What to look for in the Southern hemisphere?

[Swoop1]

It looks like I may be spending a week on a farm in South Africa in mid to late June. The farm also operates as a Cheetah sanctuary and I will be volunteering as a feeder, walker and mucker outer of various big cats etc.

The evenings are my own and the skies get pretty damn dark 

I have a set of 10 X 21 bins but am hoping to borrow some a little more powerful.

What should I be trying to find in the skies?

Cheers.

[hjw]

Hi,

there is plenty of stuff to see. In June, the Sagittarius region will be overhead. The brightest part of the milky way from a dark sky is nothing short of spectacular. You will see the Magellanic clouds. The LMC contains the Tarantula nebula which is bright enough for binoculars (especially considering it's outside the Milky Way). The SMC has a large globular cluster close by (Tuc47). Talking about globular clusters, have a go at omega centauri which is the size of a full moon and visible with the naked eye. Last but not least, the Carina Nebula, brighter and bigger than the Orion Nebula.

In general just have a look around. From a dark sky, many objects are visible with the naked eye. Look for a bright patch and explore...

Have fun!

HJ

[Ruud]

Try Stellarium for targets, there are so many, but look here as well:

About the binoculars: 10x21 gather little light. They have an exit pupil of only 21/10=2.1 mm. That's enough for nature, especially when the Sun shines, but not for astronomy.

For astronomy you need something like 8x42 or 10x50 (bulky). Those have exit pupils of 5.5 and 5mm respectively. They'll be much brighter and show you many dozens of targets under a dark sky.

The exit pupil thing has to do with how much light is gathered (lens diameter) and how much that light is dimmed (by magnification). You want an exit pupil that is large, but not bigger than your own pupil.

                          lens diameter (mm)
exit pupil (mm) = ------------------------
                              magnification

Aim for an exit pupil of around 5 mm, like you'll get from 8x40 or 8x42 binoculars.

[Everton]

Definitely go for the 10x50s, especially those with a wide field of view. Mind you, during a visit to Jamaica a few years ago I took a pair of old Tasco 7x35 binoculars and the views of the Milky Way from Canis Major all the way to Puppis, Vela and Carina was absolutely breathtaking!

[PeterW]

Wide apparent field of view bins are hard to find, sounds like those Tasco might be one of them. With those skies go looking for dark nebulae and structure in the milky way nebulosity, the kind of stuff that you'll never get a chance to see otherwise. Maybe Sky Vistas by Crossen would be a good place to look.

PeterW