Star Gazing

[Menehune Man]

Re: Star Gazing

Orionid Meteor Showers

Tonight after midnight and through dawn!
It's the Earth passing through long ago leftover debris from Halley's Comet.
orionid meteor shower peaks overnight

[zff]

Re: Star Gazing

For you stargazers who have iPhones, there is a fantastic little $3 app called Pocket Universe. It's easily worth the price.

It works especially well if you have a (compass-equipped) 3GS. It combines GPS, compass, and accelerometer data so that all you do is hold the phone in front of you, look in any direction, and the phone displays a map of what you're looking at with names of stars, planets and constellations. As you look around, the starmap scrolls around too. Hold it straight out to the horizon, above your head, or anywhere in between, too.

It's one of my favorite apps.

[StinkyTheGrump]

Re: Star Gazing

It can be cheaper and with more choices to shop online. I got my 6" diameter newtonian for $250 with shipping off e-bay. Diameter is the most important thing since small telescopes like the 60mm ones show very little detail. Of course if one wants a scope of equal power to mine with all the fancy stuff on it and the best names, it could run $1000.

Yep I agree it's definitely cheaper to get stuff online. I actually got my whole setup from eyepiece to tripod online from various used sources. I would be amenable to supporting a local shop if the prices weren't prohibitively expensive; I kind of like getting some hands on with stuff before I take the plunge. I'm still not aware of any place on Oahu that sells this kind of equipment though.

[AlohaKine]

Re: Star Gazing

I've just read this thread and it's so good to see that others on HT have a passion for stargazing! I've just recently become hooked and only have a pair of binos so far but a telescope is on the way Anyone know if there are any astronomy shops on Oahu? I couldn't find anything in the phone book and google.

It can be cheaper and with more choices to shop online. I got my 6" diameter newtonian for $250 with shipping off e-bay. Diameter is the most important thing since small telescopes like the 60mm ones show very little detail. Of course if one wants a scope of equal power to mine with all the fancy stuff on it and the best names, it could run $1000.

[StinkyTheGrump]

Re: Star Gazing

I've just read this thread and it's so good to see that others on HT have a passion for stargazing! I've just recently become hooked and only have a pair of binos so far but a telescope is on the way Anyone know if there are any astronomy shops on Oahu? I couldn't find anything in the phone book and google.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Star Gazing

My calls and messages to Mark Plate have gone unanswered.
I am hoping that tomorrow's Advertiser has the monthly scheduled astronomy section.

[Kaonohi]

Re: Star Gazing

YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The sacred Honolulu Star Bulletin didn't include the Astrononomy half-page this month!

Call or write Mark Plate, Editor: 525-8080, an lt him know itmis important to us.

OR, we will lose it!

[Kaonohi]

Re: Star Gazing

For the 11:30 pm session I noticed a light going from west to east also on the south side. Figured it for a plane but I doubt it, it was a commercial jet coming from the South Pacific going to Honolulu.

Oh, Helen, I LOVE stargazing! I'm far out enough in the country to get away from most light pollution.

On cloudless nights (when we get them) I will often see satellites cruising by going West to East. Most Jets don't follow direct W-E, and their lights would be flashing. I've also seen the circumpolar satellites, going from North to South. Once I saw two pass within a thumb's width of each other in the sky, but they were likely miles apart.

The Big Dipper is in the North, but I forget what time of night and what time of year it is most visible. The Advertiser has an astrology section in the last Sunday paper of the month, tells you where the planets are, when meteor showers happen, all the visible constellations, etc.

[Nords]

Re: Star Gazing

The best was a gadget that when pointed at the night sky can tell you... by name alot of what you see and if asked will lead you to where you request!
I can't remember what it's called. Plawler?

Well, that beats the crap out of a Rude starfinder.

Too many telescope companies using "Starfinder" as a brand name instead of a function. I'd love to hear more about this gadget.

[Menehune Man]

Re: Star Gazing

At the Geek Meet...
Plawler had a cool set up.
To look at the sun and moon too!
The best was a gadget that when pointed at the night sky can tell you...
by name alot of what you see and if asked will lead you to where you request!
I can't remember what it's called. Plawler?

