Stars and stuff
Discussion
At the time of writing, Iam 100% sure that me and all my friends are rather drunk. However, on my 200 yard walk from where the taxi dropped me off to my house I lay down.
In my 5 minutes of laziness I was looking att the stars. Where in England, especially the southwest can I see the rest of the stars? I especially want to see the andromeda galaxy as the stars and everything related gets me wonderfully excited.
Your help is very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Bob.
In my 5 minutes of laziness I was looking att the stars. Where in England, especially the southwest can I see the rest of the stars? I especially want to see the andromeda galaxy as the stars and everything related gets me wonderfully excited.
Your help is very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Bob.
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is not that hard to see as it is the closest and brightest galaxy to our own (ignoring the Magellanic Clouds which are only visible from the southern hemisphere).
Even though I live in Farnborough, which has plenty of light pollution, I have seen the Andromeda Galaxy from my back garden. Obviously, the darker and clearer the night sky the better.
For guaranteed dark skies in the south, places like the New Forest are good. The situation gets better as you head west towards Devon or Cornwall.
Even though I live in Farnborough, which has plenty of light pollution, I have seen the Andromeda Galaxy from my back garden. Obviously, the darker and clearer the night sky the better.
For guaranteed dark skies in the south, places like the New Forest are good. The situation gets better as you head west towards Devon or Cornwall.
Eric Mc said:
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is not that hard to see as it is the closest and brightest galaxy to our own (ignoring the Magellanic Clouds which are only visible from the southern hemisphere).
Even though I live in Farnborough, which has plenty of light pollution, I have seen the Andromeda Galaxy from my back garden. Obviously, the darker and clearer the night sky the better.
For guaranteed dark skies in the south, places like the New Forest are good. The situation gets better as you head west towards Devon or Cornwall.
Is that with the naked eye ?Even though I live in Farnborough, which has plenty of light pollution, I have seen the Andromeda Galaxy from my back garden. Obviously, the darker and clearer the night sky the better.
For guaranteed dark skies in the south, places like the New Forest are good. The situation gets better as you head west towards Devon or Cornwall.
Eric Mc said:
The Andromeda Galaxy (M31) is not that hard to see as it is the closest and brightest galaxy to our own (
Hmm well it's the closest yes, but the apparent magnitude is diluted by it's spread.Best view I had ever had, and by that being the one that was least expected, was 5 years ago today at 5AM due east over Dundee.
I was fannying around with the sct and stuck it into the handset, even in the morning sunrise the sct pulled it out.
You can - but as mentioned above, it is just a faint "haze". It's actually almost as wide as the full moon - but, much, much fainter.
For finding your way about the night sky, even in very dark conditions, the naked eye and a pair of binoculars is probably the best combination.
Once you get familiar with what is where, then a telescope allows you to "zero in" on objects of interest.
For finding your way about the night sky, even in very dark conditions, the naked eye and a pair of binoculars is probably the best combination.
Once you get familiar with what is where, then a telescope allows you to "zero in" on objects of interest.
RealSquirrels said:
Dartmoor should be good, otherwise South Wales
Beware of dogging spots though 
I took my telescope along with my wife and 7 year old daughter out onto Dartmoor last year late at night and stopped in one of the numerous small laybys that are usually full of cars during the day. Whilst marveling at the views from the 'scope another car pulled into the layby and proceeded to flash it's lights a couple of times which was a bit annoying. Then another car parked up, more flashing lights from the first one, people got out and wandered over to the first car... Finally the penny dropped and I hastily moved on.
Speaking of stars and such like - I was out in the backwoods of central USA, and laying out looking at the stars I saw what I initially assumed was an aircraft tracking across the night sky, but the speed height and constant unblinking white light must have been a satellite, and over the course of the next hour I saw another two.
I thought the only chance of seeing a satellite would be the ISS? And the other surprising thing was the speed at which they tracked across the sky, and the number of them.
I thought the only chance of seeing a satellite would be the ISS? And the other surprising thing was the speed at which they tracked across the sky, and the number of them.
Brother D said:
Speaking of stars and such like - I was out in the backwoods of central USA, and laying out looking at the stars I saw what I initially assumed was an aircraft tracking across the night sky, but the speed height and constant unblinking white light must have been a satellite, and over the course of the next hour I saw another two.
I thought the only chance of seeing a satellite would be the ISS? And the other surprising thing was the speed at which they tracked across the sky, and the number of them.
There are thousands of satellites up there, and spotting them isn't difficult.I thought the only chance of seeing a satellite would be the ISS? And the other surprising thing was the speed at which they tracked across the sky, and the number of them.
You might be interested to know that they can be split into ones that are geostationary and ones that are not. Geostationary ones are at a fixed height, about 22,000 miles high and don't move relative to the earth. The ones broadcasting Sky TV for example. (Sky TV dishes don't need to move).
You can't see geostationary ones with the naked eye, but you can certainly see the ones in a lower orbit as they move across the sky. What you're seeing is light reflected from the sun. The ISS sits at a few hundred miles high, same sort of height that space shuttles flew at, and when the shuttles were flying it was pretty easy to spot those too.
Satellite spotting is relatively easy. Last year I counted six in the space of an hour from my back garden in Farnborough.
Getting hold of a piece of software such as Stellarium will help you identify what particular piece of space equipment you are looking at.
The ISS is obviously the easiest to see. There is a whole thread on ISS spotting in this section by the way.
Even though the Shuttle is no more, the ISS is regularly resupplied with Soyuz, Progress, ATM and Dragon spacecraft and it can be quite fun looking at them playing catch-up with the ISS as they move in for docking.
Smaller objects are obviously fainter but still can be clearly visible. Often what you are seeing are dead upper stages of rockets rather than satellites. These are often tumbling in orbit which causes them to brighten and dim every few seconds - depending on the rate of rotation.
Getting hold of a piece of software such as Stellarium will help you identify what particular piece of space equipment you are looking at.
The ISS is obviously the easiest to see. There is a whole thread on ISS spotting in this section by the way.
Even though the Shuttle is no more, the ISS is regularly resupplied with Soyuz, Progress, ATM and Dragon spacecraft and it can be quite fun looking at them playing catch-up with the ISS as they move in for docking.
Smaller objects are obviously fainter but still can be clearly visible. Often what you are seeing are dead upper stages of rockets rather than satellites. These are often tumbling in orbit which causes them to brighten and dim every few seconds - depending on the rate of rotation.
have a look at:
http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3...
Track hundreds of satellites in 3D/real-time.
http://science.nasa.gov/realtime/jtrack/3d/JTrack3...
Track hundreds of satellites in 3D/real-time.
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