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Report - holiday viewing

ashenlight

By ashenlight
in Observing - Reports

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ashenlight

ashenlight

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Hello all fellow SGLers, not long got back from a two week holiday in the Dominican Republic and boy did I miss you all! ;) I had a few good nights out star gazing and just wanted to share some of the observations with you all, so I'll start with the LP and general conditions for observing at the resort.

Before setting off I looked at a LP map for the DR and was a bit sad to see that the LP was around the same level as Cardiff, my hometown and primary observing position. This however was not the case for the resort I stayed at. A thick collection of palms and tall shrubs shielded the beach from any stray light within the resort grounds and, looking out over the sea, the sky was exceptionally dark. I have never, ever, seen a night sky like this. Absolutely breathtaking. I'll save the details for below but for now let's just say lying back on a sunlounger and watching the sky get dark after sunset was like seeing a jewellery box opening up infront of my eyes.

The resort complex itself was fairly large and, as a result, suffered quite heavily from light pollution. From the middle of the complex I could make out the brighter constellations and asterisms, along with Jupiter that was riding high in the South by about 8pm. The skies were pitch black by about half 7, with the sun rising at half 6 (ish) and setting at half 6 (ish) so the skies had plenty of time to get really dark. The beach out front is owned by the hotel so had security personnel there until 1am to keep all the party-hard holiday makers safe at the beachside disco. This kind of thing isn't for us (us meaning myself and my boyfriend, Karl), so we decided to take advantage of the safe observing sight and try to spot some familiar constellations. An added bonus was the the Moon, although around full at the time, was way below the horizon by the time the sky got dark. Perfect. Unfortunately, I didn't take my binoculars... our tour operator was very tight with luggage weight restrictions and I just didn't have the extra weight to take them - all the following observations are with the naked eye. I haven't dated any of these notes (how silly of me) so I'll just give them to you as they are on paper :( Here we go.

One of the first things I tried to do was get my bearings. Everything was tipped around the other way. Lyra was 'above' Vega from my position and Cygnus pointed more or less down towards the horizon, whereas from my garden it points out towards the left. I am ashamed to say it took me a good few nights to even work out the arc that leads across from Arcturus to the handle of the Big Dipper! Once I had figured that one out, everything came fairly easily. I also had the helpful beacon of Jupiter high in the South that helped me to place stars as they rose above the horizon. Once I knew where I was I started to give Karl some starting points from the main, brightest stars and obvious asterisms so he'd have something to use as a pointer when I wanted to point out various objects to him.

First we started with the handle of UMa which was sticking out above the horizon - it looked rather like the tail of an animal that was diving into the sea. Mizar and Alcor were really obvious as a naked eye double, and even though Karl can barely see the TV without his glasses on he was, to my surprise, able to make out Alcor. Next we followed the curve of UMa's 'handle' across to Arcturus. This bright orange, blinking star of the constellation Bootes provided a really helpful starting point for finding our way across the night sky. Night after night Karl pointed it out commenting on how bright it was and so obviously a different colour - I was really pleased he was taking such a keen interest. The next signposts to identify were the most obvious shapes in the Summer sky - the Summer Triangle. Vega, Deneb and Altair were shining brilliantly down upon us and the stars that make up their respective constellations - Lyra, Cygnus and Aquila provided me with wonderful tales to tell of the reason these constellations have those names - Cygnus is the swan, diving down into the horizon, for instance and I went into a little detail about Lyra, the stringed musical instrument from antiquity. To my surprise Corona Borealis was easily visible (from my home location I have to use averted vision to pick up the whole semi circle shape of the constellation) and from this we went north-east to pick out the Keystone in Hercules (I'm pretty sure I could, with averted vision, pick up M13). Next came Cassiopeia, standing tall and proud on the horizon and over to the north west we identified Cepheus. This gave me another opportunity to delve into the reasons behind the constellations' names and history.

The following nights we spent just gazing upwards, refreshing our memories on constellations asterisms and the brightest stars and took in the view. One of the most breathtaking and moving moments of the whole holiday was my first view of the Milky Way from a truly dark site. Having caught glimpses of its milky glow from Gower, West Wales, I was really surprised to see the obvious spilt-milk effect of our own galaxy shining right over ahead of me, streaking through Cygnus and right down to the horizon at Cassie and then back through to Sagittarius!!! Wow!!! I didn't even need to use averted vision! :) It was so clear and obvious Karl picked it up unprompted and we both just lay there on our sun loungers soaking it up. And I am not ashamed to say that I 'filled up' a little at the sight of this... :) I am not sure if this was just my eyes or my brain getting a little over excited but I am pretty sure I could sense some detail in the Milky Way as it streaked through Cygnus. The detail seemed to be between the second star of the cross down to Albireo - if someone could put me straight on this, that'd be great. It sort of looked like areas of the 'milky texture' were missing and there was darker patches of sky interspersed in the band of light.

All in all, over the course of the observing sessions over the two weeks we saw numerous satellites (Karl's favourite, he loved being able to see something actually 'moving' up there, it 'brought the whole sky to life' and it's just amazing to know that it's a man made object circling high up there that we are tracking across the sky) one ISS pass (I can't verify what pass from heavensabove.com as the internet access was rubbish and I couldn't log in... but it followed a path very similar to passes I have seen in the past and was the familiar bright white dot at a constant speed that faded into view and faded out, getting a little red in appearance as it faded away. Karl was also impressed to see an iridium flare that occured near the Keystone and we saw quite a few faint meteors but one 'monster' that streaked its way through Cygnus, a wonderful orange colour, leaving an amazing orange/brown tail behind it. It travelled quite slow aswell, giving us plenty of time to take it all in. Another notable meteor occured through Hercules, a wonderful silvery blue beauty that left a faint, but discernible tail.

