Mauritius...what a place to see the stars!

[Blazar]

Hi guys,

You may have wondered why I have been quiet. Well was on holiday :-). The wife decided to take me to Mauritius for ten days (which was nice of her). I was considering taking a scope but could not really justify taking too much gear (took bins)....However the hotel we stayed at actually had a visiting astronomer (one of the founding members of the Mauritian Astronomical Society) every Friday night for several hours. He brought a scope (Nester 6) and then proceeded to show people around the constellations of the southern hemisphere and other objects (Jupiter, Saturn, some globs and even M101). I only had a camera with me (no tripod or smaller lenses or remote shutter etc). Thought I would take a few pics of the event as well as a shot of the southern cross (CRUX), and also a cheeky lunar shot. It was quite weird to see the moon rise is what my mind was telling me was the west (well it is where I stand in the northern hemisphere!) and set in the east...as well as the moon being upside down (though of course...that was me). I would recommend their night skies for wide field camera imaging. Saw some of the pictures taken previously from the sugar cane fields and it blew me away. Anyways, here are some snaps. can't wait to go back with some proper gear!

Beach astronomy with Bhasker Desai (even the beach restaurant has red lighting). There are not that many street lights on the island either.

Southern Cross (was handheld)

Sunset with Jupiter setting

Daytime moon shot

Really need to invest in a better camera, tripod, and fast wide sense set-up for travelling.....

Cheers

[laudropb]

Looks fantastic

[knobby]

Lucky boy

[Blazar]

Just been in touch with Bhaskar Desai, and he sent me some copies of the wide field images....thought I  would share one just to show you what a good imager could do! NOTE I did not take this image, and take no credit for it.  Mods: if for any reason this is not allowed (having permission) then please remove..

[knobby]

Now that's a beach !

[m.tweedy]

when i went to Mautitius I also went on the Astronomy tour up into the hills. I am glad he upgraded his scope as the previous one was only a small acro on a wobbly mount. it was still a very good experience.

here is one that i took from the grounds of our hotel

[Blazar]

Nicely done Michael. What camera and settings were you using?

[m.tweedy]

unmodded canon 1000 30 seconds iso either 800 or 1600 on static mount with 19-35 zoom lens at 19mm f 4. funny green in bottom corner was a palm tree blowing in the breeze.

nothing beats dark skies.

i also had my WO66 and getting the wows looking at Saturn. i was quite funny as i was caught on the security cameras setting up and all of the security guards came in turns to have a look. none of them had looked through a scope before.

[dan_uk]

Looks like you had a great time Steve, glad to see the sky is great there as I will probably head out there, my mum was born in Mauritius and I have family there but have yet to visit!

[Blazar]

Dan,

Its a great place. I would love to return and stay! You need to get out there...then I also have someone to visit ;-)

Steve

[damnut]

Great shots and location.

[Physopto]

My wife was a nurse and at one time worked with a girl from Mautitius. She used to carry a bag of extremely hot chillies around at times and eat them like sweets.

Ouch

I wish we had such dark skies here all the time. Very nice photographs.

Derek