whats been your best unaided eye sight of the heavens ?

[Astronut]

Astronut, me and the money pit were on a cruise in the Med about four years ago. I took the binos specifically to do a spot of star gazing at night. They had those blumming silly 'lights on a string' that run all the way from bow to stern permanently on all night..........

If I was on watch on that ship, I could've 'arranged' a blackout for you

I wish I'd had my binos with me last night. For some reason I decided not to take them with me this week as I was wasn't expecting any clear nights or chances of parking in a non-lit area - doh! that'll teach me.

[rusirius]

I probably can't top the middle of the Pacific, but my wife and I we were on Holiday near Weymouth and we ventured out one night to a small restaurant in a small village along the coast a few miles away from the city. On the way back we decided to stop at a pitch black roadside and have look at the stars. After a few seconds allowing our eyes to adjeust, we found the view was spectacular, not like anything either of us had ever seen. The mlky way was clear and bright and we struggled to make out any constellations because there were just so many stars. Unfortunately we did not have binos with us at the time. We planned to go back the next night but it remaind cloudy for the rest of our stay.

Prior to this in France, around 50km north of Paris in a rural location, I saw a meteor starburst. Must have been 8 - 10 of them all simmultaneousy originating from the same central point and going in different directions. This would be in the mid 70's. I don't know whether these were several meteors or just one breaking up. I was in my teens then with little knowledge of astronomy, but although I've seen several meteors since, I haven't seen another starburst.