Sagittarius - Your Amazing!!!

Suzy · #1 06-06-2010, 06:08 PM

Hi all,

I'm loving my first winter observing (obs, not cold) and after exploring the beautiful wonders of Scorpio, for the first time last night I just started to discover how magnificent Sagittarius is.

How awesome is this constellation! I have fallen in love with the M22 Glob. Despite the clouds, through my 6 inch light tea cup, I could make out this glob beautifully, resolving it to pretty good detail, even to the point of seeing many tiny yellow stars scattered on the outer, with a tight core in the middle. When thin wisps of cloud covered this glob, it took out the central part of the glob, leaving the outer ones very apparent - it was a nice sight - the clouds in this instance helped! I like this one so much more than Omega Centauri- for me it seems to have more character. My eyes are getting better at making out detail. I can't wait for a good clear night to have a look at M22 again!

Anyway, while I was doing research on Sagittarius on line, I came across this web page that threw me for a 6! I know the Milky Way galaxy has evolved from gobbling up other galaxies; what this article is saying is that we were originally part of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy that is being currently gobbled up by the Milky Way. The article also further goes on to say that because of this there are higher energy levels noted, causing higher temperature levels through out our solar system. What a surprise - I did not know this! According to my "Astronomica" book, it is also now proven that Globular Cluster M54 is confirmed to be a rogue from the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy.

Gosh, this was a lot to take in.

Here is the link, if you have some spare time to read ...
http:////viewzone2.com/milkywayx.html

Suzy.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #2 06-06-2010, 06:34 PM

It's the best time of year Suzie.

adman (Adam) · #3 06-06-2010, 06:37 PM

Well - looks like you might get your wish again tonight.

I have been out for the last 2 nights.....just comtemplating whether to set up again tonight...

Happy observing!
Adam

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #4 06-06-2010, 06:46 PM

LOL I'm set up, but not sure if I'll take the dust covers off tonight. It's been 3 nights in a row for me.

adman (Adam) · #5 06-06-2010, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

LOL I'm set up, but not sure if I'll take the dust covers off tonight. It's been 3 nights in a row for me.

Are you starting to get astro 'burn-out' ....

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #6 06-06-2010, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adman

Are you starting to get astro 'burn-out' ....

Something like that.

I was spoiled with 2 nights of trouble free imaging.

Then last night I couldn't get my mount working properly. I couldn't get more than 2min of guiding.

Just not in the mood to deal with contrary equipment tonight.

leon · #7 06-06-2010, 09:49 PM

Enjoy girls, it is as JJJ says the best time of the year, cold crispy and frosty.

leon

North_Of_40 (John) · #8 07-06-2010, 06:05 AM

Hello everyone. I'm new to the forum. I'm in North America/Washington State. From you location in Australia, your viewing of Sagittarius exceeds what I can see of it. And, I'm looking for a celestial body near the great archer's arrow tip.

This is the information I have so far. Start from arrow tip at RA18 and search all the way down. Adjust for parallax. Search infrared or use camera with infrared filter removed and attach to telescope.

If what I am asking is off target here, can you direct me to right section of Forum?

Respectfully,

North_Of_40

Liz · #9 07-06-2010, 07:48 AM

Great to hear Suzy!!!
So many goodies out there to observe now, and good luck with your love affair with M22.

I will check it out again too!!

Suzy · #10 07-06-2010, 09:44 AM

Thanks Liz,
Say.. you do Messier Marathons, right? - As I'm only just beginning to explore this beautiful constellation, do any "spectacular" objects of interest come to mind to look at?
I'm having to source three different sources to get a list of targets together, I'm sure I'm going to be missing stuff. Can't wait for my new books to help me more.

erick (Eric) · #11 07-06-2010, 10:10 AM

Did someone say "Messier Marathon"?

http://seds.org/messier/xtra/marathon/marathon.html

Of course, the ultimate challenge is to do all 110 objects, with a set of 7x50 binos, in numerical order over four nights in March, and from memory - no charts.

I bet someone has done it!

Liz · #12 07-06-2010, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suzy

Thanks Liz,
Say.. you do Messier Marathons, right? - As I'm only just beginning to explore this beautiful constellation, do any "spectacular" objects of interest come to mind to look at?
I'm having to source three different sources to get a list of targets together, I'm sure I'm going to be missing stuff. Can't wait for my new books to help me more.

Yes, we do Suzy, but only a couple nights of the year. It adds some fun, and gives people targets to hunt down.
I will put up the list shortly, of what we will do on Saturday night.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #13 07-06-2010, 10:54 AM

Here's a link to "TUMOL" or "The Ultimate Messier Object Log".
Another Must Have piece of free software.

