TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Kids and constellations

In our several trips to BVI, we always had our kid(s) along. A cool thing for them, and for me, was to keep an eye on Orion's Belt, since its so easily recognizable and fairly low in the southern sky, roughly how far above the southern horizon it is at home, and then when we got to the BVI, observe how much farther above the horizon it is. It helped them picture where we were on the earth and the relation to the stars, and a sort of connection to home, especially looking at it when we returned.

Now, kids gone, we are hoping to get back down there, its winter and Orion's Belt is up, it is like a siren's song calling me back to the BVI! Time to head back to the islands...

There are some excellent apps that identify the stars from your current location. It is nice to know what you are looking at when sitting under a clear starry sky.

I use an app called "Planets". It shows the planets as well as constellations and the stars by name. They just seem easier to see down there.

Sky View Lite is a highly rated free app that identifies stars, constellation and galaxies.

A buddy of mine shot this photo of Orion from the dock at the Bitter End.

Click on the link to go to the gallery, then click on the photo to see it full size. I love how you can see that Betelgeuse (toward the left) is a red star.

http://www.traveltalkonline.com/ubbthreads.php/galleries/181255.html

Dan

Heavens-Above is the app I use and it also tracks satellites and the space station and can be used offline. Many people have never seen the space station. Laying out on the bow watching stars is great fun.....which leaves me to my annoyance of people using anchor lights in designated anchorages, that is not a requirement and it kills star watching.

You can always use the old mariner's trick of holding your fist out at arm's length and measuring how many hands it is from the horizon to the star, about 8 degrees per hand......ok for the differential between home and islands, alittle rough for navigation