Stargazing

[CrealCritter]

Beautiful night for stargazing. Clear skies, warm and calm winds. Looking up at the vastness of space, puts a lots of thoughts into perspective.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Best stargazing I ever saw was the night after a hurricane had gone through...electricity was out everywhere so no light pollution and no haze at all in the sky. I've never seen the stars so clearly. It was almost worth the hurricane!

 

[sumi]

FEM, I forgot about that, the "benefit" from power failures! Another S.A. thing I definitely don't miss is the "load shedding" to relieve pressure on the grid and the hours of darkness in the evenings. Our house at one point overlooked the town and we used to go sit outside just before the power was due to come back on, to watch the place suddenly light up like an Xmas tree. That completely, undiluted darkness does make for some amazing starry nights though!

 

[CrealCritter]

I'm fortunate to live in an area with no light pollution.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

When I look towards the closest city (just a village, by most American standards) there is a bit of a glow on the horizon. But, for the most part, we enjoy night time darkness. We don't have even a street light within a mile.

 

[CrealCritter]

Another great evening for stargazing and if I take off my glasses I get two times the amount of stars

 

[Daisy]

The nights have been stunning and super clear here lately. Its breathtaking. I have street lights around my block, but if I walk out to the dam (or even just behind the pub), it is near on perfect star gazing conditions. I often go for moonlit walks.

I know very few constellations because literature we had growing up was northern hemisphere focused and mostly useless to me in the southern hemisphere. Of course I know how to find the southern cross and saucepan, but that's about it!

I'd love to learn more and was just chatting to a friend about it last night. I am sure I will be able to find much better quality maps online now

 

[CrealCritter]

The nights have been stunning and super clear here lately. Its breathtaking. I have street lights around my block, but if I walk out to the dam (or even just behind the pub), it is near on perfect star gazing conditions. I often go for moonlit walks.

I know very few constellations because literature we had growing up was northern hemisphere focused and mostly useless to me in the southern hemisphere. Of course I know how to find the southern cross and saucepan, but that's about it!

I'd love to learn more and was just chatting to a friend about it last night. I am sure I will be able to find much better quality maps online now

There are free constellations apps for android, I'm not sure about Apple. I can't comment on any of the apps because I haven't used them. Just throwing this out there.

I know a few like the big and little dippers, but honestly, I just enjoy the star gazing experience.

 

[sumi]

When I lived in S.A. I spend many evening hours looking at the sky and I miss seeing some of our southern stars now, when I look up. It's such a humbling and wonderful experience, gazing up at the universe and feeling such a tiny part of something so amazing...

 

[flowerbug]

The nights have been stunning and super clear here lately. Its breathtaking. I have street lights around my block, but if I walk out to the dam (or even just behind the pub), it is near on perfect star gazing conditions. I often go for moonlit walks.

I know very few constellations because literature we had growing up was northern hemisphere focused and mostly useless to me in the southern hemisphere. Of course I know how to find the southern cross and saucepan, but that's about it!

I'd love to learn more and was just chatting to a friend about it last night. I am sure I will be able to find much better quality maps online now

i love just finding a nice place to sprawl out on the ground in the grass or on a blanket and then look up and watch the sky and talk about nothing and everything for hours at a time. i'm sure there are some good southern hemisphere maps out there on the web...