Messier Objects

[skytry]

hi All,
as I travel through out Au, and camp in some places
that is excellent for viewing,

my question is, how many Messier Objects that can be seen from
Au,

areas include, Heathmere - Portland Vic being home,
along the great Au bight,
also along West Coast & East Coast through too Darwin in the North,

my viewing scopes are, Tak 102mm on Vixen motor drive,
also Celestron CS 5, various Tele-Vue eyepieces and extra's,

look forward too reply information,

regards,
Peter.

[Rex]

Hi Peter, mate there is a website that allows you to search for objects that are visible from any location by entering your long & lat and setting some search criteria. It even tells you the best time of year to observe each. I have set the location to Portland as an example and done a search for Messier objects. the link below will take you to the results of that search. Once you get there you can change your location or your search criteria by clicking on the button at the top that says "click here to adjust filters". If you click on the details link to the right of each object it will show you a photo, some are good quality some are not, and tell you all sorts of information about that object including when the best time to observe from the currently set location. Hope this helps. I use this website a lot and find it very good. Have fun.

http://dso-browser.com/?type%5B%5D=ASTER&type%5B%5D=BRTNB&type%5B%5D=CL%2BNB&type%5B%5D=DRKNB&type%5B%5D=GX%2BDN&type%5B%5D=GALXY&type%5B%5D=GALCL&type%5B%5D=GLOCL&type%5B%5D=NONEX&type%5B%5D=OPNCL&type%5B%5D=PLNNB&type%5B%5D=QUASR&type%5B%5D=SNREM&lat_deg=38&lat_min=21&lat_sec=1&lat_hem=S&lon_deg=141&lon_min=36&lon_sec=3&lon_hem=E&timezone=10&remember=0&remember=1&month=&day=&year=&min_hour=&max_hour=&min_alt=0&min_alt_dur=&inc_cir=include&min_mag=&max_mag=&inc_unk_mag=include&min_size=600&max_size=84000&inc_unk_size=include&min_subr=&max_subr=&inc_unk_sb=include&cat_id=M&cat_num=&ra_min=0&ra_max=24&dec_min=-90&dec_max=60&results_per_page=50&sort=dec

[mithrandir]

You might also look at Tonight Sky (http://njstargazer.org/prog/prog.asp). Plug in the location, DST offset and any restriction you want on minimum transit altitude and it will tell you what is up. The time range defaults to astronomical twilight for today. I've attached the report it generated for my location for 2013-11-02

[skytry]

Rex & Andrew,

thank you for detailed reply,
as the Sky in Au is so inviting, even in central Au sooooo nice,
now the sky is the limit,
I opened Tonight Sky program, took a bit of fiddling to get it going nicely,
then I used OZI Mapping location Co-Ords, then time zoned for Au central time,
BINGO, and what a program, so much too learn, so much to read about what you want too look at,
I am impressed, GREAT PROGRAM,

still waiting for Rex's program to open, a bit slow in my country location,
it will happen though, then a report
regards,
Peter.

[The Mekon]

[QUOTE=skytry;1029795]hi All,
as I travel through out Au, and camp in some places
that is excellent for viewing,

my question is, how many Messier Objects that can be seen from
Au,


The answer this question is "all of them!" - though I wonder if anyone has ever tried?

Darwin is latitude 12 degrees south so any object south of Dec 78N should be theoretically visible. All the messier objects are south of 70N.
Of course due to atmospheric obscuration, an object needs to be around 5 degrees above the horizon to be seen. With a 5" refractor I have seen M51 and its companion from my latitude of 34S, M51 is Dec 47N, meaning M51 never rises more than 9 degrees above the horizon.

Does any Darwin observer have an obs report for the most northerly M objects 81 & 82? they are pretty bright and very easy binocular objects from the equator.

[skytry]

hi John B,
thank you, for the info,
and I look forward to the challenge when travelling,
regards,
Peter.

[dannat]

The ASV run a messier 100, the last one or two need mildura latitude a so about 98

[mithrandir]

A bit of spherical geometry says all Messiers are visible to 20.3 deg S.

Someone might like to recheck the math but:
M82 goes at a line through Port Headland WA and Hamilton Island Qld
M81 - line Mount Potter WA and Homestead Bay Qld
M52 - line Kaburie WA and Braeside Qld
M103 - line Mount Misery WA and Banyabba Railway Station NSW

Since the gaps after that aren't big:
M40, M102, M108 and M97 - line Flinders Park WA and Warrain Beach NSW
M101, M109 and M76 - don't survive Victoria
M39, M106, M51, M92, M34, M63, M110, M31, M94, M32, M29, M13 and M38 - disappear in that order over Tasmania