What do you enjoy viewing in the night sky?

Seattle

Seattle

Valued Senior Member
I figured that this thread could be for naked eye observers as well as those using binoculars and telescopes. What do you most enjoy viewing in the night sky?

I had a larger telescope (8 " Newtonian) at one point and I found the Ring Nebula and that was impressive (to me). Now I only have a 90mm refractor but I can still view the planets and resolving binary stars is fun.

I'll just add that my favorite binary stars are Albireo in Cygnus because it's easy to locate, it appear to be a fairly bright blue star and then when resolved a smaller yellowish star pops out above and to one side. So it's a distinctive pair because of the different colorations.

My other favorite is the famous "double double" binaries in Lyra. In this case you see two stars that are fairly close together, one over the other one. However each of those stars is a binary so with magnification one has another star that pops out vertically and the other star under magnification has another star that pops out horizontally.

I'll add that the two main stars in Gemini are interesting because they are easy to find and one of them is a binary and the other one was one of the first stars to be confirmed as having a planet in that star system. Now it is known that most stars probably have planets as well but this was one of the first to be confirmed.

So that's what I think about when I glance up in the night sky and notice that Gemini (Castor and Pollux) is visible.
 
I don't know much about which objects in the night sky are the constellations or the planets but my (obvious) favourites are the shooting stars(meteors)

Venus (the Southern Star which is the first to appear is also great fun to see and sometimes I imagine I can see Mars as it is supposed to be red.

The Moon is of great interest too as it is an indication of the next high tides when it is full (or empty ,I think both work?)

I think there is some kind of a story where the Moon is supposed to be chasing the sun across the sky all the time,some old Greek story ..
 
geordief said:
I don't know much about which objects in the night sky are the constellations or the planets but my (obvious) favourites are the shooting stars(meteors)

Venus (the Southern Star which is the first to appear is also great fun to see and sometimes I imagine I can see Mars as it is supposed to be red.

The Moon is of great interest too as it is an indication of the next high tides when it is full (or empty ,I think both work?)

I think there is some kind of a story where the Moon is supposed to be chasing the sun across the sky all the time,some old Greek story ..
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You can see Mars and it is red. It takes 2 years to revolve around the Sun so some years it's much closer than other years (when we are both on the same side of the Sun).

If you have some binoculars around one interesting thing about Venus that you may not be aware of is that it has phases (crescent) just like the Moon. With your naked eyes you generally just notice that it is bright and you don't notice that its not full (round) all the time. When you look at it with binoculars you do see the various phases.
 
When I had a telescope a few years ago, I really enjoyed ''studying'' the moon like never before. The details were mesmerizing. Something I had taken for granted, appeared so different to me in that moment. And, I'd say the Harvest Moon is one of my favorite night sky 'events.'

I traveled to New Mexico once and their night skies are breathtaking. Their daytime skies are breathtaking as well, for that matter. Just the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets. It was hard to leave.

I've been at the beach on the East coast at night, and on a clear evening, you can see hundreds of stars...without the distraction of light pollution. Now that I've downloaded the app Stellarium, I can use it to pinpoint ''Canis Major'' and ''Puppis'' whenever the next clear night arrives.

The Southeast isn't without its clear night skies, usually you'll find them more often between October and March, but the summers are usually hazy, making stargazing near impossible.
 
So, in real time using the Stellarium app, I should be able to see a sliver of the moon - right now. There are a few clouds today but overall, the sky is relatively clear. I was outside earlier and it’s not visible. -_-
 
It was enough just to learn the night sky. How it changes hour by hour, 15 degrees, night by night 1 degree and month to month, 30 degrees.
 
wegs said:
So, in real time using the Stellarium app, I should be able to see a sliver of the moon - right now. There are a few clouds today but overall, the sky is relatively clear. I was outside earlier and it’s not visible. -_-
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There are only a few possibilities...it's too bright outside to see the Moon, your program isn't set for your location, your phone doesn't have a compass...

Hopefully tonight the skies will be clear and you'll be able to verify that the program is working. You probably have an expensive phone and it probably does have a compass (mine doesn't).

The issue this morning was likely that it was just too bright or perhaps you haven't actually got the location setting correct yet?

