Observing Periods

[RJEmery]

Given a location on Earth, and the celestial coordinates of a stellar object, how and from where could I determine when that object would be best observed (highest in the sky)?  For example, Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion would best be seen during the Winter months (if in the northern hemisphere).

Edited November 10, 2019 by RJEmery
Elaboration

[Knighty2112]

An app like Skysafari will show you when an object is due south (hence in the northern hemisphere highest in the sky on that particular day) with the information you can get from it. Other apps/software can do a similar thing too.

 

Edited November 10, 2019 by Knighty2112

[Stu]

If you have an Android device, have a look at Mobile Observatory. It has alot of good info, including charts on object visibility.

[lenscap]

9 hours ago, RJEmery said:

Given a location on Earth, and the celestial coordinates of a stellar object, how and from where could I determine when that object would be best observed (highest in the sky)?  For example, Betelgeuse in the constellation Orion would best be seen during the Winter months (if in the northern hemisphere).

Once you know the Right Ascension (RA) of an object just remember that, because of the way RA is defined,  a target with a RA of 0 hours will reach its highest point ( culminate) at your local midnight (standard time, not daylight saving)  at the autumn equinox, 23rd Sept, and other objects will do so 1 month later for each 2 hours of RA. (Or, more accurately, 15.2 days per hour of RA)

So Betelgeuse, RA 5h55m will be at its highest on 22nd December.