How many Meisser objects visable from Australian skies?

[hotspur]

Hello Folks.

Just got home late,and the phone rang-the 'Weekend Australian' magazine,wanted a phone interview on a feature they are doing on my photography in their insert magazine due out 1/2 March,the reporter was a lot more on the ball ,than the usual 'trailer trash' magazines I do interviews for,and it came up about astronomy,so that will be feature too.I need to give him a figure on the amount of Meisser objects that can be seen from Aussie skies-So can anyone help? I'll email him a figure 2moz-I've had a couple of wines-my mind is frazzeled-thanks.:thumbsup:

[barx1963]

I know it is 100 in Victoria but that includes M76, M106, M51 and M38 that are all very low. In FNQ it is a different story. The northern most Messiers are M81 and 82 at about +69deg and Townsville is -19deg and Weipa is at -12deg so they would rise to 2deg above the horizon in Townsville and a whopping 9deg above at Weipa.
So all of them are visible theoretically in Oz!

Malcolm

[hotspur]

Thanks for your help,I thought it was nearly most of them.Cheers:thumbsup:

[astroron]

From South East Queensland,you can observe 102.
Cheers:thumbsup:

[mithrandir]

As you go south you lose them in this order. Match your latitude against DecMn to find the most northerly still visible.
M DecMx DecMn
82 90.0000 -20.3167
81 90.0000 -20.9333
52 90.0000 -28.4167
103 90.0000 -29.3000
40 90.0000 -31.9167
102 90.0000 -34.2333
108 90.0000 -34.3333
97 90.0000 -34.9833
101 90.0000 -35.6500
109 90.0000 -36.6167
109b 90.0000 -37.6667
76 90.0000 -38.4333
39 90.0000 -41.5667
106 90.0000 -42.7000
51b 90.0000 -42.7333
51 90.0000 -42.8000
92 90.0000 -46.8667
34 90.0000 -47.2167
63 90.0000 -47.9667
110 90.0000 -48.3167
31 90.0000 -48.7333
94 90.0000 -48.8833
32 90.0000 -49.1333
29 90.0000 -51.4667
13 90.0000 -53.5333
38 90.0000 -54.1667
36 90.0000 -55.8667
57 90.0000 -56.9667
37 90.0000 -57.4500
33 90.0000 -59.3500
56 90.0000 -59.8167
3 90.0000 -61.6167
35 90.0000 -65.6667
45 90.0000 -65.8833
27 90.0000 -67.2833
1 90.0000 -67.9833
64 90.0000 -68.3167
44 90.0000 -70.0167
71 90.0000 -71.2167
85 90.0000 -71.8167
53 90.0000 -71.8333
100 90.0000 -74.1833
74 90.0000 -74.2167
98 90.0000 -75.1000
91 90.0000 -75.5000
99 90.0000 -75.5833
88 90.0000 -75.5833
90 90.0000 -76.8333
65 90.0000 -76.9167
66 90.0000 -77.0167
86 90.0000 -77.0500
84 90.0000 -77.1167
105 90.0000 -77.4167
89 90.0000 -77.4500
87 90.0000 -77.6000
15 90.0000 -77.8333
96 90.0000 -78.1833
58 90.0000 -78.1833
67 90.0000 -78.2000
95 90.0000 -78.3000
59 90.0000 -78.3500
60 90.0000 -78.4500
49 90.0000 -82.0000
61 90.0000 -85.5333
5 90.0000 -87.9167
78 90.0000 -89.9500
77 89.9833 -90.0000
2 89.1833 -90.0000
12 88.0500 -90.0000
14 86.7500 -90.0000
10 85.9000 -90.0000
43 84.7333 -90.0000
42 84.5500 -90.0000
48 84.2000 -90.0000
11 83.7333 -90.0000
50 81.6667 -90.0000
26 80.6000 -90.0000
104 78.3833 -90.0000
72 77.4667 -90.0000
73 77.3667 -90.0000
107 76.9500 -90.0000
16 76.2167 -90.0000
47 75.5000 -90.0000
46 75.1833 -90.0000
17 73.8167 -90.0000
18 72.8667 -90.0000
24 71.5167 -90.0000
9 71.4833 -90.0000
23 70.9833 -90.0000
25 70.7500 -90.0000
41 69.2667 -90.0000
75 68.0833 -90.0000
21 67.5000 -90.0000
80 67.0167 -90.0000
20 66.9667 -90.0000
30 66.8167 -90.0000
93 66.1333 -90.0000
22 66.1000 -90.0000
8 65.6167 -90.0000
79 65.4500 -90.0000
28 65.1333 -90.0000
19 63.7333 -90.0000
4 63.4667 -90.0000
68 63.2500 -90.0000
83 60.1333 -90.0000
62 59.8833 -90.0000
54 59.5167 -90.0000
55 59.0333 -90.0000
6 57.7833 -90.0000
70 57.7000 -90.0000
69 57.6500 -90.0000
7 55.1833 -90.0000

