Ahhhhh..... Now!!! I get it

[Dingo]

The Jewel of the Southern Cross. Is that where the saying comes from ?? The Jewel Box near the Southern Cross. I love looking at the Jewel box. The colours are beautiful.

Dingo

[Kevnool]

Not sure about the saying but yes it certainly is a stunning object and a jewel of the southern sky.
Cheers Kev.

[Dingo]

It's the first thing I look at. It's also one I like to google images on :-)

[wavelandscott]

It is one of my favorites too...when I can see the Southern Cross...

Maybe I should think of it as "was" one of my favorites...

[ngcles]

Hi Dingo & All,

NGC 4755 was discovered by Lacaille but as you can see from this Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4755

It received its moniker from John Herschel who remarked: "a casket of variously coloured precious stones". Back when I was growing up in astronomy, it was more commonly known as Herschel's Jewel Box.

You can read, read and read to you heart's content about the history and ... everything else about glorious open cluster on one of Andrew James pages here:

http://www.geocities.com/ariane1au/Page001.htm

Wonderful resource!


Best,

Les D

[astroron]

Sir John Herschel observed NGC 4745 from the cape in South Africa Between 1834 and 1838 and likened them to a casket of precious stones, now interpreted as the Jewel Box:thumbsup:

[Kevnool]

How close does it get to your horizon now since you made the big move.
cheers Kev.

[wavelandscott]

Not close...

I'm guessing but I think about the only places that you could see it would be Hawaii, parts of Texas, part of Lousiana and parts of Florida...maybe Southern California.

I thought is was only visible here in the Northern Hemisphere below 30 degrees Latitude (N)...I live much farther North than that (I'm north of New York) at about 41 degree N latitude

[Dingo]

Thank you very much for those links Les :-)

[Dingo]

I take you have recently moved to the States. Is there a difference in what stars, constellantions , galaxies you can see in the N Mehisphere??

Thanks for reading
Dingo

[Kevnool]

I see the jewel box is around 12`under your horizon and whilst i was looking i see that centaurus a only gets 2` above your horizon.

Starry night gives me that info ....is it true?......cheers Kev.

[wavelandscott]

Yes...and I've got a lot of really tall trees all around my backyard...But "straight up" is pretty good!

I am in the process of identifying a local club and hopefully by the time summer gets here I'll have a good spot to view from.

Cheers,

[wavelandscott]

Yes, I recently moved (January)...while many of the constellations are the same, they are oriented differently (upside down to you)...or right side up to the way I learned the constellations (I grew up in the USA)...

Depending on where you are in Australia, there are some constellations that I can now see that you can not (and vice versa)...For example, I can now see Ursa Major and Ursa Minor which contains the big and little dipper asterisms...but I can no longer enjoy the Southern Cross...

It is a trade-off. I enjoy any dark sky I can get, but I do miss the "southern" view.

[Dingo]

Thanks for passing on that info. Muchly appreciated

[Jen]

Awwwwwwww are you ever coming back? :)

[wavelandscott]

:shrug:I don't know...one can always hope that we will at least to visit!

[Jen]

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[JD2439975]

Scott, you may have lost some old skyward friends but certainly gained others.
At 41deg N that big beautiful Andromeda galaxy must pass right overhead...nice.

At 12.5deg S I can see further into the northern sky than most aussies can, but M31 is still only about 36deg off the horizon...looking forward to seeing it in the coming months.

So next time you're bathing in the delightful rays of M31, think of your poor southern brothers & sisters. :sadeyes: :lol: