Naked eye (with glasses...)

[MishMich]

Staying on Dartmoor, and bought the Onyx & binos. Walked the dog this evening, without either of these. Wonderful opportunity for naked eye, though. Very dark sky, despite the moon up and snow. This is the first time I've really been able to make out Hyades as 'something to look at' rather than just a few stars that make up part of Taurus. I could even make out the six main stars in Pleiades quite clearly. And M42 was clear, and with averted vision a bit more than a fuzzy blob. Sirius was still low, and twinkling with a vengeance. Without any reference of what might be where, I wan't able to make out anything like M31. However, as night vision bedded in, I could see the Milky Way - something I've not seen for a long time. There was so much in the sky, it was hard to take it all in - and but for the road conditions, I'd have got the van and driven off with the scope somewhere away from any street lights (not sure where I would set up the scope in the village we are staying). I have to say though, that I found this simple act of observing with the naked eye as stunning as anything I have seen with a telescope or binoculars - simply because there was so much. It made me appreciate how limited my view is from home.

M.

[yeti monster]

I long for a really dark sky, I used to think the sky here was dark, untill I realised how much I can't see. With all this snow and cloud about, everything is orange, due to the LP!

[timefortea]

There is nothing like a truly dark sky for producin g a WOW!! moment.

I stopped in a layby on the coast road just outside Sidmouth a few years ago, looked up and nearly fell over. I couldn't identify a single constellation, the sky was thick with incredibly sharp steady points of light. The longer I looked the more confused I became. I eventually got a few patterns worked out but it was incredibly disorientating at first, would never have believed there could be too many stars.

[MishMich]

It was stunning - and last night back home there was break in the clouds, and the sky seemed comparatively empty. It was quite dispiriting, as I'd not appreciated quite how much light pollution is here. Looking at the S@N dark sky map, it is not as bad as around London - but still poor. I can see why people give up because of light pollution - most of the sky is missing.

M.

[Peter Drew]

From a really dark observing site, the most impressive galaxy in the Universe is our own!

[Saturnalia]

Januarys Sky at Night magazine has a useful UK dark sky map included...

[kev]

Mmm, I remember stay at a Travel Inn place one night just outside Okehampton and went went for a wander to the local pub down the local road 1 mile, with the receptionist. Made most welcome, but what I really remember was the view when we staggered out at 1am back to the hotel. Stunning.

[orby1]

Hello all, 1st post here.

I was lucky enough to have a night in Castleton in the Peak District a few weeks ago. Walking back to our B&B in the next village about 1.00am was absolutely amazing. We were so far from cities, big towns, street lights... Ahhhhh:) I had my binos on me, but everywhere I looked was just a mass of stars. Even Pleides (sp?) was hard to pick out from the starts immediately around it. Anyhow, the skies outside my back door just don't cut it for me any more!

Having said that, I'm pretty sure it was Uranus I saw with my naked eye this evening. It wasn't twinkling, and Stellarium confirmed I was looking in the right place. I'm a bit new to this however so could anyone more experienced confirm Uranus as being a possible naked eye object? Apparently it's magnitude is 6 and I've read that's roughly the limit for a clear night...

[wulfrunian]

Mmm, I remember stay at a Travel Inn place one night just outside Okehampton and went went for a wander to the local pub down the local road 1 mile, with the receptionist. Made most welcome, but what I really remember was the view when we staggered out at 1am back to the hotel. Stunning.

The view of the sky or the receptionist??

[dbstar]

NAKED EYE, THAT IS NASTY.

:)