Help with the Southern Hemisphere please!

[Nicola Fletcher]

On 30/05/2024 at 23:31, dobbyisbest said:

I emailed the scope shop in Cairns (there is only one) to ask if they’d consider renting one to me, and the owner kindly agreed to rent one of their public event scopes to me provided that it didn’t clash with their own events (and I’m sure it helped that I spoke to my experience with telescopes and interest in their dark southern skies upfront). I was looking in Brisbane as well, and there were a few shops that could potentially have helped, but my trip plan ended up being of the one-way variety. I’m sure the other big cities will be similar. I even looked at the Aussie AstroBuySell and FB Marketplace to see if there was a cheap deal that I could arrange for in advance, but fortunately the Cairns shop came to my rescue.

 

This is a fantastic book and probably the only one that really covers to the southern hemisphere properly, when I last checked (and it made me regret not being interested in practical astronomy earlier in my life, as I’ve seen the Botswanan and Namibian wilderness skies with naked eyes, I just didn’t have the interest and tools at the time, and I think it must be amazing). The Astronomers Society (not Association) of South Africa also has some good resources and recommendations on their website, it’s just not as nicely edited and polished as it is in any respectable book format, of course. 🙂

Sounds great - it’ll be fantastic to have a dob to use under those skies.

Yes I agree, Southern Gems is an excellent book. It has been really useful when planning out my target list. The summer objects in TLAO, as well as the southern sky section, is also very useful. SkySafari has been great when planning out which objects will be best placed earlier or later in the evening. I can see myself not getting to bed at all!

[dobbyisbest]

@MalcolmM @Nicola Fletcher

Have a look at this: https://ozsky.org/BAM600/

It is a comprehensive observing list compiled by Australian astronomers and it comes in various formats, including SkySafari (where you can sort by brightness, transit time etc.)

I’ve now found quite a few galaxies (and galaxy clusters) that I didn’t spot in my research before and have added them to my list.

 

 

[Nicola Fletcher]

20 hours ago, dobbyisbest said:

@MalcolmM @Nicola Fletcher

Have a look at this: https://ozsky.org/BAM600/

It is a comprehensive observing list compiled by Australian astronomers and it comes in various formats, including SkySafari (where you can sort by brightness, transit time etc.)

I’ve now found quite a few galaxies (and galaxy clusters) that I didn’t spot in my research before and have added them to my list.

 

 

Brilliant, thank you very much!!

[Emperor!Takahashi!]

Here are a couple more relevant observing lists:

https://www.astroleague.org/southern-sky-binocular-observing-program/

https://www.astroleague.org/southern-sky-telescopic-observing-program/

It's one of my goals/dreams to spend some quality time under dark Southern skies with a pair of large binoculars. Ah...

Edited June 9 by The60mmKid

[MalcolmM]

19 hours ago, The60mmKid said:

Here are a couple more relevant observing lists:

https://www.astroleague.org/southern-sky-binocular-observing-program/

https://www.astroleague.org/southern-sky-telescopic-observing-program/

It's one of my goals/dreams to spend some quality time under dark Southern skies with a pair of large binoculars. Ah...

Thanks @The60mmKid. Those are good lists. They confirmed most of my current list and added a few extra.

Malcolm