Observing in urban environments and when it gets you into trouble!

I’ve just been reminded by my mother about the time when I just started getting interested in astronomy. As any enthusiastic 12 year old would do with a brand new telescope I hunted for the nearest dark sky. Living in a pretty urban environment in a built up city I headed for the field close to where I live which is now virtually a woodland area. Only a few feet away from the street lights but more stars to see than my back garden.

Luckily my telescope was really light to carry, it was only a small refractor and If any friends came round to visit I’d talk them into coming with up onto the local hill.

So here is what I was reminded of when the local police who were searching for a stolen car one night  decided to shine a beam light down onto a couple of young astronomers from the police helicopter. Imagine our surprise as two girls up on a hill being shouted at by the police to stand still from a police megaphone!  I’m wondering now what the telescope must have looked like to them from the air, after that escapade we didn’t get much observing done and I decided to find somewhere a little less risky to observe from!

So in all, something to think about when buying your kids a first telescope, choose a safe location to observe from.