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Vertigo/Sickness when star gazing?


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Hi,

I know this sounds strange, but does anybody feel like they get vertigo or feel their stomach turning when viewing something directly above them?

I'm the sort of person that never gets any type of travel sickness and copes with everything pretty well, except when I'm viewing something at my zenith! I felt a little nauseous when viewing M51 around 6-8 weeks ago when that was above me and now the same with Lyra.

I'm looking at my star maps, looking up at the constellation then through my finder, back at my star maps, finder, star apps, then my scope. I'm sure all this toing and froing is the reason.  :eek:  :eek:  :eek:

Hopefully once I've mastered the constellations in my fov, I won't need to keep referring to my star maps as much. 

Any tips to combat this in the mean time would be great? maybe I do need to slow down, as I am a little enthusiastic when dso hunting, who can blame me. I'm like a kid in a sweet store when all those stars appear, hehe  :kiss:  :kiss:  :kiss:  :kiss:

Thanks in advance for reading and or giving any tips

ps b4 anybody asks I do wear glasses. I've found it's better not to wear them when stargazing.

Clear skies everybody. The last 3 night here in notts were the best for  while. I wonder when it will be clear again.

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I have found the same nauseous feeling but only when staring at the zenith and looking round for extended periods of time - several mins. If using bins or naked eye I find it best to be seated (with a reclining back)  or lying down on a sun bed.

But 20-30secs memorising a star hop to an object is not a problem before looking in the finder or eyepiece. It's usually revision anyway after looking at a star map or Stellarium for the pattern. I don't wear my readers to observe - only when I have to use a handset which is blurred without them. Now that's a pain in the proverbial when they're on/off like a jack in a box lol. :)

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Hello Night Hawk.

Read your post with interest as when I started star gazing I often felt very nauseous. As I have done more and more observing it has gone away, although not totally. I put it initially down to my eyesight as have to wear glasses to look through red dot finder and to look at constellations but I remove them for observing through the eyepiece. Think all the glasses on/off thing causes it. I get it even when not looking at the zenith. Anyway it is much less frequent now and besides stargazing is worth a bit of discomfort! :-)

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Hello Night Hawk.

Read your post with interest as when I started star gazing I often felt very nauseous. As I have done more and more observing it has gone away, although not totally. I put it initially down to my eyesight as have to wear glasses to look through red dot finder and to look at constellations but I remove them for observing through the eyepiece. Think all the glasses on/off thing causes it. I get it even when not looking at the zenith. Anyway it is much less frequent now and besides stargazing is worth a bit of discomfort! :-)

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Sounds like you are simply moving your head up/down/left/right too much in a short time.

Also your head will be at approximately a right angle to where it should be, when you are looking at the zenith. So those little tubes for vertical and horizontal orientation will be completely at the wrong round. And I guess that at 10-20 second intervals you are swapping them back again, then it all starts again. Basically the poor little things don't have a chance - couple of million years or more of evolution and you wipe it out in an evening. Making you fall over is their form of revenge.

Guess the answers are - pick something that is not at the zenith, slow down all the movements.

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I'm not a medical man but my late mother suffered from something similar to what you describe. She was told that it was probably due to the carotid artery being constricted when she stretched her neck back to look up.

That won't help you, I'm afraid, but sometimes it's better to at least know why something is happening even if one can't do anything about it!

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@Ouroboros - thanks for the link - yes my missus wears one of those lanyard things with her specs and she's always nagging me to get one. But they're not secure - hers are always falling off and getting damaged - and I refuse to look like a civil servant even in the dark hehehe! :grin:

(Mostly I get her to operate the handset when I'm using goto lol)

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I have the same symptoms mine is due to carotid artery syndrome any sudden head movement or even looking up for more than a few seconds risks dizziness,nausea or complete blackout.

Thankfully all my obseravations are done looking down through the cameras flipout liveview screen.

Alan

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Hi Night Hawk, It could be many things and probably nothing to be concerned about. As said it could be your glasses (I tend not to wear mine whilst viewing) or restriction on blood flow in carotid arteries when looking up this could be caused by arteriosclerosis or enlarged thyroid, overweight etc. This will only be symptomatic when you look up or put your chin on your chest as it restricts flow in both carotid arteries. Once you stop looking up/down the restriction disappears and flow returns to normal. You don't give your age or any underlying medical conditions/medications etc, and I am not going to ask but you need to look at these if you have any and they may be a cause.

Do you only get this Vertigo whilst star gazing, i.e. at night? Have you tried to replicate the movements during daylight? It may be just that the lack of light and objects to focus on are causing an eye-brain conflict, a bit like sea sickness. You may have Benign Paroxysmal Postural Vertigo (BPPV) where little calcium salts sit on the cilia hairs in your semi circular canals and cause a balance brain conflict although this would happen during the daytime as well although not all the time and is treatable with head movement (Eplay's Manoeuvre) .

I would suggest that you see how things go, take some anti-emetic, like stemitel which are travel sickness tablets to make you feel more comfortable and if the symptoms persist just see your GP for some advice.

Distance diagnosis is terribly vague and it is always best to err on the side of caution and if you are at all worried then see your GP. As I said it's probably nothing and will resolve itself.

Regards

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