Stargazing Is Better in the Southern Hemisphere - New York Times

[gary]

A 27th December article by Vanessa Barbara in the New York Times
extols the virtues of observing from the southern hemisphere, something
which many of us who live in this half of the globe already appreciate.

Originally Posted by Vanessa Barbara, New York Times

There’s a quote attributed to Mr. Bok, who left Harvard in the ’50s for Australia but often lectured to members of the Royal Astronomical Society in London, that sums it up nicely: “Gentlemen, you live under the wrong half of the sky!”

Article here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/op...?emc=eta1&_r=0

Special thanks to DougM in Virginia for providing me with the heads-up
on this article.

[PeterM]

And so say all of us!

[rrussell1962]

Having clocked up around 20 years observing in the UK and now coming up to 20 years here I could not agree more! What I miss - M81, M82, NGC 457, Polaris. What I have gained - the list is too long!

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Great quote, and while I've only been here a short time I couldn't agree more!

Coming from the UK there's little sacrificed...Double Cluster, a few galaxies in the far north and some nice stuff in/around Cassiopeia...oh and light pollution but what I've seen from here has totally blown the doors off the barn

[rrussell1962]

I forgot the double cluster! details mere details.

[astroron (Ron)]

There is really no contest, even though there are a few northern objects I am
looking forward to seeing one day, I wouldn't sacrifice my Southern sky to see them.
Thanks Gary for the post.
Cheers

[el_draco (Rom)]

Lived under both skies and, apart from M31, hands down we win the contest in every respect.

[Rob_K]

I went to UK/Ireland in September, first time ever in the NHem. First there was a waxing Moon in the sky (which moved backwards - what's that all about? ) but even then there was something strange about the lack of bright stars in the sky. As the Moon moved back, the hazy skies of Ireland still did nothing to provide anything remotely impressive. But I scored a few crystal clear nights in the Highlands of Scotland, well away from the lights of major towns or cities. And it was a wonderful display of night sky - sure, the shortage of bright stars was noticeable but the blank spots of the Irish skies were filled with a subtle and beautiful display of stars. And the Milky Way arched overhead, but not quite as we know it! Some of the 'famous' far-northern constellations that I'd never seen before were little more than a sparse spray of faint stars, which was a bit disappointing!

In the article, Prof Fletcher is quoted as saying:
“In astronomy circles it is often remarked — mostly by envious northerners — that God, in creating the universe, perversely located all the most interesting regions of our galaxy in the Southern Hemisphere, but all the astronomers in the north.”

But he/they've got it completely wrong. Man evolved under southern skies in Africa and they're man's birthright! The fact that a few bods trickled up north and bred like rabbits certainly can't be put at the feet of poor old God. He's got enough to be blamed for without that LOL!

If I had to describe the southern night sky in one word it would be - extravagant!

Cheers -

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Originally Posted by Rob_K

And it was a wonderful display of night sky - sure, the shortage of bright stars...

Dunno which way you were looking

If you look at the Wikipedia list of brightest stars only Canopus, Achernar and Alpha Centauri are not visible from the UK.

Then there's the Summer Triangle, and usual suspects from around the celestial equator, they're just lower than you're used to . Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are pretty distinctive IMO, the former with most stars around magnitude 2 make it visible pretty much from anywhere outside of city lights (that being the challenging bit!)

My best views of M31 to date have been from Queensland...the drier air more than compensated for the altitude and light pollution I was used to in the UK...

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

My best views of M31 to date have been from Queensland...the drier air more than compensated for the altitude and light pollution I was used to in the UK...

I spent 4 months in the Nevada high desert outside a little town called Caliente. Day time you could cook an egg on a rock... did it myself but the night time was pretty damn dark. M31 was very impressive visually, and amazing through bino's. It was the one thing that struck me dumb... Some would stay it stuck..

[PeterEde (Peter)]

Never mind that everything is upside down up North too

[el_draco (Rom)]

Originally Posted by PeterEde

Never mind that everything is upside down up North too

Try looking at the Zodiac from the North... makes more sense Orion tackling Taurus on his feet instead of his head..

[Wavytone]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Dunno which way you were looking

If you look at the Wikipedia list of brightest stars only Canopus, Achernar and Alpha Centauri are not visible from the UK.

Not much else is either, as for most of the UK the night sky is so light polluted the naked eye limit is about 3. My sky here in Killara is better than any of the nights I had in the countryside in the midlands (Appleby Magna) in 4 months. North of the Cairngorms the night sky was decent but not what I would rave about - on the one night in 10 that isn't overcast.

[Rob_K]

Originally Posted by Camelopardalis

Dunno which way you were looking

If you look at the Wikipedia list of brightest stars only Canopus, Achernar and Alpha Centauri are not visible from the UK.

Then there's the Summer Triangle, and usual suspects from around the celestial equator, they're just lower than you're used to . Ursa Major and Cassiopeia are pretty distinctive IMO, the former with most stars around magnitude 2 make it visible pretty much from anywhere outside of city lights (that being the challenging bit!)

