Hi,

Does anybody have an interest in star gazing and astronomy and have memories of doing so in Glasgow. Any special memories? Where did you buy your equipment from? Did light pollution become a problem when once it wasn't? What kind of telescope did you have and where did you buy iy? I'm interested in hearing anything connected with astronomy!

Thanks!

Heather

Saw the Hale-Bopp many times through my binoculars in 1997.
Nearer to home saw Jonathon Watson today in Milngavie.He told me his Hogmanay programme this year has been done and dusted. Stardust,perhaps?
Joop

When I was a boy in Kings Park.... me and my friend Alistair got the idea of building a telescope after watching a programme about space.... as you did then. We tried loads of things like taking the glass out from the bottom of jars and putting them together magnifying glasses inside rolled up cardboard.... it was actually more sophisticated than I am making it sound here!!

Anyways.... not surprisingly nothing worked as we did not have a clue about lenses and focal points and all that jazz. About a year later Alistair was able to 'borrow' a pair of binoculars from his granda and we hit on a wee idea.... we thought if we could combine the lenses in the two binocular columns then we could make a much stronger telescope.

We got a screwdriver from somewhere though I dinnae remember now but it was the one people used to fix their glasses. We then went about taking the lenses out. We ignored the warnings inside about this being a precision instrument and should only be repaired by experts. We did what we thought were precise drawings of how to put things back together - it would be easy we thought as long as we stuck to our drawings.

To cut a long story short.... our second outing was another disaster and to make matters worse we managed to scratch one of the lenses!! Worse was to come when we put - or tried to put - them back together as no matter how much we tried we could not get the left and right side to match up!!

We did our best and put them back together anway and put them back where we got them. Months later I found out that Alistairs granda had taken the binoculars to Hamilton horse racing and hand come back absolutely fuming because they didnae work and he blamed cheap junk MADE IN JAPAN!! Luckily for us he bought them in Gibraltar so was never able to take them back.... although he always said he would!!

Heather, This is probably not what you are asking, but in the early '50s what we knew as the Museum (now Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum) ran a kid's program that went for a few weeks on Saturday mornings in summer (I think). One of the activities we did during that program was to attend a showing and lecture about the planets and stars in the Planetarium that was in that building at the time.

Alex

Slightly off the request but here in Jo`burg we see some nice stars but when you get out of the city especially the game reserves where there is no artificial light at night it is amazing the amount of stars that you see, I can sit for hours just star gazing as they say.I wasn`t into nature when I lived in Glasgow, more pubs and dancing.

Zascot,the area over Loch Lomond gives a wonderful show as well at night.I believe there is some sort of
Stargazing spot designated in the south west of Scotland,absolutely free from any artificial light.

When studing astronomy in Glasgow, due to reeking lums and those horrible soduim lights the only stars I copped a glimpse of were the floaty ones ye see on the ceiling after a swallie shop crawl.

Jup, the dark spot is Galloway Forest Park.

Jup, I guess that anywhere in the world would be good if you can get away from the city and the pollution. We obviously don`t go to the game reserve to see the stars but if you get a really clear night it is an obvious bonus. As i said I could sit for hours looking at stars and hearing the animals if only someone could shut up those bullfrogs.

Heather, you are conspicuous by your absence on the Riverside Museum of Transport thread.
Aren't you interested in the comments put there by the public?
Alex

Took these on my Mobile last night, the Space station and I think Venus side by side.

Much brighter with the naked eye.

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Dave a really clear light last night.I think that may be Venus and Jupiter you saw.Orions belt clearly visible in the low western sky as well and numerous other stars.My friend was visiting and he is a OOW(officer of the watch) and a bit of a Celestial Navigation buff, a skill still taught at Nautical Colleges but in practice used very rarely by professional mariners due to the abundance of high tech navigaional equipment.
As a matter of interest he has an app on his phone which shows and names the stars and planets clearly by pointing it in the general direction.Great little gizmo.

It is definitely Venus (brighter) and Jupiter that are together Joop, i don't know if Dave will be able to see Orions belt at this time of the year (can you Dave?) we can also see Sirius (Dog Star) diagonally south/west of the belt (Orions) flickering different colours, and further west again Mars, looking like a yellow star.

Mercury and Saturn can also be seen with a bit of effort, it is one of my favourite times of the year for sky watching, it's just a pity the weather let's us down so often.

Hi Jags sad to say I am not a star gazer and couldent tell the difference between Orions belt and a snake belt. Mores the pity because almost every night of the year there is such a display of the milky way that would make a true star gazer weep

Hi Jags / Dave, I had a late night meeting 70 km South of Jo`burg last night and as its much darker there we could definitely see Orion, which is one of the few stars I recognise as my wifes name was O`Brien and the kids used to call it O`Briens belt. I also so those two bright ones Dave and wondered what they were, I`ll have a better look tonight late on as tomorrow is a Public Holiday here and I can have a lie in.

I do envy you guy's that live in warm countries with clear sky's who can travel to unpopulated area's with no light pollution.

Jagz, do they still have a 10pm curfew in Beith when the lights go out?

No Joop but they certainly should have.

Jupiter, when did they get lights? Jags do you know Harry and Caroline Shields?

No i don't know them zascot, and neither doe's Mrs Jagz, and i thought she knew everyone in Beith.