[Menehune Man]

Re: Star Gazing

I love when I see the Southern Cross. It 'stands' up in the proper position from Oahu and yes it is waaay down low on the horizon. Kinda magical. IMO

The most spectacular times I've seen it? While I was in Fiji! Very little light pollution from my wife's village (Naimasimasi, Tailevu). The Southern Cross is incredibly large and at the apex (Quick definitions (apex) ▸ noun: the highest point) of the night sky.
Real cool!

[lavagal]

Re: Star Gazing

Yes...Crux (Southern Cross) looks like a kite. But again, you need to have a cloudless morning and an unobstructed horizon to see it. I imagine if you look into the sky southward, from Maunalua Bay Beach Park, (even better from South Point in Ka'u) in May, around 9-10 PM, you'd see the constellation in its entirety. Crux, if I recall correctly, has only 4 main stars, arranged in a kite-shaped formation. I don't believe the constellation can be viewed in its entirety this time of year. If you were to get up, say around 5AM tomorrow, I think you might see parts of it, but not all of it. Crux was a constellation I remember seeing in its entirety during late Spring in the evening hours.

Darlin',, I get up at 330 for that lovely Dawn 24HF routine, LOL! I have a feeling I'm seeing what I want to see. I'd imagine from Koko Crater it would be amazing. Or from the Koko Head trail, which juts into the ocean. Such a lovely place.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Star Gazing

I'm an amateur stargazer, absolutely love it. I watch the space station go by and follow its tracking on the NASA website. In the morning I think I see the Southern Cross, does it look like a kite?

Yes...Crux (Southern Cross) looks like a kite. But again, you need to have a cloudless morning and an unobstructed horizon to see it. I imagine if you look into the sky southward, from Maunalua Bay Beach Park, (even better from South Point in Ka'u) in May, around 9-10 PM, you'd see the constellation in its entirety. Crux, if I recall correctly, has only 4 main stars, arranged in a kite-shaped formation. I don't believe the constellation can be viewed in its entirety this time of year. If you were to get up, say around 5AM tomorrow, I think you might see parts of it, but not all of it. Crux was a constellation I remember seeing in its entirety during late Spring in the evening hours.

[acousticlady]

Re: Star Gazing

When I was fresh out of grad school and had been at my job for a matter of months, the department chair came in to see me and said "you're teaching Astronomy in the spring" I had absolutely zero background. I was barely aware there were stars in the sky. All I can say is that nothing makes you learn something faster than having to stand up in front of 40 students and come across like you know what you're talking about

Although I rarely teach it any more, it did develop a passion for the "heavens" in me that I never had before. I still don't know one constellation from another, but I can tell you how they work.

[lavagal]

Re: Star Gazing

Being an old farmboy who used to work the land in the Na'alehu area, I was able to familiarize myself with many of the constellations seen in the Northern Hemisphere. I never really got all that good with Southern Hemisphere constellations, which "Crux", a.k.a "The Southern Cross", is part of. But...if I recall, parts of Crux...not all of it though..can be seen in December, in the Northern Hemisphere, as long as you are at least 25 degrees or less north of the equator...obviously the further south you go, the more of it you will see. I'm pretty sure, from anywhere in Hawai'i, Crux can be completely seen in the month of May, in the far southern horizon.

Some good news for those who hate winter, speaking of constellations: A sure sign spring is on it's way: The constellations Corvus and Crater can be viewed from Hawaii (or most of the mainland) if one gets up early enough to see them this time of year. To a farmboy such as myself, the arrival of Corvus and Crater signels that springtime isn't too far off in the future. I remember seeing them for the first time this season, as I ran the Honolulu Marathon on the 11th...both constellations were in clear view, in the southern sky, about the time I made my way up the Diamond Head Cliffs the first time, during the marathon. Seeing these constellations can give people who loathe winter some hope in knowing that spring is really not all that far away!

I'm an amateur stargazer, absolutely love it. I watch the space station go by and follow its tracking on the NASA website. In the morning I think I see the Southern Cross, does it look like a kite? And the Big Dipper is clearly obvious, as is Orion's belt. But what I've enjoyed most these past few weeks is the grouping of Venus, Saturn and the Moon in the early evening. Lovely. On ocasion I'll see a meteor or a big bird flying in the darkness.