Star Gazing at night

[Waryman]

My first cruise is coming up in a couple of days. Anyway, as an amateur astronomer I'm trying to decide which binoculars to take (I have several). to allow me to get some star gazing done. Daytime it will be bird watching.

 

My question. Is it practical to do some star gazing at night from the Ryndam or is it too brightly lit? Pictures taken at night of cruise ships in the local harbor show the ships to be brightly lit. I hope they turn off most of the lights so those who are interested can star gaze. Or is trying to do some on board star gazing a waste of time?

[manbehindthecurtain]

My first cruise is coming up in a couple of days. Anyway, as an amateur astronomer I'm trying to decide which binoculars to take (I have several). to allow me to get some star gazing done. Daytime it will be bird watching.

 

My question. Is it practical to do some star gazing at night from the Ryndam or is it too brightly lit? Pictures taken at night of cruise ships in the local harbor show the ships to be brightly lit. I hope they turn off most of the lights so those who are interested can star gaze. Or is trying to do some on board star gazing a waste of time?

 

A good place is the outside deck on Verandah deck forward. This can be reached from the lower promenade deck (the wraparound deck). It is jsut below the bridge and will be nice and dark, as the navigators don't like bright lights either. Only downside is that you will have a limited arc of view.

[kakalina]

Last winter we took a 30 dy South Pacific cruise and one of the lecturers was Donna "The Star Lady". She took us up to the top deck and pointed out the southern cross and other constellations. It was wonderful.

Gaze away and have a great cruise.

[fann1sh]

As I hope you've gathered from the previous posts, the ship's own light pollution isn't devastating if you choose location carefully.

[Nutrioso]

On our Ryndam 23-day last fall one of the officers was an amateur astronomer and held 3 or 4 sessions on the forward deck just below the bridge at about 9PM. He had a portable telescope for us to take turns at. The sessions started after we got below the equator so we were able to view a whole new sky. It was really great. ---- Penny

[Williebill]

One of the things I love about cruising is looking at the night sky while at sea, enjoy it.

Bill