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novice on holiday

munster

By munster
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munster

munster

Posted
Posted

Hi all

In june i am off on holiday for my 50th birthday to La Palma in the canaries where i understand conditions for observing the night sky can be very good.As a complete novice and haveing scoured this forum for tips i have obtained a 10x50 pair of bino's,a couple of beginners guides and a planisphere next i am off to the library to see what they have to offer to aid my swatting up.Any furher tips on what to look for,where to start,expectation level e.t.c from your contributors would be most welcome thanks

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brianb

brianb

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I think you may need to treat the planisphere with a bit of caution - the different latitude of the Canary Islands makes quite a difference especially when looking due south!

Get away from the resorts, also any towns with significant amounts of lighting.

I'd strongly suggest taking a monopod to help you support the binoculars. A tripod is better but probably uses up too much space & weight for airline travel. A dim (or controllable brightness) red LED torch is useful for reading charts etc. in the dark without ruining dark adaptation, and a chair (best borrowed locally) is useful for comfort whilst observing.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Hi Munster.

A warm welcome to SGL, before your holiday you could have a look at some free software : Cartes du Ciel, Stellarium and TUBA, the later is dedicated specifically to observing with binoculars and can be accessed through Philip.S.Harringtons web site.

These are all star maps and you should be able to print off the area of sky you will expect to see from your Holiday destination. Enjoy the forum.

John.

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SteveP

SteveP

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Ron

There are several observatories on La Palma, most of them being in the mountains towards the north of the island. One of the largest, if not the largest, is the ING. It's actually a group of telescopes funded by various European government agencies, including our very own. There are a few open days each year when visitors are encouraged although i've no idea when they are

Steve

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iamjulian

iamjulian

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Hello Munster.

Someone on here posted a link to a free pdf version of a book about astonomical binocular viewing. It's a good read but I cannot remember where the link is I'm afraid. Worth searching for. I'm sure it was an Irish website. Enjoy your holiday!

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albedo0.39

albedo0.39

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Hi Munster - welcome to SGL. I'm not sure if you could find it these days, but even now, I refer to my Observers Book of Astronomy - Patrick Moore. It has been with me for over 25 years and fits in any luggage

Good luck !

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munster

munster

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Hi again sorry a bit late replying but thankyou all very much for the feedback it is very much appreciated.to answer a few points i am staying in Los Canjacos at the taburiente playa,apparently the main observatory is only open to visitors a few days in the year then mainly for groups of students e.t.c, however i have found one that for about £20 a session takes small groups to use theare equipment and an intro into astronomy,allso there is firm that hires scopes and such on a daily/weekly basis so i guess a tripod shouldnt be to hard to get. once again thanks for the help and i will get back to let you know how it all goes

cheers

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