ISS over Lanzarote.

While i was in Lanzarote over christmas i was test driving the sky scout my girlfriend gave me, when i spotted something moving overhead (west to east...i think). So i pointed the sky scout at the object and told the scout to identify it.

Sure enough it was the ISS. Pretty cool to see it as the 1st object viewed with the scout.

Bought a new pair of bins also. The box says they are 1200X1000..........(not too sure what that equates to...........feel free to enlighten me). I pointed them at the orion nebula and "WOW" was all i could say. It looked so much bigger (i'd guess about 3 times as big) then when viewed with my 7X50 bins. It was still a fuzzy blur (but more well defined then in the 7X50).......but you could definitely see that it was a nebula.

Even Mars looked like a small disc through the new bins. It looks just like a star in the 7X50's.

Getting back to Orion.....................

It was very strange seeing it laying on its side and slowly standing upright as the night wore on.

I also saw a lightning storm from above the clouds over the atlantic. That was very impressive.

That sure was a nice first object to lock onto with the sky scout!
I've seen it before and it's a handy little tool.
Sounds like a great night!
Sitting here suffering with the flu...I'm green with envy.

How did you find Lanza for light pollution?
The last time i was there I had to drive to the opposite side of the island
to get away from the main towns
(ended up in Famara)
It's a place I'd like to go back to with a camera!

Have you a stand or tripod for the binos?

Hi Paul,

I'm heading Lanzarote in August my brother is getting married but there is no talking him out of it :>). I'm looking into joining up with an Astronomy club there if there is one. My other have said if I bring my big scope I'm dead.So if anyone knows anything about Astronomy in Lanzarote I'm all ears.

BTW the SkyScout is Some piece of work I used one a couple of times they are very accurate

Hi Frank

I was staying in Costa Teguise. Pretty bad as far as light pollution goes. I had to find the darkest little corner of the complex behind a maintainance building to escape most of it (huge globe lights all over the complex) and use the scout. Yes the ISS was a pretty cool thing to see. I've never seen it before.

The bins i bought say 1200X100,119m/1000m field 7.5 degrees.

Pretty much the same size as my 7X50 but half the weight. I'm gonna assume they are 7X50 and how well i saw Orions nebula and Mars was down to overall seeing conditions.

I did buy a tripod for the bins but stupidly i bought it a couple of days later and its useless for astronomy. It screws onto the front of the bins and only tilts 90 degrees (staring at the ground to staring straight ahead). It would be great for bird watching. LOL.

So im gonna use it for my camera and buy a new one for the bins.

Hey Carl i agree the sky scout is a nice little machine. It took it a couple of goes to warm it up,LOL. when i asked it to find the moon.....................it told me that it was behind me. I was staring right at it. Not sure why it was acting up on me but its fine now.

Quick question.

I noticed that in Lanzarote that Sirius does not shine as brilliantly as it does here. Is this because of the difference in latitude?