Astronomy/Star Gazing

[drommer0]

We are sailing on the January 8, Eastern Magic cruise. Is there any place where there are telescopes or places for optimal star viewing. We are looking for places where there is not alot of light pollution, the darker the better. You can tell that we are star nuts.

 

[mmouse37]

Later at night, like after 11:00 pm on Deck 10 all the way forward it is very dark (unless someone starts up a basketball game)...it is also extremely windy. There is a wind shield so if you were beind that and no one was using the basketball court, it would probably be your best best for star gazing. If you went all the way aft you would have lights from Palo.

MJ

 

[GenieDana]

Deck seven all the way aft.

 

[markºoº]

Aft will probably be the darkest spot. Deck 10 forward is always lit up with lights for the sports deck.

On the extended 8/28/04 cruise, they did offer "stargazing" on one of the extra nights. It was held at 9:30 at the sports deck. They turned off all the lights in the area and is very VERY dark. The stars were fabulous. One of the navigational officers discussed various information about stars and pointed out several constillations. My understanding was that the officer was in the process of developing a stargazing program for the future. He was a little disorganized but tried is best - he obviously didn't have much time to prepare since the program was added at the spur of the moment.

I hope they do add this as regular program as the view was spectacular.

 

[tvguy]

Telescopes would tough to use....remember you're moving forward, up and down, and left and right. But to the naked eye away from the city lights, the night sky is amazing at sea.

 

[Timon]

The area near the basketball court is a great spot for star gazing. Hubby and I would go up there after our late dinner and lay on the deck chairs and just stare up at the sky. You can see so many stars, it just goes on and on!

 

[chipanddalenuts]

Hope the night skies are clear so we can see the Milky Way, shooting stars, planets---maybe even a UFO.

 

[mmouse37]

Deck 10 forward is always lit up with lights for the sports deck.

Not necessarily true!!! We have cruised several times when all the way forward on Deck 10 by the sports deck is completely dark. It is lit sometimes if people are playing basketball (usually crew that late and I am sure they have access to the lights) but very often it is very dark up there.

As for Deck 7 aft....that would be great before 11:00....they lock the doors around 11:00 pm each night.

MJ

 

[JonJehrio]

On our 7 night Western Cruise 10/23/04 they had a star gazing seminar up on deck 10 with some of the officer staff. It seems like it will be a regular scheduled thing as there were quite a few of us that showed up for it. It was very windy (we were going 23 knots into about 20 knot winds, it was VERY windy) and cloudy, so we ended up finding something else to do. We did get to enjoy a Lunar Eclipse that week though. Try a good pair of binoculars. They work well.