Observing from a Sleeping Bag

[StarSapling]

I decided to take the Jeep out into a remote and seldom visited area of south central Arizona - the Mescal Mountains.  I planned to four wheel for about as long as I cared to, set up camp for the night and do some hiking the next day.  I didn't know how bad the Jeep trail was going to be so I did not bring any of my telescopes, just my hiking bins.

1/28/2016 - Mescal Mountains, Arizona - seeing good - trans good - obs. Good

Naked Eye and 6x30’s - from inside sleeping bag

Winter Milky Way - naked eye - Stunningly displayed straight over me - cannot remember another time when the dark clouds were so well defined along the length of the winter Milky Way - I could really get the impression of being in the Cygnus arm and looking through gaps in the relatively near by dark clouds out into the distant Perseus arm of our galaxy.

6x30 Bins - I was surprised at what I could observe with these little bins - with averted vision, the nebulosity surrounding the Pleiades was readily apparent as a misty glow around the cluster - also with averted vision was able to just detect the Flame Nebula - could detect an interesting net like structure of dark nebulosity around the Betelgeuse region - could also quite readily detect the Rosette Nebula as a faint glow around its central cluster - the entire sword of Orion appeared to be imbedded in nebulosity, with M42 a brilliant glow in the center

 

 

[Droogie 2001]

Lovely description, sounds amazing. One day I will make it to a truly dark site...

[Mr Spock]

I can only dream of those kind of darks skies.

I can never forget the view of Orion I had during the '70s power cuts. Awesome doesn't quite do it justice.

[Linda]

Good idea.

I often sleep inside a tent in the winter. Occasionally without a tent, but then I'm usually deep inside the sleeping bag. Maybe a good idea for some autumn trip when the muscito season has ended and one can sleep without a tent.

[jetstream]

Clear,dark skies and elevation, a recipe for success! Great report.

[YKSE]

Thanks for sharing, nothing beats dark sky with height!

[Pete Presland]

Sounds absolutely superb, a sleeping bag would be fine way to watch meteor shower.

[David Smith]

I find whenever I observe from a "sleeping" bag I end up doing just that

[SonnyE]

On 2/1/2016 at 08:47, Droogie 2001 said:

Lovely description, sounds amazing. One day I will make it to a truly dark site...

We'll leave a light on for you...