel grounds? Or did you venture out to somewhere in the countryside? We might go to mauritius soon so it'd be good to know where we're likely to get a decent glimpse of the milkyway.

We've recently come back from St Lucia in the caribbean and I was very disappointed at the night sky. I just couldn't find anywhere around the hotel that wasn't bathedin light that meant looking at the sky was impossible really. We were advised not to wander out the resort at night as well (for good reason, as apparently a man was killed on the beach after a mugging a few months before).

So I came away very disappointed. I suspect we would have had to travel to the middle of nowhere to have any chance of seeing anything, but that wasn't recommended late at night! Oh well!

[m.tweedy]

Woah!

Where were you in Maritius to take that??! Were you in hotel grounds? Or did you venture out to somewhere in the countryside? We might go to mauritius soon so it'd be good to know where we're likely to get a decent glimpse of the milkyway.

We've recently come back from St Lucia in the caribbean and I was very disappointed at the night sky. I just couldn't find anywhere around the hotel that wasn't bathedin light that meant looking at the sky was impossible really. We were advised not to wander out the resort at night as well (for good reason, as apparently a man was killed on the beach after a mugging a few months before).

So I came away very disappointed. I suspect we would have had to travel to the middle of nowhere to have any chance of seeing anything, but that wasn't recommended late at night! Oh well!

We were in the south west of the island hotel called Tamassa at the Bel Ombre resort. hotel was on the beach. Yes there was some low level LP from the security lights but I just set up between some coconut trees on the edge of the beach about 50 paces from our room in the shadows. It was very safe and very beautiful.

view from our balcony

asto pic

sunset

[euphony]

Wow, that sounds great, I'm slightly envious now!

[Stargazer_00]

that's awesome. I recall one time I went to Canada, my family at the time operated a large grain farm in northern Saskatoon, which is what they call prarie land. "Perfectly flat for a thousand miles in all directions" I think they said jesting with me although it's not far from a fact. It was incredibly dark with only 3 other farms within a 50 mile radius and no lights on any of them including the one I was on. So quite literally in the middle of nowhere. My uncle even made me take a shotgun out in the pickup truck he lent me incase of 'coyotes and bears' he said.

I drove out about 2 miles from their farm and parked up in a field I had helped combine a few days before (now that is fun) and laid on the warm bonnet of the truck leaning against the windscreen. I just viewed with my eyes at the time and had no idea what I was looking at. All I recall is he said I could see the milky way and the northern lights, both of which I did. I must've been out there hours just staring at the view, in absolute awe and fascination and absolutely no idea what I was looking at other than simply the sheer beauty of it all.

Looking back I wish I had had a telescope for the month I stayed there. It was clear nearly every day too from what I recall, I saw the northern lights at least 10 nights over that period. They no longer own the farm and have since sold up to a giant corporation and moved into a city and retired on the proceeds of the farm which were considerable.

[jetstream]

Graham,this is still common here-the dark sky & isolation,if you look on that light map zoomable Black Marble you can look to see where the farm is in relation to lights today.Sad to see so many farms family bought up like that.Even from this location I see the Northern lights a lot,they are quite the sight & I still go out and stare at them.Just North of me I can get into great darkness & even 10 min from my house at a Sportsmen's(womens) club-skeet,boat launch etc-the Milky way is always seeable,if the weather co-operates.I have witnessed what I think was the GEGGENSC........or something -a big light dome came out really late one night last spring,very strange!

Years ago in the Barbados I don't recall great darkness,but maybe away from the tourist area would be better.We liked the Barbados though!!You can drink the water anywhere,very friendly people and I even had a branch of my own bank within walking distance from us.Walked outside late at night no problem,very safe when we were there.

Maybe its time to look up some relatives over here for a visit!with scope of course