[Amaranthus]

Great list Andrew - very helpful! It'd be nice to have one for the Caldwell Objects too... :)

[mithrandir]

Caldwell is actually simpler. They are (almost) in order by declination.
C# DecMx DecMn
1 90.0000 -4.6667
2 90.0000 -17.4667
3 90.0000 -20.5333
4 90.0000 -21.8000
5 90.0000 -21.9000
6 90.0000 -23.3667
7 90.0000 -24.4000
8 90.0000 -26.7000
9 90.0000 -27.3833
10 90.0000 -28.7500
11 90.0000 -28.8000
12 90.0000 -29.8500
13 90.0000 -31.6667
14 90.0000 -32.8667
15 90.0000 -39.4833
16 90.0000 -40.1167
17 90.0000 -41.5000
18 90.0000 -41.6667
19 90.0000 -42.7333
20 90.0000 -45.6667
21 90.0000 -45.9000
22 90.0000 -47.4500
23 90.0000 -47.6500
24 90.0000 -48.4833
25 90.0000 -51.1167
27 90.0000 -51.6500
26 90.0000 -52.1833
28 90.0000 -52.3167
29 90.0000 -52.9500
30 90.0000 -55.5833
31 90.0000 -55.7333
32 90.0000 -57.4667
33 90.0000 -58.2833
34 90.0000 -59.2833
35 90.0000 -62.0167
36 90.0000 -62.0333
37 90.0000 -63.5167
38 90.0000 -64.0167
39 90.0000 -69.0833
40 90.0000 -71.6500
42 90.0000 -73.8167
43 90.0000 -73.8500
41 90.0000 -74.0000
44 90.0000 -77.6833
45 90.0000 -81.1167
46 90.0000 -81.2667
47 90.0000 -82.6000
48 90.0000 -82.9667
49 90.0000 -84.9500
50 90.0000 -85.1333
51 90.0000 -87.8833
52 84.2000 -90.0000
53 82.2833 -90.0000
54 79.2167 -90.0000
55 78.6333 -90.0000
56 78.1167 -90.0000
57 75.2000 -90.0000
58 74.3833 -90.0000
59 71.3667 -90.0000
60 71.1333 -90.0000
61 71.1167 -90.0000
62 69.2333 -90.0000
63 69.2000 -90.0000
64 65.0500 -90.0000
65 64.7167 -90.0000
66 63.4667 -90.0000
67 59.7167 -90.0000
68 53.0500 -90.0000
69 52.9000 -90.0000
70 52.3167 -90.0000
71 51.4500 -90.0000
72 50.8167 -90.0000
73 49.9500 -90.0000
74 49.5667 -90.0000
75 49.3333 -90.0000
76 48.2000 -90.0000
77 46.9833 -90.0000
78 46.3000 -90.0000
79 43.5833 -90.0000
80 42.5167 -90.0000
81 41.5833 -90.0000
82 41.2333 -90.0000
83 40.5333 -90.0000
84 38.6333 -90.0000
85 36.9333 -90.0000
86 36.3333 -90.0000
87 34.7833 -90.0000
88 34.4000 -90.0000
89 32.1000 -90.0000
90 31.6833 -90.0000
91 31.3333 -90.0000
92 30.1333 -90.0000
93 30.0167 -90.0000
94 29.6667 -90.0000
95 29.5000 -90.0000
96 29.1333 -90.0000
97 28.3833 -90.0000
98 27.0333 -90.0000
99 27.0000 -90.0000
100 26.9667 -90.0000
101 26.1500 -90.0000
102 25.6000 -90.0000
103 20.9000 -90.0000
104 19.1500 -90.0000
105 19.1167 -90.0000
106 17.9167 -90.0000
107 17.8000 -90.0000
108 17.3333 -90.0000
109 9.1333 -90.0000

