I love deckchairs

[monoxide]

Since I got my new telescope this year I've been lucky enough to have a few clear nights. But what I have enjoyed the most after being away from astronomy for a number of years is quite simply sitting back in my deckchair with my cat. You forget how brilliant the sky is you forget how much you can learn just sitting still. My advice to other new telescope owners is try and resist that new scope fever to see this object or that and just and watch the sky you will be amazed.

[ghostdance]

My skies are a bit too byoppressed by light pollution to encourage prolonged gazing without bins or a scope (plus my eyes are too old!) but I have the same feeling about cloudgazing - those castled heights bewitch me for hours, though in all honesty it's probably no more than minutes...

But stopping and staring? All for it!

[JamesF]

I do often enjoy just sitting back in a reclining garden chair and just watching the sky.  Sometimes I practise pointing out in my head  the locations of various objects that I can't actually see without a scope or camera, but it's a pleasure just to lie there and see what there is to be seen.

James

[ollypenrice]

I totally agree, and naked eye skybrowsing, or a bit of hand held binocular observing, is the perfect antidote to the stresses of imaging!

Olly

PS, An Australian once told me he came to England on a cruise ship 'full of wrinklies' as he put it. 'Nothing against wrinklies,' he added, 'but you try and get a deck chair!!'    

[Beulah]

My scopes are still packed and I have rediscovered the joys of Mk1 eyeball astronomy. Once out of the LP, the skies are darker here; so it has been fun finding my old friends hiding away in a denser field of stars...  

[Knight of Clear Skies]

I like deckchairs; I just don't trust them.

[monoxide]

Believe it or not my viewing sky is quite poor and i do not drive but still the amount i can see or even just feel is pure magic xxxxx

[RichM63]

Deck chairs are great, except that I nod off..Zzzzzz

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

I agree that it's nice to take time to look at the big picture,unless I have my heart set on observing something specific that night,such as a DSO that I haven't seen before,or a transcient phenomena.

[ollypenrice]

I like deckchairs; I just don't trust them.

Which probably means that you don't have eight fingers and two thumbs?

lly

[Knight of Clear Skies]

Which probably means that you don't have eight fingers and two thumbs?

lly

It's probably best not to speculate what appendages denizens of the internet do and don't have Olly.

Actually I have a full set of digits, despite my sister's best efforts. She once tried to chop off the end of my little finger in a doorframe and almost succeeded, it had to be sewn back on. Kids eh? I still have the blumming fingernail somewhere - at the hospital they asked me if I wanted to keep it and being about four at the time I said yes. On the plus side I got some Star Wars toys out of it.

Deckchairs to digital decapitation, and in less than twelve posts....

[kev]

Yep. Devkchair viewing is nice. Added bonus if keeping hands warm with the cat too.

Sent from my iPhone so excuse the typos!

[chiltonstar]

In my back garden, fantastic. A wonderful way to see the sky, accompanied as above by The Cat, as well as chocolate digestives and Puccini.

Out on the Downs, hmm. Last time I tried it I got some very odd looks from  Feral Yoof riding around in pickup trucks with 12 bores and searchlights.

Chris

[mickshere]

I knowwhat you mean... when walking my dog in the early morning a 20 minute walk turns into a 40 meaneder... she is not impressed