Each object has a star map to find it, a photo to identify it, it tells you how hard/easy it is to see through binoculars of different sizes. All this and much much more. I've printed mine out and put them in page protectors so I can have it with me next to the scope. But you can use it just as easy from the puter. http://www.davidpaulgreen.com/tumol.html

Paddy (Patrick) · #14 07-06-2010, 11:13 AM

'Tis indeed an amazing bit of sky. And thanks for the link. Very interesting

renormalised (Carl) · #15 07-06-2010, 11:15 AM

That site you posted Suzy, take no notice of it. It's just another one of those "new age" sites purporting to know the answer to everything. There are so many reasons as to why we're not an ex-member of the Sagittarius Dwarf it's not funny, but the main reasons are the dynamics of our orbit about the galaxy and the physical composition of the Sun. For a start, the Sun doesn't have the same metallicity as any of the stars of the Sagittarius Dwarf. The stars in and from the dwarf have considerably less elements other than hydrogen and helium in their makeup as the Sun does. They couldn't have been born in the same cloud of dust and gas to begin with. Secondly the orbital dynamics are all wrong. This is something like the dwarf's second passage through the Galaxy. Even if we were detached from it in the first passage, our star would still have a very highly inclined and strongly elliptical orbit about the Galaxy's centre. Does it??....NO. The Sun orbits about the plane of the Galaxy in a moderately elliptical orbit which only varies above and below the plane of the Galaxy by about 30-50 parsecs. It's very much a member of the thin disk population of the Galaxy, not some interloper from outside. The reason for our orientation you see when compared to the Galaxy is that all the stars within the Galaxy, despite the fact they orbit it, have random orientation of their rotational axes i.e. their axes of rotation point in all directions. For instance, the star Vega. It's axis of rotation points directly at us, so you see it pole on. Some stars have the same orientation as we do, others don't. Our solar system just happens to be tilted at 55 degrees to the plane of the Galaxy. It was how it formed. Even the stars of the Sagittarius Dwarf have their own unique orientations, depending on how and where they formed in that galaxy.

These guys who come up with this nonsense don't understand even the basics of the science. The problem is, they read something about the subject they become interested in and then try to reconcile their own ideas with what they read. They take real science and twist it to suit their own agenda, which is usually to spread their particular ideas about how things are and what is going to happen. Just a quick and cursory look at their site will show you what they're on about and who they associate with. To say to take their site with a grain of salt would be adding insult to the grain of salt. Nothing of what they say has any basis in reality.

Adelastro1 (Wayne England) · #16 07-06-2010, 01:44 PM

I agree with Renormalised's view. Our sun is a second generation star, ie. has gone through a supernova explosion and re-formed, which makes it a fairly old star (much greater than 5 billion years, which is the age of the erath). The higher atomic number elements above iron (Fe) were formed in that explosion (normal fusion reactions in stars can only produce elements up to Fe, but supernovae produce much higher pressures to fuse elements together to give heavier elements). The Sag stars appear to be younger stars if they are all of similar composition and no elements above about He. If they are of similar size to our sun then they must be younger as they haven't burnt all their Hydrogen/helium yet.

astroron (Ron) · #17 07-06-2010, 02:22 PM

The only thing he didn't mention in that article was the "Second Coming"

Lismore Bloke (Paul) · #18 07-06-2010, 02:44 PM

Thanks JJJ. Excellent software. I just wish that some of the clever people who write and compile these useful things took a trip Down Under for a couple of months to sample some Southern Hemisphere treasures.

Suzy · #19 07-06-2010, 02:55 PM

Carl & Wayne, thankyou so much for taking the time to explain that to me, I'm very grateful.

Gosh, I'm glad I popped this on my thread, otherwise I would have gone on to believe it. So confusing for Noobies you know, when you try to do the right thing and do some research and get wrong info like this. Thankfully, I am surrounded by intelligent people on here that can put me on the right track. If I may say, I am in constant awe of the amazing, intelligent, talented people on here. You lot included.

Nettie, thankyou so much for that link - it is exactly what I'm looking for!

Erik, thankyou for that link, I will check it out soon!

Ron, thankyou as well for your input.
See.. I took your advice and posted my first "observation" thread! Please keep guiding me, as I do very much appreciate what you say and any help you throw my way.

Adelastro1 (Wayne England) · #20 07-06-2010, 04:46 PM

Thanks Suzy. I'm constantly in awe of the science behind what we see in the skies and beyond, and everyone is just passing that info on to people like you and I... but yes there are lots of intelligent people on here too, especially when it ccomes to the technical sides of working with astronomical equipment!