Northern Tas Skies Friday 23 Jan.

[Sconesbie (Scott)]

Tool of trade: Skywatcher 10" Dob.

Location: Legana, Tasmania. North of Launceston. Backyard.

Light pollution: Street lights on other side of house.

Skies: Crystal clear.

Temp: Warmish until 12:00 and then cold.

Viewing: Exciting. Last night my aim was to focus on just a few objects, try to study them and learn their traits and locations a bit better. I saw things I've not seen before and could have spent more time but it just got too cold. Here is a brief outline of my night:

- Tarantula Nebula. Never found this before. When I saw it I had to draw a rough picture of where it was so I could find it again later and identify what it was. Firstly it looked like an octopus with its curled arms. It was right near the LMC. Quite large and spectacular.

- LMC. Something I found here was three roundish cloudy objects close to each other in a pattern similar to Orions Belt. I tried to get closer with a 10mm but just couldn't focus any more. Small galaxies maybe?

- LMC. Near this again was another three (maybe four) cloudy objects in a triangle pattern. One at around 2 o'clock, one at around 7 and the other at around 11. If that makes sense (trying to describe how the formation looked).

- SMC. Haven't found this before. Very bright through telescope and a very tight cluster in the middle which expands and "loosens" on the outer edges. Tried to get closer again but 10mm was the lowest I could get any decent focus.

- M42. Easy to find now especially with dark skies. Quite bright. Lots of smaller stars stuck within it. Didn't stay on it too long.

- Crux and Jewel Box. Thought I had located but in reality, after checking this morning, I don't think it was. When I was viewing, I drew a picture and mapped it out as best I could. When I checked my drawing compared to the Skymap for January it shows a similar pattern to where there is a cluster called 2808 (and heaps of others). I lucked out. The Skymap shows the Crux and Jewelbox lower to the horizon and my trees are in the way. I may need to wait a while and see if they get higher as the months progress. In saying that, I'm happy with what I found. Maybe my mapping will help me find it again later so I can find the other clusters that are around here.

- Jupiter. Bands visible and four moons to its left. Two very close to each other on the far left, one in the middle and one very close to the planet itself. Went as low as 10mm eyepiece to try and get more detail.

Mapping and drawing is a great way to find things again later. Tonight isn't looking so good but I can't wait for the next one.

[omegacrux (David)]

Find the SMC and try to find Tucana47 its worth it
I found it naked eye last night , looks like a fuzzy star without the scope but with 20-30 mm ep the sox will be blown off !
the jewel box has a triangular asterism in it quite noticeable

David

[Suzy]

Hi Scott, it's great fun touring thru the LMC isn't it! So much to see in there and isn't it crazy how we can tour another galaxy!
What you're seeing is nebulae and star clusters. The clusters are faint and fuzzy because they're soooo far away. All the stars we see in the sky belong to our Milky Way galaxy, so quite a crazy experience seeing other galaxies stars.

You can make a good night of it doing tours. Here's a map which IceInSpace member Paddy put together a web page dedicated to observing the LMC and SMC.
http://cloudsofmagellan.net.au/


When you go to look at the Jewel box again, take a look at a very strange looking star called Ruby Crucis- it's like a drop of blood, it's so red. These are called carbon stars, I've seen a few and this is the reddest I've ever see one. Aim your scope at beta Crucis - this is the star that the Jewel Box sits right under. Use your 10mm eyepiece. You will see box Ruby Crucis and beta within the same field of view of your 10mm eyepiece. It sits closely on the left of beta.

Nice observing report, sounds like you had a great night.
When I first got my scope I spend many months just observing Crux and the surrounds and just staying there, taking it all in. It's an excellent beginners playground because you don't need maps or anything because there is so much stuff to bump into there. But eventually you will want the maps .

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Scott
Well done on getting some objects.
With the three LMC objects that looked a bit like Orions Belt. There are a number of areas where you will see arrangements like this in the LMC, simply there are so many objects there that there is bound to be line ups. 2 that ocur to me are the group of NGC 1850, 1850 and 1855/58. the first 2 are globulars and the other is a close pairing of Open Clusters with nebulosity.

If exploring the LMC it pays to have a really good chart so you can navigate your way around and know what it is you are looking at.

Your SMC description sounds like you have located one of the 2 very bright globulars near the SMC, NGC 104 (47 Tucanae) or NGC 362. These are not part of the SMC being Globs associated with the Milky Way.

Cheers

Malcolm

[Sconesbie (Scott)]

Thank you Malcolm. I thought 47 Tuc was a star for some reason. There you go. I reckon you've hit the spot there (no pun intended). As I thought what I was looking at was the SMC, I went looking for 47 Tuc and couldn't find it. I seemed to have been there all along. No wonder it was "elusive".

I'm heading back out tonight so hoping for another good viewing.

[barx1963 (Malcolm)]

Scott
There are a number of non stellar objects that have received names similar to stars (47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri are the best known ones) which can cause some confusion.
The SMC is quite large, roughly 5.5x3.5 degrees I think so to see the whole thing need a very wide FOV, binos are a good idea for that.

Malcolm