It's not necessarily what's there Dunk, it's where it is. They see Scorpius & Sagittarius too! But they don't see the Scorpion & Milky Way Central passing over the zenith, Sirius & Canopus high in the sky, the False Cross through Crux to the Pointers high in the south, the brilliant diamonds Centaurus into Lupus, etc etc. I was once on a ship just 10-deg south of the equator and one night all the lights were turned off for an astronomy night. The presenter, Dennis Mammana, pointed out the northern sky and then the southern sky. It was chalk-and-cheese, a point as a northerner that he was all-too-happy to concede. Hmmm, unless I imagined it or was looking in the wrong place!

That said, Cassiopeia was exceptionally beautiful I thought! Ursa Major on the other hand is pretty ho-hum despite the reasonably bright stars, IMO.

Cheers -

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

Not much else is either, as for most of the UK the night sky is so light polluted the naked eye limit is about 3. My sky here in Killara is better than any of the nights I had in the countryside in the midlands (Appleby Magna) in 4 months. North of the Cairngorms the night sky was decent but not what I would rave about - on the one night in 10 that isn't overcast.

It's pretty light polluted for sure, that's what happens when you cram over 60 million people into a tiny space but you must have had a run of bad luck...and it can run for months there. I used to live about 20km west of Heathrow airport and the naked eye limit was about 4. Unless you looked at the eastern horizon where the glow of London was your enemy, it wasn't that bad. I observed M51 and its companion from my own icy decking But it's not much better here...it's just that a darker (and more impressive) sky is more accessible.

The Midlands is particularly bad...as are the areas either side of the Peak District...it's just urban sprawl as far as the eye can see. Where my folks live in the south west the Milky Way - as faint as the leafy suburbs of the galaxy are from up there - was readily visible on a clear night. Mizar a naked eye split with little dark adaptation. It's not all as bad as you've seen, but you need to travel to the south west, East Anglia, Wales or other extremities. The weather on the other hand...

Originally Posted by Rob_K

It's not necessarily what's there Dunk, it's where it is. They see Scorpius & Sagittarius too! But they don't see the Scorpion & Milky Way Central passing over the zenith, Sirius & Canopus high in the sky, the False Cross through Crux to the Pointers high in the south, the brilliant diamonds Centaurus into Lupus, etc etc. I was once on a ship just 10-deg south of the equator and one night all the lights were turned off for an astronomy night. The presenter, Dennis Mammana, pointed out the northern sky and then the southern sky. It was chalk-and-cheese, a point as a northerner that he was all-too-happy to concede. Hmmm, unless I imagined it or was looking in the wrong place!

That said, Cassiopeia was exceptionally beautiful I thought! Ursa Major on the other hand is pretty ho-hum despite the reasonably bright stars, IMO.

I'm not disputing the grandeur of the night sky from here - quite the contrary - it's like they got the starter, and here we have the main course and dessert

Like you say, Sagittarius and Scorpius were lost causes there unless you were on the southern coast on the one or two clear nights of summer... I'd never looked at much that low because of the atmospheric soup - I remember trying for the lagoon once and M22...but it was a stretch there

But there are plenty of bright stars, and the constellations look vaguely like they're supposed to (as much as they ever do!), and the areas around Cygnus, Cassiopeia and Orion are easy wins. Then there's Leo and Virgo and their galaxy swarms, nice and high.

Far north is a bit sparse though...like I said, it's a small sacrifice for all the wonders of the sky from the southern hemisphere...I'm surprised more astronomers don't move here

[erick (Eric)]

I've been north for 18 months now

But I'll be back under the best skies eventually

[N1 (Mirko)]

Doesn't that depend on on where you actually observe from and what your priorities are?

I note a lot of Northern views mentioned here were from the UK or Ireland. I expect that even if the sky itself was exactly the same, it would still be no contest when compared to OZ or NZ. Western Europe is one of the worst places on Earth to be stargazing from. Light polluted, weather-challenged and with less-than ideal transparency a lot of the time. Go to a site in the Northern Hemisphere that's actually suitable and the gap narrows considerably. Go above 60 deg magnetic latitude and you will be compensated for the lacking eye candy DSOs of the South by Auroral displays Southerners can only phantasise about. The NHem also has more landmass than the Southern half, meaning better access to localised events like total solar eclipses.

Fortunately, it's one planet with one Sky, and the more factors one takes into account, the less meaningful contests and comparisons such as this become.

[Wavytone]

Originally Posted by N1

...it's one planet with one Sky, and the more factors one takes into account, the less meaningful contests and comparisons such as this become.

But everyone loves a pissing contest for the holidays !

[astroron (Ron)]

Originally Posted by Wavytone

But everyone loves a pissing contest for the holidays !

Sounds like you got SOL for Christmas.
And a happy New Year to you too.
Cheers

[pmrid (Peter)]

I spent some time with a Japanses Yoga master a few weeks back. My daughter had organised a series of seminars and similar functions for him and I have been exchanging astro-images and thoughts with him myself for a good while.

Over a goodly number of frothy ales (yes that did surprise me), he opened up about this subject. His pet peeve was that children in the more populous cities of the northern hemisphere do not see any stars at all.
"Peter San, they do not know what a star is. They look at their screens and don't even look up any more."

Now that's sad.

Peter