• @[email protected]
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    321 month ago

    Too bad the stars actually move (or more actually the earth rotates) so you need to constantly adjust the telescope

    • @[email protected]
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      171 month ago

      I think the horror would suggest they aren’t stars at all, and the unmoved telescope plays into that

      • @LovableSidekick
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        1 month ago

        Could have been air whistling through furnace ducts. I’ve heard sounds like that which were only audible from one exact point in a room.

          • @LovableSidekick
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            1 month ago

            I know, it’s in cosmic horror, but it’s like figuring out an explanation for technobabble on Star Trek.

            • @[email protected]
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              21 month ago

              Yeah but we are on a cosmic horror comm.

              So it’s much more reasonable in this context to playfully brainstorm some eldritch mechanism by which the telescope is peering beyond the veil, and the “screaming stars” are not classical celestial objects in any way.

              Or I guess just vent noise, that’s great cosmic horror 🙄

          • ekZeppM
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            21 month ago

            🤫 Shhh! Don’t spoil the fun.

    • @[email protected]
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      121 month ago

      Whenever I drag out my 8 inch dobsonian and have people look at the moon (they don’t care for the nebulae or andromeda, not very exciting unless you are already into those things), the one thing that always surprises them is just how often you need to move the telescope to stay in sight.

      Having people watch the moon zip through the view is easily my favorite thing about sky watching.

      • @LovableSidekick
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        30 days ago

        True dat. Motor drives are awesome.

        This reminds me of one time at a camp on Maui when I looked up and saw a bright star near the half moon. We had been to this place multiple times so I knew the sky fairly wall and knew it wasn’t a star - had to be either Jupiter or Saturn, and it looked like the moon was getting closer. So I got out the little telescope I had brought along and sure enough, it was Saturn! After a while I watched the moon cover it and later it came out the other side. The people I was there with were fascinated. I kept having to jog the scope a little to keep it in view while we looked at it. I know these things are predicted way in advance but I hadn’t been aware of it - just happened to look up. It was one of my more memorable stargazing experiences.