Quote:
Originally Posted by Suzy
From where I am here in the light polluted southside of Brisbane, my limiting visual magnitude sits around +4.5.
On a good night, I can spot the 47Tuc (NGC104) globular cluster and that sits at +4.91 mag. Then again, my views to the south where that object sits are not hindered from looking straight into the city light pollution, which from where I am faces north & objects tend to be a bit washed there.
The Sculptor constellation is only just visible for me, and then only a couple of stars of it are visible. To get to the Sculptor Galaxy I often have to use Deneb Kaitos as my lunch pad.  I
I can spot the Omega Centauri globular cluster no problem at all usually, and when it's within my horizon, I use that to gauge the clarity of the sky for my nights viewing (i.e. how easy/hard it is to see). It sits at mag.3.7 which is a nice all rounder for me.
The best time to view if you live in the city is actually from around midnight on- sky is so much darker then- everyone's gone to bed.   But if you happen to be observing until the wee hours of the morning do not be pointing that scope where the sun is due to rise, that could be tragic. 
I've come to understand that when a mag. is stated as being say 4.7 it means +4.7. They only seem to put the minus (-4.7) in when it's actually a minus mag star.
Allan, that was really nicely explained.
Seems I suffer the same fete as New York. 
I always did say anything I observe in great detail I should be given a blinkin' medal for!
Still... it's craaaaazy how many galaxies and faint fuzzies are available from my backyard!  |
I'd say I'm around the same. Just south of Redcliffe so light pollution isn't as bad as the city but it's not good!