[Amaranthus]

Nice, so I'm good to go for all Caldwells >14!

I've been setting up an observing program to run through the Messier and Caldwell lists with my two sons who are getting an interesting at last.

Anyone know and easy way to get Sky Safari Pro to pull up a list of M of C object that are visible at a given time-date? I've been doing the list manually and it seems tedious - I figure there must be some way to automate it...

[noeyedeer]

mobile observatory has both lists .. and a simple way to determine if they're above or below at a certain time ...

matt

ps I'm not a sky safari advocate .. in fact I really don't like it because it's cluttered with useless junk.

just checked skysafari .. kinda lists the same way... I guess an actual program will print a list of currently viewable items

deep sky assistant on the android will produce a list of items from m c and ngc (rasc) for a time and location ..

[RobF]

Its 106 from SE Qld - I know 'cause I've taken photos of them all, as per here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/UserRobF/MessierObjectsAll106VisibleFrom27S#

Mind you, some were grazing a few degrees off the ground at times :P

[Camelopardalis]

C14 The a Double Cluster is probably the northern object I miss the most :sadeyes: was visible all year round and a beauty in any scope... (small sacrifice for all the southern objects I've gained though :lol: )

Btw, the Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_catalogue) for the Caldwell Catalogue has a nice chart too.

[noeyedeer]

I've read the double cluster is a beautiful object .. shame I won't see it :(

[Camelopardalis]

Should just be able to bag it a little north of Brisbane with a clear northern horizon...at the right time of year (summer). They're open clusters, so should show up OK at low altitude (not great, but better than nothing!)

No chance from down here :sadeyes:

[Amaranthus]

Well, I'll be moving from Lat -34 all the way down to Lat -43 later this year (south of Hobart), so I'll lose a chunk more of the northern sky.

The bonus is that all the great far-southern beauties will reach a higher transit. That, and the even better fact that my new 'backyard' will be Bortle 2 skies :D (vs the current Bortle 6 skies I suffer under in suburban Adelaide!). So... I can't wait!

[noeyedeer]

I've tried Dunk ... but only with software .. and it will be too low for me. even andromeda is a bad target for me @11° because of surfers' lights. mind you .. I havnt had the scope out for quite some time so I will keep me eye out if it's around when the cloud goes away

matt

ps this is my scenario for C14. it may improve if I hold my promise to my cat which will be put down tomorrow afternoon (by getting my hr fixed and stop drinking and get my license again)

[skysurfer]

Objects 9 degrees lower in the sky at Bortle 2 will show more detail than higher with Bortle 6 as long as the declination is south of -50 decl so the Double Cluster you'll miss anyway also in suburban ADL. But objects as California Neb NGC 1499 (decl -36) will show better in Tasmania @ Bortle 2.

But in Dec/Jan you will miss 30mins of dark sky due to longer daylight.

[Amaranthus]

In terms of what constellation is visible to a given observer, this map is REALLY useful - says it all in one 2D image:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Constellations_ecliptic_equire ctangular_plot.svg

From my current latitude, only UMi, Cep, Dra, Cam and Cas are essentially invisible all year around. I will lose a few more when I move to Tassie.

[Camelopardalis]

The difference with the northern circumpolar constellations (at least, those from the UK) is they they're not all that crowded.

Now that I think about it, I kinda miss Cassiopeia too...there are some nice objects hanging around that area of the sky. Still, a trip to Queensland/NT/Hawaii can fix that :lol: