New Member - North Hemisphere Question

[murf58]

Hi All,

New here looks like a great website. I have a long interest in astronomy - have always loved reading about anything astronomical and doing some observing through binoculars. I finally plan on getting an 8inch dobsonian in the next month or so.

I am travelling to the US next week for work, and was hoping forum members would like to offer up a 'best of' viewing the northern skies! In other words, what should I make sure I see in the sky while in the US.

Thanks
Murf

[wavelandscott]

A lot depends on where you are going to be...

Most of the USA is pretty heavily light polluted so naked eye may not be so special...

Without a doubt you'll need to check out the big and little dipper asterisms.

Those are things that you normally would not see from Australia (unless you are at the top end) so I'd suggest concentrating on the Northern constellations.

The other thing that may be of interest is some of your old favorites "upside down" (or rightside up depending on your perspective.

Will you have access to a scope?

[wavelandscott]

A good planning tool for you can be found here

http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

That will give you a good list what you can see...just scroll down and pick from the Northern Hemisphere choices...

[murf58]

Thanks Scott for both replies - very helpful, particularly the Skymap link.

I will be in Omaha and then Denver for a bit. I will not have access to a scope, but I am planning to visit any observatories I can find as work allows.

[wavelandscott]

Enjoy Omaha, it is actually one of my favorite places...not only is it the home of Warren Buffet (Oracle of Omaha) but the town has a lot going for it. Stop in at Val's Pizza (Valentino's) http://www.valentinos.com/

The lunch buffet is always a treat!

The sky won't be too bad there if the weather cooperates. I'm not a big fan of Denver but that is just me, it is a nice place too but just a little to "crunchy" for me...I much prefer Omaha.

Safe Travels,

[astrospotter]

Agree on the constellations. Ursa Major (big dipper part ANd the whole thing all together) and if you are up late, Cassiopeia are real obvious and nice. Of course to just to say you 'saw it' check out Polaris, north star and Ursa Minor (little dipper).

Un-obtainable targets from the south that I would put high on the list:
M81 and M82 Some big galaxies that many people really like.

Ngc6543 - Cats Eye Nebula This is small but an amazing object.

If you are up real late and are not here for a month or so ...
Cassiopea is just as lovely as things get and has these things nearby
Ngc7789 - A fine low concentration blanket of even mag stars.
Ngc869/884 - The 'Double Cluster' is a very late target these days.


Too early for M31 and friends and you can see those down south but here I can track down globular clusters in M31 with an 18" dob. Mind you, it IMHO is nowhere near as exciting as LMC (you guys are SO lucky).

If you can bring along an O3 filter you would want to take a look these from here even though you can see um down south.

Cygnus (looking at just Cygnus itself you can do down under but the nebula may be washed out low in the sky so I suggest these nebula in or near CYG

Ngc7000 North American Nebula and if you are at a real dark site, the Pelican nebula just off of the 'gulf of mexico'.

Ngc6960/6992 - The Veil Nebula

Ngc6826 - Blinking Nebula

M57 - Ring Nebula (This is also available down south easily but here it is directly overhead). Kind of like me just loving Omega Cen when I visited down there last March.

Also in Lyra is 'The double double' AKA Epsilon Lyra but we tend to use it as a measure of how good the seeing is so unless you are into very unique doubles, this is optional.

M101 and M51 are available from south but here are very high. This is kind of like me wanting to check out M83 from Australia last March because it is a much better view from there.

You could get a better look at M13 here these days but of course you guys can see it down there AND have Omega Cen.

And just to keep things straight ... When I looked at Orion from Australia it was upside down from THERE Not from here gentlemen!

Your skies rock but have a good time if you head this way. If you are going anywhere near the middle of California, get back to me on where the dark sites are around here. If you go to the east coast, it is sadly not a good place to observe the dimmer objects.

Have fun,
Mark

[OneOfOne]

One thing to notice, which I admit I have never done myself, is to check out the appearance of a crescent Moon, particularly just after sunset. Over the next few days as the Moon becomes a crescent, take careful note of how it looks, the way it curves. Then when the Moon is in a similar phase in the north, take note again and you will see that it "goes the other way" so to speak.