Gday everyone While i am trying to wait very patiently for my Astronomy Book 2011 to arrive (not from IIS) I am organising an Astronomy night at Jens house to show off our awsome sky to all my work buddies Which have now all been constantly having to listen to me brag about Snake Valley camp for weeks now and after showing off my first Orion pic i now have their full attention
So could someone kindly post here what the highllights of the month are so i can get this organised and pic a date
Oh by the way these people dont know anything about Dobs or SDM's or refractors yet so my scope is the bee's knees to them right now
Your favourite is going to be high in the sky, Orion!
Think of Snake Valley, all the things that were rising at midnight and beyond back then, will be high in the sky during the evening in January.
You just have to think of what the moon will be doing on the night you have your 'do'.
The weekend of the 8th-9th of January will be good, a quarter moon for people to look at, plus Jupiter fairly close to the moon.
Fire up Stellarium or CDC on your computer, change the date to whatever date you're thinking of, and check out what's up!
On January 2nd, Jupiter 34' south of Uranus, worth a look, both in same field of view.
January 18th, Mercury 4° 05' south of Pluto, don't bother!
No strong or even medium showers for the southern hemisphere in January.
Alpha Centaurids Jan 28th - Feb 21st, medium, ZHR = 6. Not much of a show really!
Here are a few screen grabs from Stellarium for the evening of January 8th at about 9:40pm, in Swan Hill.
They'll give you an idea of what will be in the sky.
Highlights? Are you looking for interesting targets?
1st to the 9th Jan is good Moonwise. After the 25th, the Moon rises about 11:30 pm.
Uranus is quite near to Jupiter.
Globular cluster 47 Tuc.
Open clusters Pleiades, Beehive (M44) in Cancer.
LMC and SMC. Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) in LMC.
Galaxies NGC 253 and NGC 55 in Sculptor.
Orion Nebula of course.
Eta Carinae nebula.
Planetary nebulae- Eskimo (NGC 2392) in Gemini, Ghost of Jupiter (NGC 3242) in Hydra.
Double stars Acamar (theta Eridani), beta Tucanae, gamma Arietis, 145 CMa and x Velorum for colour contrast.
Triple star beta Monocerotis.
Visual quadruple star sigma Orionis.
Carbon star R Leporis.
Pick a night if possible with a 4-odd day moon. Non-astronomers love to look at the Moon it just totally blows them away. Saturday 8th January is the pick. View the Moon in the west as twilight settles in, then Jupiter before it begins to get too low in deep twilight.
Rob mentioned many lovely objects, but omitted several really nice Open Clusters situated perfectly not long after darkness drops -- M46, M47 and NGC 2362 (Tau Canis Majoris cluster). The Pleiades and M44 are good but are better for big-binoculars than a telescope.
There's some good info here on the clusters I mentioned above:
that if you can memorise a bit of and spiel it off (how far, how many stars, how old) as they view will have you looking like an absolute astronomy genius.
Make sure you also show then 47 Tucanae, M42 and the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070). Theta Eridani (as already mentioned) is a superb, moderately wide pair easily split at low power.
Drink one and one only only burbon and coke before you use the 'scope (just so you're loosened up enough to do it all comfortably but not tanked) and when finished with the sky and the 'scope's away you can get well-oiled enough that by midnight, it will seem like a brilliant idea to both you and your guests to lie-down on the ground in the backyard (in the dark) (looking up hopefully) and enjoy the naked-eye Milky Way after moonset.
Have a great night. Hope the clouds do the right thing !
hey thanks guys that should keep me busy and make me look like an astro genius for sure (LOL Les) now only to remember all that maybe i should record it onto my IPOD and play it quietly in my ears
Once again i came to the best site on earth to get all the answers i needed thanks guys xxoxoxoxx
Drink one and one only only burbon and coke before you use the 'scope (just so you're loosened up enough to do it all comfortably but not tanked) and when finished with the sky and the 'scope's away you can get well-oiled enough that by midnight, it will seem like a brilliant idea to both you and your guests to lie-down on the ground in the backyard (in the dark) (looking up hopefully) and enjoy the naked-eye Milky Way after moonset.
Les D
Whahahahahahahaahhahhahahaaahha Jen and only one bourbon and coke
Pull the other one
On Jan 8-9 Mercury and Venus will be at their greatest western elongations within 24 hours of each other. Astonomically unimportant but visually interesting!!!
Observing the sky in January 2011
(not from IIS) 
Which have now all been constantly having to listen to me brag about Snake Valley camp for weeks now and after showing off my first Orion pic i now have their full attention 
