Moon or Stars?

[skyhawk]

This may sound trivial, but I'm on the August 14th Western. I notice there will be a "new moon" that week, meaning we won't see the moon. I'm a bit disappointed as I thought it would be nice to see the moon reflecting off the water as we sail. I then thought, ok, without the moon, we should be able to see the stars a bit easier. Simple question - are you able to see alot of stars while at sea, or do the ships lights make it difficult? Any thoughts on the astronomical sights while on board?

:space:

 

[mmouse37]

Unfortunately....you may not see as many you would expect. The ship does throw off a lot of ambient light making star searching more difficult, but not impossible.

We found if you went all the way forward on Deck 10 it is pretty dark out there and we could see the stars.....we once sailed with a full moon and it was just breathtaking!!!


MJ

 

[TiggerKing]

Just looked at the US Navy site and found that the moon will be 97% full at the start of our cruise! Just something else to look forward to come November.

 

[skyhawk]

Thanks TiggerKing - rub it in!!

 

[Lisa]

Isn't there meteor showers expected this month? Perhaps you will be to view some shooting stars.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

Ships lights will prevent you from seeing the ausome spectical the night sky can be when seen away from city lights.

Yes you will be able to see stars, but then I can see stars in by back yard.

Now when we take our annual trip to spend the night on Mt. LeConte on the middle of the Smokie Mountains... there you can see some stars. I had always herd about being able to see the light from the Milkyway Galaxie, but it wasn't until I was on top of that mountain in the middle of the night before I learned just how much is really up there to see.

 

[webray]

You can see the stars...and they are beautiful.

Enjoy!

 

[swandiverpatt]

Yes, the Perseid meteor showers occur in August. I'm not sure of the date, but you should be able to see some shooting stars. We've been on cruises with full moon and new moon, and each have offered a different night sky. We're sky watchers from way back and thoroughly enjoyed it on our cruises!

 

[TiggerKing]

HooKoo...Can I go with you to Mt. Leconte? I once spent the evening of Dec. 23 up there. Woke up to 3 inches of snow on the ground and in the pines!

BTW, we do our cruise on 11/28. After we return, we will make an overnight stop at home, and then drive up to Gatlinburg for a couple of days. So, we get the best of both worlds based on your tag line!

 

[videoman]

Have a couple of cocktails and you will be able to see all the stars & moon that your heart desires

 

[AKB]

I just read in todays paper that the meteor shower will occur Aug 11 - 12 with the best showing (up to 100 shooting stars per hour) on Aug 12 (local time for best showing was 4 AM to 6 AM - but that is in Oklahoma). Hope your cruise is awsome.

 

[HooKooDooKu]

TiggerKing
(and anyone else wanting to see a good view of the night sky and can make your way to the Smokey Mountains),

If you haven't before, the thing to do is go up to Clingman's Dome to watch Sun Set. Then stay up there for a little while to watch the city lights come alive. You then make your way back down to the parking lot between dusk and dark. By that time you get to your car, you can begin to enjoy the night sky (that's how I saw the Milky Way Galaxie for the first time).

However, the bad news is that I think the road to Clingman's Dome is closed for the season every Dec 1st (you won't be back from your Cruise in time). The second is that the top of the mountain can be VERY cold in late fall (especially at the Clingman's Dome observation tower since it is totally exposed to the wind no matter what direction it's coming from). The coldest I've ever been in my life was from spending an hour at Clingman's Dome in late October. The temp was about 25F with a stiff 10 mph wind.

As for Mt. LeConte, there is a lodge at the top of the moutain that you can try to stay in. However, they start taking reservations for 2005 on Oct 1, 2004. The entire lodge should be booked for the year by Oct 9th (or sooner). Here's the LeConte Lodge Reservation Page, but it basicly comes down to sending them an email before the end of September requesting when you want a reservation. Then on Oct 1, they randomly draw emails to start filling requests. You have to be very flexable and provide something like a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ... 127th choise and you're likely to get one (so long as choise #127 is "or any other available date").

For those that don't know, LeConte Lodge is a back-country lodge situated on the top of Mt. LeConte in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park (5 mile hike into the woods minimum). They provide one room heated cabins, dinner, and breakfast, filtered fresh water (supplied by a natural spring) and flush toilets. But otherwise, you are deep in back-country.