Quote:
Originally Posted by Jowel
G'day again. Just wondering if I was facing north, looking from a Sydney location, what would be the limit of view? I've had a look in the Astronomy 2010 star maps and they seem to show that Sydney people can see no further than +55 degrees. Does this ever change with the seasons or is it pretty much the same all year round?
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Hi Jowel,
No it doesn't change with the seasons. The maximum declination in the sky you can see (in both directions, north and south), is determined by your latitude on the Earth.
For example... if you stand on the Equator at night, and look south you will be able to see to -90 degrees south declination (South Celestial Pole) in the sky. And if you look north, you will be able to see to +90 degrees north declination (North Celestial Pole) in the sky.
If you start travelling south, to say, Sydney, you will see less of the north sky.
An very, very simple equation to work out your northern declination limit is to subtract your current terrestrial latitude from 90: thus: 90 - 35 (Sydney's latitude) = 55. +55 is you most northern declination limit.
I hope this makes sense.
Also, try playing around with your home latitude on Stellarium and see what the effects are (
http://stellarium.org/).
Regards,
Stephen