Shooting Stars!

IbanezFreak

Last Night I was doing my usual routine, walking the dog while listening to my mp3 player just winding down from a days work when I just looked up to the sky for 1 second and in that very momemnt I caught a perfect view of a shooting star flying accross ths sky. Id say it only lasted a second and it didnt travel that far over the skyline but I must admit I was gobsmacked! It actually felt so strange to see something like that. It was one of those things that made me think instantly about life,earth,and a range of broad topics. It was one of those things that you wish could happen in the morning so itd put you in a good mood all day! Now, I just arrived home with dog after todays walk and funnily enough I have developed a habbit of staring at the sky, I tripped up for a second the church! Being a 17 year old im not a huge fan of astrology but im sure it would be really interesting to get into. Has anybody got any suggestions to get me into it? I dont have a telescope!!! I might check it out on eBay now though! Are theyre any major observations coming up soon and just as a matter of interest are shooting stars a regular occurrance? I asked my mum and she said she never saw one in her life! I couldnt express to her what she was missing out on!

Orion

IbanezFreak wrote:

Being a 17 year old im not a huge fan of astrology

Nobody on this forum is either - we're into astronomy Before Christmas Aldi actually advertised a telescope as an "astrology telescope". :eek:

What you saw was more likely to have been a satellite I think. I'm not aware of any meteor showers this month but I could be wrong.

As for getting started - just get a cheap set of binoculars. You can see a hell of a lot with just those. Have a look at the Binocular Observing handbook here. Don't rush out and buy a scope yet. Let your interest grow and look through other people's scopes before spending your parent's hard earned money . Whereabouts in the country are you? It's very possible that there's a club nearby whose members would be quite happy to demonstrate their scopes to you.

As for major obervations coming up ... Saturn is very visible at the moment. Next month is a total solar eclipse if you happen to be headed to Turkey or Libya But there's always something to look at - even if there are no major events.

Flukey

It wouldn't have been a satellite, if it was travelling that fast. You can see meteors well outside of known meteor shower times. They can happen at any time. There is just a higher instance of them during the known showers. So I am certain that is what you saw. It is a great thrill to be looking straight at the correct point of the sky when one appears. So often you see them out of the corner of your eye. Seeing them straight in front of you is always a thrill.

Saturn is indeed prominent, as is Mars. Jupiter is rising earlier in the night, but still better for viewing if you are coming home very late or getting up very early. In the coming months it will be up even earlier and at more sociable hours. There is almost something to see. The best thing about getting into astronomy is that to start all you have to do is look up! So keep doing it. There are lots of threads about here telling you the basics of how to get into astronomy. Check them out. As for astrology, just pick up a newspaper.