3/14/2023 0 Comments Startrail southern hemisphereThese are just a few of the arresting sights in the Southern Hemisphere sky, but there are many more. Saturn on September 17, 2017, imaged remotely with the 1-meter Chilescope by Damian Peach and the Chilescope team. About 100 times the size of Orion Nebula, 30 Doradus is the largest star-forming region in the Local Group of galaxies, and so luminous that if it were as close to us as the Orion Nebula is (about 1,300 light-years), it would cast shadows. It’s a massive star nursery, much like the Orion Nebula (M42), but on an entirely different scale. Named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who spotted them in 1519 while circumnavigating the globe for the first time, the LMC contains the Tarantula Nebula, also called 30 Doradus. These two galaxies offer up dense star fields ideal for sweeping binoculars. Many astronomers travel specifically to see the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC), the largest dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way’s retinue. If you make it to clear, dark skies and let your eyes adjust, the sight of two unexpected clouds might surprise you. Limatola / INAF-Capodimonte Observatory Milky Way’s Largest Satellites Now that you've seen the brightest globular cluster in the Milky Way, find the second brightest - 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) - which is highest in the sky from October through February.Ī view of the iconic Omega Centauri globular cluster.ĮSO / INAF-VST / OmegaCAM Acknowledgement: A. Found deep in the constellation of Centaurus, Omega Centauri looks like a blob almost as large as the full Moon in dark skies, and appears as a speckled glow in amateur telescopes. Because of its distinct properties, astronomers think it might be the nucleus of a dwarf galaxy that long ago collided with the Milky Way. It’s the most massive and most luminous globular cluster visible from anywhere on the planet. Most easily seen from April through September, Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) contains 10 million stars and possibly even a black hole at its center. If you never tire of glimpsing the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye under dark country skies from the Northern Hemisphere, you'll love seeing a 13 billion-year old globular cluster with zero equipment. This 20-arcminute field of view shows the Jewel Box star cluster. You might also see it north of the equator: If you're at latitude 29°N at most (think Texas or northern Florida), Alpha Centauri can sometimes be visible a few degrees above the southern horizon in May. All three stars appear as a single point to the naked eye, but a 3-inch telescope with 100× magnification can split Alpha Centauri A and B.Īlpha Centauri is circumpolar, so it’s visible year-round south of the equator, but it’s at its highest from March to September. It's more than one star - Alpha Centauri A, a Sun-like star, and its companion, the slightly less massive Alpha Centauri B, actually form a triple with Proxima Centauri (technically the nearest at just 4.22 light-years). The third brightest star in the night sky, Alpha Centauri is just 4.37 light-years away. One reason to visit the Southern Hemisphere is to see the star system closest to us. Here's a helpful tip: Take Sky & Telescope's 30°S planisphere with you in your travels to help you identify constellations. To southerners, it's a near-constant companion of Sirius, seen from October through May. Around 35° from Sirius is the second brightest star, Canopus, the Great Star of the South. Low on the northern horizon in the southern hemisphere summer, Orion's sword points up toward Rigel, while brilliant Sirius is overhead at zenith. The North Star, Polaris, isn’t visible and the circumpolar northern constellations, such as the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Draco, and Cepheus become seasonal.įinding the constellations and asterisms you thought you knew so well can be difficult: The Summer Triangle becomes the Winter Triangle down south, with Altair on top, and Deneb and Vega sinking as the night wears on. The first thing you'll notice after dusk south of the equator is that the northern constellations appear upside down. Here are a few reasons why you should visit southerly latitudes at least once in your life. You’ll see arguably some of the greatest celestial sights: the nearest stars to our solar system, two close dwarf galaxies, and some drop-dead gorgeous clusters. Yet the southern sky is disorientating, surprising, and utterly transfixing - well worth the trip if you can make it. Visiting the Southern Hemisphere just to go stargazing isn’t something most of us have the resources to do very often. If you regularly spend time with the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere but you've never travelled south of the equator, you only know half the story.
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