There goes my Galaxy virginity!
Still no telescope. Although it IS ordered, I am waiting on a new cretin card with favourable rates, so it won’t be here for a while. I’m hoping by the end of this week, by which time we will have had enough crap weather to merit some clear skies.
However! Following the advice freely doled out by the Star Gazers Lounge entourage, I took to the skies with my trusty £35 binoculars, as there was around an hour or two of clear skies. The missus saw a shooting star from the hot tub, whilst I was frantically scouring the skies for something new. New to me, that is.
Popped Stellarium on the laptop, whacked the “Show nebulas” button, and Whoosh, out jumps the big fancy spiral galaxy thingy in Andromeda. The one they all take snappy snaps of.
“I HAVE to see this” thinks I to meself, overheard by No.1 Son and No.1 wife. (Ok, there is only one wife at present, so the title “No.1” is a bit misleading. However I do plan to marry a few more, probably leggy busty redheaded international supermodels, I’m just waiting until I have a bigger house to store all the inevitable extra stuff that she/they will bring. (Those who don’t appreciate the vaguarity (is that a word?) of the term ‘Stuff’, may substitute the words “shoes and handbags”). Anyway, where were we? O yeah, we were in the milky way.
But WHERE do you look? Its all very well saying, “Oh, just find Pegasus, take the second star down, turn right, carry on straight till you bang into another star, and there slightly down on its right is what looks like a smear on the lens. Only it doesn;t go away when you wipe it. Bingo, you found it.”
So out comes Stellarium (what a great program). From there I see that by drawing a straight line between the bottom stars of the seated woman, Cassiopaeia, or the Big W, you get to the top star in Pegasus. From there you drop a star and head right, and Bob’s your uncle. Actually, Bob IS my uncle. He is also my father. He is also an employee, and also a delivery driver. With so many ‘Bobs’ in the world I sometimes think I am talking goldfishian…….”Bob,bob,bob,bob”, (Check out a captive goldfish, ‘Bob’ is all they ever say. Whether they say other names like Daniel, Rupert, Bartholomew etc when they are in the wild I have no idea.)
Anyway, tonight, with a pair of cheap 10x50 binoculars, I saw a dirty great smudge in the sky. So did No.1 son and No.1 wife. Both were singularly impressed. “I wonder how that would look with a telescope?” said the elder. Subconsciously I heard the pennies dropping. I logged the question on my inner memory banks, ready to use it in justification when the cretin card bill comes in. “…..but YOU were the one who said we should get a telescope…”
I have a visit planned over xmas 2007 to a place where they cant afford street lights. I hope above hopes that the new telescope has arrived by then. Second to this I am counting on clear skies. Wouldn’t it be great to get away from city lights and see the universe as nature intended.
Watch this space. (Hmmm, that would make a pretty good motto)
