Too many stars!

[Phillips6549]

I'm blown away. 

From my back garden in Brum (Bortle 8), I'm lucky if i can see a couple of dozen stars with the naked eye.  Alignment of my scopes is easy as I have so few stars to choose from and they're all easily distinguished.  For the last few days we've been staying in the Lake District and I've been able to observe from one of the darkest parts of the National Park (Bortle 2/3).

WOW!  🤩

I have never (knowingly) seen the Milky Way before.  It's huge,  and breathtaking, and beautiful,  and,... and,... WOW!  

I have singularly failed to align my Mak 102,  too many stars in the field of view to be sure which was the one I was trying to find!  I resorted to just using my eyes and a pair of 10x50s.

Did I mention,  WOW!

I even persuaded Mrs P to come out this evening,  something she's shown no inclination to do at home,  and despite being chilled to the extremities she had the same reaction as me. 

Now that I know what I'm missing I don't think observing from home will ever be enough again.  I hope I haven't spoiled it for myself. 

Clear skies all.  (It is here!)

[Benjam]

I had a similar magical experience sleeping under the stars in the Australian red centre. My first time too seeing the Milky Way. 

 

Enjoy 

[Aramcheck]

It is a revelation... and it's sad to think that something like 85% of people in the UK have never seen the Milky Way.

If only the night sky was classified as an 'Area Of Outstanding Beauty' / 'Site of Special Scientific Interest'...

On the plus side, our holidays these days are heavily determined by the light pollution map & the phase of the moon.

Cheers
Ivor

[JamesF]

1 hour ago, Benjam said:

the Australian red centre.

That's not aisle 5 at Tesco, then?

James

[JamesF]

59 minutes ago, Aramcheck said:

It is a revelation... and it's sad to think that something like 85% of people in the UK have never seen the Milky Way.

I was thinking on this the other night whilst in the observatory.  On any reasonable night I can see the Milky Way quite easily and in fact how it appears is often a good naked-eye guide to sky quality.  I have offered to provide a dark sky location for the school my children attend if it's helpful for the astronomy sessions they run.  Most of the pupils live in towns and in all likelihood have thought the Milky Way was a bit of cloud, if they've ever seen it at all.

I thought it might be quite fun to say to them "The stars you can see when you look up at the sky, they're relatively close to us.  That misty-looking band across the sky is actually part of our galaxy, but much further away.  Now look at that with a pair of binoculars."

James

[Timebandit]

 

 

Unfortunately a lot of people in light polluted parts of the country are in the same boat. The light pollution just seems to be a growing part of this ever expanding modern society that we now live in. 

Obviously from light polluted areas then lunar and planetary observing is still more than possible with great results, so those with light pollution problems can still get a great deal of enjoyment out of the hobby

But for those WoooW moments then it really really is worthwhile making the effort and travelling to a truly dark site area. Where constellation's become difficult to identity due the the vast amount of stars. And the sky seems to have a sprinkling of diamond's across it. And when the scope comes out those faint fuzzies you cannot see at home, then suddenly pop to the eyes. Really a WooW moment.

Dark skys are were it is at, really worth the effort to travel to a true dark site area and get the WoooW factor

 

 

 

[joe aguiar]

I read an article like  20 years or abit more ago in either sky & telescope or astronomy magazine(cant remember which) as I used to get both mags every month. There was a young teen and he  lived in big city with heavy LP and according to the story he was  for a kid semi pro. he could just point to any of the stars that you could see and tell people which ones they were and could also point to any planets if they were up etc. 

The story went on to say the family finally went to dark county skies (that was before the Lp colour became popular, I didn't even hear of it yet). There was thousdands of stars in the sky that he didn't even know what was what, and he was lost. Even contellations seemed different ti him. The kid broke down and cried and left he couldn't do it.

At this time since I didn't drive nor my wife all I have done was from worst of citys skies. few years later I also got invited to a friends cottage for a day and a half, so it would only be 1 night. I brought along my Celestron 80mmf/5 refractor on a eq1. I also did wonder would that same story play out the same for me (well except the crying part) but it didn't. Yes there were hundreds  or thousdands stars but the constellations looked same to me just brighter. The stars that I could see were just brighter then the rest so it was easy for me to tell with no confusion of what to look for and where.

