last night... wow!

[philipw]

Home late from a work thing, driving home I could see the sky is clear, I'm wishing out loud it stays clear! Call ahead and ask my partner to put my telescope out to cool. Get home, get out of my suit and into my old jeans, big jumper and parka jacket and point my telescope at Orion.

First of all even through the viewfinder its like I'm looking at a completely different sky! There is so much to see. Its so dark, the couple of street lights in the country lane I live on have gone off. Its just a carpet of stars. Orion is so beautiful.

But then, right above my head an amazing display of shooting stars (asteroids?)!

By this point I'm jumping up and down! There were 2 bursts the first had what seemed like about 5 fast streaks across the sky at once. I couldn't believe it. Then another burst all in the same area in the sky.

By this time I couldn't feel my hands anymore, I go inside look at the clock - I've been outside for 2 hours!

Just sharing in the hope that anyone contemplating getting a telescope reading this.. Just do it. I've got a relatively cheap set up and its worth every penny.

I've got teenage neices and nephews who use the word "awesome" in every sentence... Get a telescope and you get a feeling for what awesome really means.

[Avocette]

But then, right above my head an amazing display of shooting stars (asteroids?)!

Glad someone was able to see the anticipated Geminid meteor shower - it was raining where I am!

[Pete Presland]

Very well reported, sounds like you had a great night!  the shooting stars are not Asteriods, Just tiny particles, some no bigger than a grain of sand.

Orion did look stunning last night, i also saw one Geminid go right through the center of her!

[brrttpaul]

went out also last night , to say i was humbled is an understatement

[Dannae]

Goosebumps (and chillblanes!) sums my evening up too Phillip

Sounds like the Night Sky got it's claws in you?

Regards

Dannae

[Floater]

The claws in me were clouds :-((

[Mikea]

Well done philip! I was probably out too early - about 11.30 - for about half an hour, but didn't see even one Geminid. Went in because I was so cold!!

[Sirius Starwatcher]

Hello Phil sounds like you had a great night and I enjoyed the post. If you fancy taking the wow factor up a level and you can manage it I recommend you get a couple of BST starguider eyepieces. They really do make a massive difference to your viewing. I say that because I have the same scope as you and could not believe the difference to my viewing with the BST,s Hope you manage to get many more evenings like you have just had.

[philipw]

Hopefully getting some new EPs from Santa

[NotSoSuperNova]

I think it's been made clear that thermal clothing is an amateur astronomers best friend! Being comfortable is maybe the number one priority of having a good viewing session.   

[Jim Steele]

Great report! I only managed to catch about 6 Geminids on account of lousy weather.

Ben

[Millarkie]

I took a few pics last Friday night using SkyWatcher Skyliner 150p and holding my iPhone up to the EP. Biggest lesson I learnt that night was to wrap up warmer

[DeepSkyBagger]

Very well reported, sounds like you had a great night!  the shooting stars are not Asteriods, Just tiny particles, some no bigger than a grain of sand.

Orion did look stunning last night, i also saw one Geminid go right through the center of her!

Good point, but Orion is most definitely a HIM!

[philipw]

Got some lovely new BST EPs from Santa, had a couple of hours clear sky and got some great views of Jupiter.

[mondeoman]

I too got a couple of bst's from santa,what a good quality,heavy,and beautiful piece of equipment compared to the ep's that came with my scope.Am thinking now would changing the 2x barlow that came with my scope for a more expensive one make my viewing even better,any thoughts?