Report back tonight, Starfleet Cadet...
 
Seattle said:
There are only a few possibilities...it's too bright outside to see the Moon, your program isn't set for your location, your phone doesn't have a compass...

Hopefully tonight the skies will be clear and you'll be able to verify that the program is working. You probably have an expensive phone and it probably does have a compass (mine doesn't).

The issue this morning was likely that it was just too bright or perhaps you haven't actually got the location setting correct yet?

Report back tonight, Starfleet Cadet...
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I do have a compass on my phone...and it could have been too cloudy in the ''exact'' spot where the moon's location was. The rest of the day became progressively worse (from a star gazing perspective) as clouds continued to cover the sky, until the afternoon showers rolled in. Once again tonight, the sky is charcoal gray without even the slightest twinkling to be found. I'm thinking the beach would be my best bet, but the rainy season really puts a damper on star gazing.

What are you able to see in your sky tonight? I'll have to live vicariously through you for a while. :wink:
 
wegs said:
I do have a compass on my phone...and it could have been too cloudy in the ''exact'' spot where the moon's location was. The rest of the day became progressively worse (from a star gazing perspective) as clouds continued to cover the sky, until the afternoon showers rolled in. Once again tonight, the sky is charcoal gray without even the slightest twinkling to be found. I'm thinking the beach would be my best bet, but the rainy season really puts a damper on star gazing.

What are you able to see in your sky tonight? I'll have to live vicariously through you for a while. :wink:
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I think I should be able to see Vega and Saturn.
 
I didn't use my telescope but I went out at 2 pm :) and saw Saturn due South just up above the trees across the street from my house, Altair high and to the right (SW) and the constellation Cygnus directly up above.

Jupiter and Vega would have been visible if I didn't have so many trees around my location. If I wasn't trying to be so quite due to the late hour and if I wasn't so lazy I would have pulled out my telescope for Saturn, but I didn't.

In case you don't know it, if you zoom in enough with the software on most objects such as planets or galaxies you will eventually see a moving image.
 
The haze and humidity lifted a bit today, so there are (a few) stars visible tonight! I was able to see Jupiter and Saturn as well, finally. It’s been a starless, cloudy night sky for the entire summer.

“Be clearly aware of the stars and the infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.” - Vincent van Gogh
 
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wegs said:
The haze and humidity lifted a bit today, so there are (a few) stars visible tonight! I was able to see Jupiter and Saturn as well, finally. It’s been a starless, cloudy night sky for the entire summer.

“Be clearly aware of the stars and the infinity on high. Then life seems almost enchanted after all.” - Vincent van Gogh
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Maybe the hurricane cleared things up for you. Are you in the eye? :)
 
Seattle said:
Maybe the hurricane cleared things up for you. Are you in the eye? :)
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It’s supposed to make landfall next Wednesday night, I believe. It’s too soon to tell, it could go north or stay near the coast. “The cone of uncertainty”. . . :rolleye:
 
wegs said:
It’s supposed to make landfall next Wednesday night, I believe. It’s too soon to tell, it could go north or stay near the coast. “The cone of uncertainty”. . . :rolleye:
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I think it's time for you to move. You've had your Florida period and now it's time for the next phase. They can't even launch Artemis from Florida it seems. Artemis needs to go to California and you need to check out the PNW.

No use arguing. I've made my decision...
 
Seattle said:
I think it's time for you to move. You've had your Florida period and now it's time for the next phase. They can't even launch Artemis from Florida it seems. Artemis needs to go to California and you need to check out the PNW.

No use arguing. I've made my decision...
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Hmm, my PNW phase…I like the sound of that.
 
I looked at Jupiter the other night. My cat decided to poop (in the litter tray) the other night at about 3pm. It was particularly smelly (the tray is on the opposite side of the house from my bedroom) so I got up and got rid of the poop.

While I was up I looked up and saw that the sky was particularly clear and Jupiter was large, bright and right overhead. I didn't feel like getting out the telescope but I did pick up my large binoculars designed for star watching. Using that it was a large disc with 4 moons. Using my smaller telescope it would have been a large disc with a line around the equator, and 4 moons.

It would be amazing to living where there was no light a night but I don't want to move to the center of Australia.:)
 
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