Maz

Any star-gazers out there? We have one of these and on pleasant summer nights we enjoy dragging it out and seeing how well we can see Saturn's rings, etc. Who else out there enjoys star-gazing? I hear the skies are particularly clear in NZ so I imagine it must be pretty damned brilliant.

Of course we can't bring the 'scope with us when we visit, but I'm looking forward to seeing the Southern Cross and wondering what happened to Ursa Major.

cherry

Thats a weird looking phone ,can you get mars on it or moonbase
Seriously though I like to look at the stars at night and find the sky here is a lot clearer with less light pollution .the southern cross is very easy to see with the naked eye,al lI use is binoculars for now but good enough to see clearly the comet that passed by recently

BEVS

That's a dead neat piece of equipment you have there Maz.

I've an old telescope which I've had since I was a kid. We brought it with us and it's still good for looking at the moon , saturns rings etc.

I've always enjoyed star gazing and have dragged ole Phil all over the county when in the UK just to get out of the town lights to see a planet , shooting star shower , hale bop.

The night sky here is fab. You can see the milky way clear as.... It's right there most nights . We sit on our deck and just gaze at it.
There is hardly any sodium glare to get in the way.

We love looking at the night sky. I buy the NZ astronomy year book to help us know what to look out for and when.

Maz

That's wonderful about the Southern Cross being really clear. I find it oddly reassuring to have a constellation I can easily pick out.

There's a NZ Astronomy yearbook eh? That's cool! I'll definitely be getting one of them, then. We currently rely on the NASA website to tell us about the night sky. We've seen the space shuttle and the ISS a few times. When I lived on top of a plateau in SW France, I actually saw the shuttle pull away from the ISS, that was pretty amazing!

Anyway, thanks both for the feedback. Excellent about the lack of light pollution.

Oh, and the mobile phone looking thingy () is a "starfinder". When you find the point you want to follow, you can fix its position in there, and the telescope will move to track it.

sky

The night sky here in nz has soooo much depth to it, it's truly fantastic and doesn't seem all flat like in the uk. Absolutely beautiful and when we first arrived I couldn't get over it .... what with that and the awesome mountain ranges here I'm surprised I managed to stay on the road whilst out driving sometimes, far too busy WOW'ing at the views

Beachcombers

I love the fact the Milky Way is so clear! It's great to spend a hour in the back garden counting shooting stars! I have put a telescope top of my wish list for my birthday, you can get a second hand one off trademe for a couple of hundred bucks.

Does anyone know where you can get a Southern Hemisphere star chart? Is there a Maori star chart? I am guessing the have their own names for the constellations.

P2L

Your wish is my command !!!!!

http://www.astronomynz.org.nz/maori-...tronomy-2.html

Beachcombers

OMG! I have just saved that right into my favorites!

Thanks very much Sarah I look forward when you and Kevin can observe Uranus over a bottle of Savy!

Maz

Oooooh cool link, thank you, Sarah!

I love looking at the Milky Way, and I adore shooting stars! Friend of ours tried to convince me a couple of summers ago that because we are in the Milky Way, we couldn't see it. I'd had a few glasses of wine by that time and ridiculed him quite mercilessly. He got all offended and insulted. He grew up though.

cherry

http://nzphoto.tripod.com/astro/asoutherncross.htm

The Kiwi flag has the southern cross constellation as part of it also.The milky was was so bright the other night I would love a good telescope as they see so much more especially if you live high up like we do(no not the bedrooms below,um well )

karonious

Has anyone mentioned Orion is upside down here?
Stands to reason really!

SirEglamore

Went to Mt John observatory ta lake Tekapo when we visited and did a night watch thingy. spectacular through some of their big telescopes

P2L

Thought you might like these!!!

P2L

The last one looks spooky cos a plane flew over & that black line is his vapour trail!!!!

Sorry they're slow

Beachcombers

That looks right cool!

There is going to be another lunar eclipse in Aug this year and New Zealand is going one of the places you can view the whole thing.

It was such a wonderful night sky over the weekend, we decided to take the plunge at get a telescope.

These are the ones we are looking at

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics...n-89868141.htm

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics...n-89644840.htm

Either the short fat "Bazooka" style one or Nelson's "I see no ships" style. Anyone have an opinion which would be better?

We have a street light nearby, which casts a amber glow over part of the garden if that makes any difference.