Lucky to be Southerners

[jaramillo]

Hi all and good morning Australia!

This is my first post on the IceinSpace forum. Briefly: My name is Mathias, living in Northern Germany , 32 years in age, Ph.D-student of Marine Geophysics, active in amateur astronomy since spring 2002. My primary instrument is a 10" f/5 Newtonian (selected superb optics) with some Naglers, Speers Walers and Stratus ep's.

Originally Posted by JoeBlow

Any northerners here to defend your skies?

There's nearly nothing to defend, but what's about your view on M51, one of the most famous galaxies in the NORTHERN SKY??

To be serious: During the last (northern) summer I was travelling on the German research vessel METEOR between West-Africa and the Canary Islands. It was impressive to see Sagittarius and Scorpius high in the sky without any light pollution there on the open sea, 1000km away from the shore. Many of the bright objects were visible with the naked eye, Omega Centauri and the southern cross were wandering along the horizon. Fascinating! It wasn't the most southern night sky experience in my life, but the first one after I started my "astronomy carreer". Here in Germany the constellations are so close to the horizon, that all the nice and impressive objects therein swamp in the haze which is present everytime.

I wish I'd live in the southern Hemisphere, at least for a couple of months, so I won't miss the double in Perseus and the other great things in the northern sky.

Clear skies and best wishes,

Mathias

[GrampianStars (Rob)]

Originally Posted by jaramillo

Hi all and good morning Australia!

This is my first post on the IceinSpace forum. Briefly: My name is Mathias, living in Northern Germany ,
Clear skies and best wishes,

Mathias

Willkommen Jars'
I'll be in Egypt in Nov 06'
technically on the equator
but should be able to get a view what's up there in the north

[ving (David)]

yup, like i said.... best clouds in the world

[astroron (Ron)]

Guten Tag! Mathias , good to have you join us here at iceinspace I was in germany for three years in the 1960s staying in Bielafeld, though I was interested in the night sky was not an astronomer.
I was in the UK in 1990 but saw very little of the night sky due to light polution, had to waite till I got to America to see the night sky wonders on offer, on average they don't compare to the southern skies, but I would like to go back for another session.
look forward to more of your posts.

[jaramillo]

Hey guys,

thanks for your friendly welcome!

@astroron: Bielefeld is only 20km away from my place of birth (Versmold - nobody of you will know it), where I lived the first 22years in my life. Because my parents house already is there I can observe from a dark backyard (fst ~6.0 mag in good nights). If you know Bielefeld you also know the "Teutoburger Wald", a NW-SE striking low mountain chain. There are several dark places where fst reaches >6.5 mag in good nights and my favorite observing site is located there.
I'm only a weekend observer, because I'm now living in Bremen (200km to the north from my hometown), where the night sky is yellowish and DS observing (my fovorite) is disappointing anyway. On most of the weekends I'm back in my hometown to join the dark skies there.

In Germany we say: Sehen wir uns nicht auf dieser Welt dann sehen wir uns in Bielefeld - which means in English something like: If we don't meet on this world we'll meet in Bielefeld (it'm more funny in German if one knows the context)

Clear skies,

Mathias

[GrampianStars (Rob)]

Originally Posted by jaramillo

Hey guys,

thanks for your friendly welcome!

@astroron: Bielefeld is only 20km away from my place of birth (Versmold - nobody of you will know it), ............
Clear skies,

Mathias

Cool I have family in Hannover not far from there [East]

I'm from the south a small village Bitz in Baden-Württemberg
maybe 45 kms south of Stuttgart would love to go have a look
as I've not been there for years was a very dark sky though