I now know that was in  a green zone which is good. (but not perfect like I got grey now) maybe cause by that time I was obsevering almost every clear night for few years that I was experienced enough to be dark adapted and was used to seeing dim constellations and stars. So when I got to dark skies it was easy to see what was going on.

Now to the original poster here tho if you don't have a rigel or telrad then get one. The problem you will get in dark skies is yes theres hundreds of stars and if u use a regular finder scope you will see lots stars in the finderscopes since it magnifies the image even more. So that's when it all looks the same in a regular 6x30 8x50 or 9x50 finderscope. If you get the rigel or telrad you can just put the bullseye on the one u want and u don't have to worry. remember the constealltions are still the same BUT are brighter stars the medium stars ones and dimmer stars are the ones that get washed out in citys skys and those are the ones that will barely be seen or not at all.

Joejaguar

Edited October 29, 2019 by joe aguiar

[baggywrinkle]

Seeing the Milky Way is magical. I'm luck as I live in an area where it can be seen, but my best experience was at Kaikoura, South Island NZ. There the Southern portion stretched across the night sky and the gas lanes were naked eye visible. 

[Benjam]

27 minutes ago, baggywrinkle said:

Seeing the Milky Way is magical. I'm luck as I live in an area where it can be seen, but my best experience was at Kaikoura, South Island NZ. There the Southern portion stretched across the night sky and the gas lanes were naked eye visible. 

I spent sometime also on the South Island at Lake Tekapo, the international dark sky reserve. Sitting in the hot thermal pools, looking up at the Milky Way. 

Never made it to Kaikoura, Cyclone Gita washed the roads away... 

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Benjam

[Marvin Jenkins]

I am very interested by this post as I have B3 skies with the exception of my extreme southern horizon which is light polluted.

Most of my life I have wanted to do astronomy, but always lived in towns or villages. I completely understand the overwhelming effect of a dark milky way filled sky after we moved ‘into the dark’ (countryside).

As soon as I saw my first clear dark sky with no moon I asked Father Christmas (my wife) for a scope and for the first year I was clueless. There is so much in the sky, so much about the sky and how it works. I am only getting comfortable in the last six months and I have been an info addict.

Trying to understand what is up there. Trying to understand where it will be and when. Timing around work and disappointment with the weather. 
 

I am sure that I have a grasp now, but it took so long due to information overload thanks to dark skies. I know those of you in LP areas are saying poor bloke and I don’t blame one of you. 
 

It is a journey we all approach from a slightly different place.

Marv

[Marvin Jenkins]

Sorry forgot to say WOW. Philips6549 even thought that is my regular sky, I walk outside and regularly swear out loud. Have been known to throw my arms in the air ask if I am worthy. It never gets old. Well billions of years of course.

M

[wimvb]

Yes, dark skies really are something else. When I moved to a dark(-ish) area, I remembered the very dark nights we enjoyed when I was young. Unlike in Sweden where street lights are on all night, in Holland at that time, streetlights were turned off at midnight and not many people had porch lights. Even in the middle of a village, nights were truly dark. 

As for star alignment under dark skies. I usually start with sighting along the ota. Then I use the finder scope and finally a low power eyepiece for the first and second star in a 3 star goto alignment. On the second go, I use a higher power eyepiece. This works even when a large number of stars obscure the view. 😉

[Paz]

I had this experience in Cornwall once a few years ago, so many stars I couldn't tell what was what.

[Whistlin Bob]

I'm also a midlander on holiday in the lakes this week. Spent Sunday night in Whinlatter Forest Park with much the same experience as you. Just stunning!

[MarsG76]

Yup, you definitely ruined observing from home for yourself....  you'll always yearn to be under such dark skies again.... astro imaging will sort of almost satisfy that yearning... sort of...

 

[Ships and Stars]

One of the best dark sky experiences I had was on a small island in Indonesia east of Bali. Their big diesel generator broke early one evening, plunging a small but brightly lit island into complete darkness on what turned out to be an unusually clear night with no moon. After a few minutes of dark adaptation, you could easily get around by starlight.  What an evening! I like a good power outage.

[Paul M]

Darkest sky I ever saw was from home with young eyes during the heady days of the 70's power cuts.

Ah! Them were the days