As most of our observing was concentrated on the West - North - East horizon, the last night we walked a little further towards the sea (trousers rolled up, the waves sometimes reached 4ft high in the evenings!!) and turned around, using the palm trees to block any lights that affected our view. My goodness - I have never seen the South looking so good... the teapot was obvious. I can really see why it is called the teapot now! It's probably the only 'shape' I have seen in the night sky that truly looks like its namesake. It was perfectly framed by four palm trees and it looked as if it was resting inbetween them. It would have been an amazing photo. The Milky Way poured its way down past the tree line, still as bright as ever (no averted vision needed). There was an incredibly bright red star in the Southwest and I couldn't for the life of me identify it... it was unmissable, though... just like a pure ball of hot red light.

Karl thoroughly enjoyed our nights outside, most nights we stayed out for a good hour or so - enough time for me to get my astronomy fix and not too long for Karl either. The nights were warm and long so we observed in relative comfort, too. Upon us leaving the beach after our last hour of observing Karl commented that he 'really, really, enjoyed that' and that I can 'sign him up for SGL5' - little does he know, his name is already down for that ;) I am really pleased that I've drawn him into my hobby... it is wonderful he can get the same sense of satisfaction and wonder out of it that I can.

My last chance to observe the stars on holiday was on the night flight home. At about 1am the cabin lights were dimmed and it felt as though I was the only one awake. I used the flight blanket to shield my view of the window (I must have looked like a weird so and so to the cabin crew) and looked out, giving myself adequate time to get dark adapted. There, riding the wing, was my old, faithful friend, the constellation that sparked my interest in astronomy - Orion. I was so surpised to see him, just there, perfectly balanced on his lower left foot (knee?) on the plane's wing. A beautiful sight. I looked up and spotted Taurus and with a bit of twisting and an eventual crick in the neck I took in the wonderful sight of the Seven Sisters - or M45, the Pleiades. The star field from my restricted view was so rich. There was so many stars and I was wishing I had a detailed star map so I could identify them all. I just had to take it all in, and I will carry that view with me for years. I've missed Orion and it was the perfect end to the holiday for me.

Well, sorry that was so long. I have been dying to share my experiences with you since I had that first view of the Milky Way, even the thought of it still fills me with awe and even a sense of pride, that I am a part of it... how cheesey, lol! :)

and S@N mag has just popped through my door, how convienient :D

Hope you enjoyed that, I'm really enjoying reading all your report threads. Great to be back.

:)

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iamjulian

iamjulian

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Welcome home. Glad you had a nice holiday. Your report just shows what a difference it makes to have dark skies. Imagine if they were sensible and only used lights until about midnight, then left it dark for us until 4am.

You realise that you'll have to share EP time with Karl now :)

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Astronut

Astronut

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You've bagged the Cygnus Rift in the Milky Way. Impressive isn't it? :) The most amazing part of the sky for me from a dark southern site is Sagittarius and Scorpio - the Milky Way in that area is so bright, you can see it before dark adaptation kicks in :) and the view through binos is amazing - so many clusters, globs and nebs.

The bright red star in south-west was more than likely Antares.

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ashenlight

ashenlight

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Thanks Astronut, I've just been doing some research and came up with that answer too - it really was impressive! One of the most amazing sights was seeing the Milky Way split into two and stream either side of Altair.

Thanks Dave :) yea, I will upload a few photos. I forgot to bring the memory card down from my boyfriend's house (jetlag and all that) so will do it on Monday when I've had a chance to upload them all.

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ashenlight

ashenlight

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Thanks Jamie, yes I did take some notes but once I got back into the room - not 'out in the field'. I didn't take a red light torch and didn't want to spoil my night vision using my mobile phone to see - when I'm observing at home I have a red light torch taped to a baseball cap (very attractive). My notes aren't very technical, just short sentences describing the views and things I noticed - seems to work for me.:)

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Talitha

Talitha

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Wonderful report, Amanda. :) Btw, you didn't imagine the detail in Cygnus.. there's lots of visible galactic structure there. Nice catch!

Wow, i must really have good skies. With absolutely no dark adaptation, i can step outside and see the MilkyWay with direct vision within three or four minutes. It's always visible here from horizon to horizon, and the brighter nebulosities in SGR are naked-eye objects with slight averted vision.

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ashenlight

ashenlight

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Thank you Carol, glad you enjoyed it :) Wow, you really are lucky there. It must be amazing sight. I've always wondered what the area you live in is like, is it fairly isolated and 'off the beaten track'? I am just outside Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, so the southern horizon can be a little orange. I can make out the Milky Way with averted vision after about 15 mins - but no where near the detail I could see in DR.

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Andrew*

Andrew*

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Great report. It must have been so wonderful to get to a good location. I remember my first time seeing the milky way so clearly. It was at Kielder last spring - incredible experience and actually very rare these days.

Otherwise, for naked eye viewing, I get very itchy to get a closer look. I don't think I would ahve survived that holiday - i would have been crawling around for anything that magnifies!

Thanks for sharing! :o

Andrew

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