north vs south

[algol]

ok so in this months S @ N i think although may have been AN, there is an article on whether the northern or southern hemisphere is best.

just wanted to discuss it on here and hear you opinions.

its broken up into:

1. Constellations

2. Nebulae

3. Star Clusters

4. Naked Eye Objects

5. Galaxies

6. Multiple and Variable Stars

so go ahead, pick your winner for each of these 6 whether north or south and give the example(s) that justify it

cheers

Steve

[algol]

anyway for me it is

1. North, too much mythology to even consider the south, i know they have some lovely ones but orion and leo and most of the zodiac are up here, world renowned constellations.

2. i'm going for north again, with M27, M57, M42 to name just a few we win hands down for me.

3. tricky but north again lol, i know they have omega centauri but we have, M13, M45, M44 and the perseus double.

4. northa again for naked eye i mean they have in the south the LMC and SMC but whilst beautiful aren't as far away as say andromeda or the triangulum galaxy. and we have the aurora.

5. Galaxies, the south may win this one but i'm undecided we have the virgo cluster and al so a tie maybe?

6.ok so they have the alpha centauri double, which whilst bright has nowhere near the beauty of Alberio. so north.

thats 5-1 win to the North.

Easy! Easy! lol

not biased honest.

[Sam]

It's worth remembering that many of the observing places in the Southern Hemisphere, except Antarctica and parts of South America are significantly further from the South pole than the UK is from the North pole so many of the Northern sights can be seen from the southern hemisphere. From NZ I could clearly see Leo, Orion, Bootes, Cygnus, basically anything below 30 dec - from parts of Aussie stuff below 40 dec is visible.

I think the best location to see the most stuff would be as close to the equator as possible - but then there's weather problems as there's 36,000 ft of troposphere to look through.

[moondog]

Constellations - I would say the North is better

I've been able to see all your objects listed in items 2 & 3 from New Zealand (41 deg South)

The Milky Way is also awesome with the naked eye from New Zealand - probably due to the darker skies.

Galaxies -probably a draw.

The Jewel Box is as good as Alberio so another draw.

I make it even - one to both North & South and four draws.

Anywhere, North or South is good, all you need are clear, dark skies!

8)

MD

[GazOC]

The Norths fine but I just wish we wern't SO FAR North...

[Albireo380]

Yeah Gaz, I know what you mean. About 25 degrees North would seem good to me. Sag and Sco would get high in the sky. We would get all the Messiers and most Caldwells. Okay, the Magellanics would still be below the horizon - but you can't have everything.

Luxor anyone? - nice and dry, go ot into the desert and there is little light pollution.

Tom

[saturn5]

The Norths fine but I just wish we wern't SO FAR North...

I'll second that ,although 59N is a pain at times the Northern Lights make up for the fact there are a lot of Messier objects which are lost in haze of the southern horizon,Sag is a non event for me really,thems the breaks i suppose.

[Sam]

The other benefit of being a bit closer to the equator is the nights are a reasonable length.

[algol]

ok i think the point of the article not sure what but they kinda put m57 and m27 in the north not south, i know they are visible but still, i think sagg and scorp were in south too.