Mars attacks!

[Jemsee]

No not that stupid movie that was out a few years ago.
But Mars the planet.
If you are a star gazer you may find this article interesting.
Mars to Get Closer than Ever in Recorded History in 2003 (http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=science&cat=mars_exploration)

Being out in the country I get a pretty good view of the night sky.
And have been known to study a few stars, and constellations.
Was vary active at it till my dad took his telescope back.
Then my daughters friend brought hers out, and it was one of those wide, short, and programmable ones with electronic controls for tracking and zooming.
I had forgotten how much fun it was to watch the night sky.

Any other backyard astronomers out there?

[Rammstein]

Na im not an Astronome kind of person, but I like to watch the starts sometimes, its.. relaxing.
I never saw the space using a telescope, I wish I could! If I would be able, I would watch it most of the time :o

Anyway, this will be awsome to see in August :D

[Ian]

I've always liked to look up at te stars. Though I live in a city, it's, like rammstein said, relaxing. It's very nice late at night around midnight. Though, I find that in Jamaica, just after sunset, it's very nice out. It's at just the right temperature, and you can see hundreds of stars at a glance.

[bigjoe]

"Now would be the perfect time to send probes to that big blue planet!"

[deathbyhokie]

i lived in the country. i still kinda live in the country. and although i haven't used a telescope in a long time, i do look up and look at all the stars. there is a real good place near the dorm room that has little light so you can see even the dim stars. i've actually been out there gazing the past couple nights because it's been so warm

[stormwatcheagle]

I have a telescope, but have yet to use it. Any tips for an aspiring astrogist?

[Jemsee]

Originally posted by stormwatcheagle
I have a telescope, but have yet to use it. Any tips for an aspiring astrogist?

Get away from city lights, if you can.
Get away from obstructions, trees, tall buildings.
Up high on a hill would help also, depending on the terrain.
A flash light and if you can get one a map of constellations.
Orion is my favorite to spy on.
A girl/boy to help you star gaze.
If you get board you can look at the stars in each others eyes.

[King Link]

I live in the country too. For those who live in the city, during the night, you wouldn't believe how many stars are viewable.

This sounds very interesting and I'm going to have to be sure to check it out in August.

[Dracula]

On a clear night, I like to take my telescope out to look at some stuff out there... I can't wait to see this, though...

[teddyboy420]

I live in a somwhat rural area. It's actually a pretty big town compared to all the little towns around but anyway... I used to live alot closer to the city, but my family moved out here (NorthWest NJ). Well, anyway, when we did I couldn't believe how many stars there were in the sky at night. It's beautiful, and relaxing.

I used to have a telescope, it was one of the fat ones, no computer tracking though. I used to love pointing it at the moon and looking at all the craters and stuff. Or even better when a planet was close. I've seen Mars and Venus pretty well, they're both beautiful.

When I look up at all those stars it's kind of humbaling. I just feel so small, and insignificant, funny when you think about it. Any other time the world revolves around each one of us, until we stop and think what a little part we play in the grand scheme of things.

[Raichu86]

That's interesting. I used to star gaze a lot when I was younger. I've never picked out Mars in the night sky before, so maybe this will be my chance. :)

[fatcatfan]

Originally posted by Jemsee
Get away from city lights, if you can.
Get away from obstructions, trees, tall buildings.
Up high on a hill would help also, depending on the terrain.

I'd love to do this if I had a backyard in the country. Right now all I have is a small deck on the back of my apartment on the outskirts of town.

Times when I've gone camping far away from city lights, I enjoyed getting up around 1 or 2 AM after everyone else is asleep and just gaze up at the sky. Many people don't realize it, but you can actually see the "haze" of the Milky Way in the night sky if there aren't other bright lights to cover it up. On a cloudless, moonless night, it shows up very well. It looks just like its name, milky. It's from the millions of stars out there in our arm of the galaxy which are too distant to appear as discernable points of light. Together they all form a milky cloud of light.