Australia Thursday 24 August

by Dan Wright

We have completely ignored Jupiter, Virgo, Orion, Canis Major, Capricornus, and others, though they are favorably placed during the night. Instead, at any one time you'll see both our OTAs aimed deep south.

Early every evening there is incredible zodiacal light up through Virgo. At the horizon it's as bright as the light dome east of Montebello back home, and it narrows like a blunt spear as it rises. Even if we tried, we would have a heck of a time seeing galaxies in Virgo with this light in the way. I can't believe it's zodiacal, but there are simply no cities or towns out that direction.

Two brilliant stars point the way to Crux and are thus called the Pointers. The brightest is Rigel Kent a.k.a. Alpha Centauri. It splits nicely showing different colors; a beautiful double. Perhaps tonight I'll fire up some software and try to locate mag 11 Proxima, though I hear it's far from Alpha and hidden in a milky background.

There is an impressive glob in Centarus: NCG 5139. It's brighter'n hell at mag 3.7 and about as big as the moon (36 minutes). It stands high above the horizon and makes an unforgettable impression in binoviewers with 24 Panoptics. I couldn't get enough of it; I gazed 10 or 15 minutes straight. With naked eyes it looks like a bright star (though kind of fuzzy) so I think they should give it it’s own Bayer or Flamsteed designation :-)

I already wrote about 47 Tucanae, the glob that makes you go "Holy Sh*t". Stare straight at it, it looks like fireworks, with a brilliant core and stars shooting in all directions. Use averted vision to see even more, but then you'll get the "smooshing" effect, which is -- well, let's say you avert your eyes to a point below, then the glob's bottom looks smooshed and it's top looks elongated, or say if you avert to the left, the left becomes attenuated and the right becomes pronounced -- it's because the farther from your eye the better aversion works. So avert in circles and smoosh it all around.

There's another object nearby 47 Tuc and the SMC -- it's NCG 362, a nice glob in it's own right, at mag 6.4, about like an M2 or M3, but you can just forget about it because 47 Tuc and the SMC steal it's thunder.

How about the rest of Tucana? Drag your attention from the SMC and check out Beta, it's a great multiple star. The two primaries are mag 4.5 and 4.7, separated 28" like two headlights, while the third is also bright (mag 5) 8 minutes away; the whole thing kinda reminds me of Mizar and Alcor. Delta Tucanae is a fine double too, a close split featuring a small tan-colored companion.

Marek pointed out that a lot of the NCGs in the LMC start with "19", so you've got 19-this and 19-that, and you can find your birth year. I was delighted to find 1962 (mine) right next to 1953 (my wife's). These are OCs in the LMC.

Marek goes nuts with OCs in the LMC. His LMC chart is plastered all over like chicken pox with tiny OC circles. I don't know how he can possibly observe them all, but he's trying. I've observed a handful but I think it's daunting. Mostly I lay back and spend time scanning the LMC up and down and back and forth using Canon IS 15x50s.

Microscopium is a dim little afterthought of a constellation, but I hunted some objects of interest: alpha is a fine double to split, and galaxy 6925 at mag 12.1 showed elongated shape with a visible core.

There's a big bright OC in Carina -- 2516. It hangs out by itself on the edge of the Milky Way north of Voltans. If you gaze anywhere near with unaided eyes, it draws your attention. It's as good as the Pleiades. It features about 100 stars and occupies about a degree of arc.

Speaking of Pleiades check out IC2602 in Carina, officially named the "Southern Pleiades" (boy we got OCs down here!) This honkin' big boy also hangs near the edge of the Milky Way. It brags 30 stars brighter than mag 9 over an area larger than a degree. It's "among the brightest OCs in the sky".

One of the coolest things about the Southern Pleiades is that it's superimposed on a bunch of background Milky Way OCs. When you observe it at low power, right away you notice a particular dim, distant OC to the side. This is called "Mel 101". When you mag up, you realize Mel 101 is very populous; a mighty cluster in it's own right, but seen from a distance. This reminds me of the relationship between M35 and NCG 2158.

Marek told me to look for the "Grus quartet" while we were down here, though Jamie and other greats have managed to log it from up there. It's NCGs 7599, 7590, 7582, and 7552. I saw it, but honestly I only saw three of 'em.

Next to the whole amazing Eta Carinae complex, there are two bright stars designated "p" and "q" Carinae. Watch your p's and q's here! South of them is a little planetary named 3211. It's mag 12 and kind of a challenge, but I hunted it down so I could say I'd observed a planetary. I confirmed by flashing a filter in front of the eyepiece.

The Eta Carinae complex is the most amazing thing I've ever seen through a telescope. It's wild and reckless, zigzagging off at odd angles. It filled the whole eyepiece, and I was taken aback by it's grandeur when I realized I was using low power! The thing is just enormous.

A nice meteor shot through the Dark Doodad as I was observing said Doodad through binoculars. It's a thin dust lane wrapping around gamma Muscae. Nearby there's a populous but dim distant OC named 4372. It has one bright star which seems too bright to be a member; I bet it's a foreground star.

Musca also has a mag 6.9 glob named 4833. This is easy in binoculars, and when observed at medium power appears to be yet another of those mighty yet distant objects.

Mr. Kingsley, I did observe the Emu, yes I did! Marek and I were driving through Warrumbungle National Park, when we screeched to a halt as a large emu crossed the road in front of us. She was a mommy emu because three baby emus followed at her heals. I got a picture that I'll post. Then at night I felt like an aborigine as I imagined the Milky Way dust lanes through Scorpius, Lupas, Norma, and Centarus to be Australia's long-necked flightless bird, with the coal sack in Crux being it's head.

Thanks for reading this all the way though, if you've done so and not skipped ahead to the end. I have only one night left, then I'll be homeward bound, and this will be transformed from reality into a wistful and pleasant memory.

Regards from Dan at 31 degrees south latitude.