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.



Article here -
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/28/opinion/sunday/stargazing-is-better-in-the-southern-hemisphere.html?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]

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 :D

[rrussell1962]

I forgot the double cluster! details mere details.

[astroron]

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:thumbsup:

[el_draco]

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? :P ) 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! :thumbsup:

Cheers -

[Camelopardalis]

Dunno which way you were looking :lol:

If you look at the Wikipedia list of brightest stars (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/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]

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..:rolleyes:

[PeterEde]

Never mind that everything is upside down up North too

[el_draco]

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

[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.

[Rob_K]

:shrug: 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! ;) :lol:

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]

It's pretty light polluted for sure, that's what happens when you cram over 60 million people into a tiny space :lol: 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 :D 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...



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 :lol:

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 :sadeyes:

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 :question:

[erick]

I've been north for 18 months now :sadeyes:

But I'll be back under the best skies eventually :thumbsup:

[N1]

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]

But everyone loves a pissing contest for the holidays !

[astroron]

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

[pmrid]

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

[BPO]

They don't look up because there's nothing to see. Living in Japan is like living inside a light bulb.

[Renato1]

For me, when I had access to a clear dark northern horizon and was a very active viewer with my 14.5" telescope, I was actually more fond of the constellations north of Leo and Virgo with their huge galaxy fields. I just liked the experience of galaxy hopping at the eyepiece.

If one is into galaxies, down south we only have Virgo, the small bright group in Fornax, and the other faint bigger group in Centaurus.

That said, when I was an avid observer, I used to have fun when that "big" globular cluster in Hercules was visible. I'd look at it, then swing to Omega Centauri and then to 47 Tucanae and compare the three. Then I'd remember all the amazing descriptions written about the Hercules Globular that I'd read in books and magazines - and start chuckling, as it really didn't compare to our two.
Cheers,
Renato

[Neil]

As an immigrate from England in 1960 aged 5 I don't remember the northern skies, but have found ours to be the greatest sight to behold, I'm sure there are sights in the northern hemisphere that we would like to see , but I wouldn't trade ours for anything, clear skies.:rofl:

[Camelopardalis]

Here's one I made earlier :lol: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=125218

There's also a bunch of galaxies in Dorado that I was shown last New Moon :D

[RB]

Is there a Northern hemisphere, is there? :confused2:

Meh, even some of their best can still be had from here.
M31 from my backyard in NSW. (http://iimagespace.com/page/ds/m31.htm)

:lol:

[cometcatcher]

I can see most of the sky from here in Mackay too. Well when it's not covered in cloud and blocked by streetlights. The problem is the first 30 degrees is useless in any direction.

[Neil]

:DAndrew, great image of m31 very impressive , clear skies.:D

[RB]

Cheers Neil.
I'm looking forward to re-imaging it one day, that one was done back in 2008.
I'll never forget the first time I saw M31 naked eye from the back steps of my house, I was waiting on delivery of my first big scope that week.
I rushed back in and grabbed the binos and I was hooked.

Truly a beautiful galaxy.

:)

[Renato1]

Thanks. Your pictures certainly demonstrate the difference between the size of the globulars.
Cheers,
Renato

[wavelandscott]

Easy to agree that the Southern Sky is better...the Northerm Sky has some neat things to see but I will take the Southern view every time...

[andyc]

Interesting article! As a Scot who lives here for a few years, but observed under some good skies for 20 years in highland Scotland (very dark, but cloudless <<50% of the time), the Southern sky wins on most, but perhaps not quite all, counts. Others have rightly complimented the South, so I'll stick up for a few of the North's sights :D

The things I miss from the North:
Galaxies and galaxy clusters - apart from the LMC and SMC, which are amazing and unique, I think the North still has the better of the brighter galaxies and galaxy clusters in the sky, including such treats as M101, M51, the Virgo Cluster, Andromeda & Triangulum, and lots of other bright galaxies and groups around in Leo, Canes Venatici, Ursa Major Coma and elsewhere. By contrast, many southern galaxies are isolated and fairly sparse, though there are obviously some good ones (NGC1566/Dorado, NGC253, M83, Fornax spring to mind). The southern Galactic Pole also lacks distinctive constellations in comparison to the north.

Planetaries and SNR: I'd be surprised if there were more planetary nebulae in the north, but perhaps the best two visually are the Ring and Dumbell (the Helix is quite dim in a scope, though excellent photographically) are northern treats, along with clearly the brightest supernova remnants, the Veil and the Crab.

Being from Scotland, I miss the accessibility of the mesmerising aurora, and also the summer noctilucent clouds, neither of which are very visible here. Though the lack of full darkness in summer would bring tears to the eyes of many a deep-sky observer!

But just to twist everyone's tails - the constellations are the wrong-way up here, and the Sun, moon and stars *definitely* move the wrong way across the sky ;). Orion on his head?? Leo on his back?? Even Scorpius is upside-down :eyepop::eyepop:. Many northern constellations are more distinctive patterns IMHO, making basic sky navigation easier. And we have a Pole Star :).

The North has a terrible deal with the way the Milky Way is tipped - the galactic centre well to the south and a big fat dust cloud through what would be otherwise bright bits just north of the centre. The Great Rift through Serpens Cauda, Aquila and Cygnus probably hides a lot in comparison to the treats of Carina, Crux through to Norma, a similar distance the other side of the Galactic Centre.

Oh to come back in 13,000 years when precession has made Sagittarius and Scorpius northern constellations, in place of Taurus and Gemini, then the discussion would be a little different!! Though the LMC & SMC will remain in the south, and the Virgo Cluster in the North, being near the Ecliptic Poles.

But the weather is, by a huge margin, better for astronomy in Australia. Dry, clear skies for a huge proportion of the time are precious for astronomy, quite apart from all the great stuff you get in southern skies. For astronomy, I'd live in the South. But I still look wistfully north for just a few things :thumbsup:

[astroron]

Just one quibble;) the Helix is definitely a Southern hemisphere object,at
22:29.6-20.48,it goes nearly directly over my head. :D
Some good points otherwise
Don't agree with your Virgo cluster as a big % are on the equator so are equally observable by both hemisphere's
I just realized your giving a Sydney cent-rick point of view,
that explains all ;)
Come North young man :D
Cheers:thumbsup:

[andyc]

Ah yes I know, but I made that clear as mud :P great writing! The Helix is perhaps the most famous southern planetary, but visually it's not too in-your-face impressive. I don't think I ever saw it from Scotland either!

But we northerners will still claim Virgo, with M87 at +12deg :D though many of the Virgo galaxies are decent from the south, the Coma/Canes Venatici ones are pretty ordinary from southern Australia.

It was nice to see the Plough from near Cairns earlier this year, tropical people get the best of both worlds!

[Camelopardalis]

You wouldn't believe the number of people (non-astronomers!) that I've spoken to that, while understanding that the Sun rises in the east(ish) and sets in the west(ish), don't grasp that the Sun, Moon and planets move the *other way* across the sky :lol: probably because of the altitude issue of the Sun here (and not anything lacking in my explanation ;) )

The Ring is a corker...almost poked my eye out the first time I saw it. Unmistakable even in a modest scope.