Observing in Australia

Got lucky at the South Pacific Star Party as the two nights i was able to attend were clear, with only a brief bit of cloud on the second night. Seeing was better than expected low down as I put the 30 inch on Tucanae 47 when only about 15 degrees high for the benefit of a French visitor observing southern stuff for the first time and got a sharp and steady view. Colour in the core was more subtle than when seen above 30 degrees but still evident as pale yellow. Our visitor looked at some familiar northern objects, like the Sombrero, higher than seen in France, and with a larger telescope, but mostly observed tne southern objects. The Tarantula was his favourite, followed by the LMC, Eta Carina, and of course the big two - Omega Centauri crossing the meridian and Tucanae 47 down low. Spent some time fine tuning a pair of 12 inch f5 binoculars which we will also use at Ozsky in 2014 at Coonabarabran.

2 Days of the deep south is a real eye opener. Sounded like you had quite a fun packed set of observations. Nice.
Oh to revisit Eta Carina nebula and 'odd-ball' star itself complete with it's own micro-nebula within Eta Car nebula: Homunculus. The beast of a nebula called Tarantula and it's parent, the grand container of objects, the LMC are all world-class amazing sights. Sounded like a great time.

Tony,

Sounds like you had a great star party. Its been a while since I have seen the gang from down under! Hope you guys can get up to Texas someday soon.

Marko - join us at Ozsky some time and you can have 7 nights of southern stuff with dobs from 14 to 30 inch and 6 inch and 12 inch binoculars. Our French visitor was turned on by those objects you mentioned and cruised the LMC with the 30 inch. SQM reading 21.62. Seeing was good enough to see structure in the Homunculus, while trying O111 and UHC filters on the Tarantula and Eta Carina nebula was fun. When I first observed Eta Carina about 30 years ago it was mag 8, now it is closer to mag 5. Seems it is a binary in a death dance and likely to go supernova in the next 10,000 years. And Jimi, I have observed in Texas on four trips in the past 13 years and my memory of a night with your 48 burns brightest. I would like to return but getting travel ( medical ) insurance is becoming near impossible. I may have to see you next to our 30 inch at Coonabarabran one day.

Jimi... I'll go if you'll go... ;>)

I am mighty tempted to get to Ozsky in the next year or two. My last and ONLY Oz trip with observing was a 5 night mega observing trip but only in a 12" each night that I had all to myself. It was heaven and I planned for it for months so it was highly productive. Wonderful sky down there. This was from Arkarola resort that is farther west but mighty dark. I had 21.5 to 21.7 nights in March 2010 so a November trip would place LMC and Pavo way high and be rewarding.

My charts for the trip are here on bare-bones site: http://www.astrospotter.com/SouthernSkyAllCharts This 'depot' of charts has wide telrad charts and 'must see' lists for many of the 'must see' and southern Caldwells and then has extensive 'best of' charts for selected areas of SMC and LMC and so on with assorted DSS and other docs to boot. I used a field PC for close in finders but generally these charts are fairly obvious so telrad was most often enough.

Mark - We have run observing sessions both in the march/april/may time slots and in november and the consensus of those who attended both spreads was that you get the most observing bang for your buck in march /april.
We ran in march this year, averaging SQM 21.7 and the LMC was high enough to spend hours with it, so next year we are going from 29 march to 6 april. We can improve on 12 inch - a 30 inch Obsession clone, two 25 inch Obsessions, five Obsession 18's, a 14, 12 inch f5 binoculars and 6 inch Fujinons on a steerable star chair. All the dobs have Argo Navis, and all but the Obsession UC have Servo Cat, so your observing list can mate with those. Thanks for the charts, and take a look at O'Meara's new book. We observe 10 miles from Siding Spring Observatory.

OzSky is memorable. Both Annie and I loved it in 2010... Great camaraderie and affordable too!! As mentioned, the March skies are fabulous with the LMC and SMC.
Al

DrAL - hope you make it to Ozsky again some day. Meantime, check out O'Meara's latest observing guide " Southern Gems ".

I am going to be at OzSky 2014 and can't wait (although I have to!). I have observed in Australia before and know how fabulous the skies are and am looking forward to seeing them again and adding to my observations. :D

I had the opportunity to observe from a observatory with a 18in dob(?) outside Sydney in 2000. It was incredible. I had a blast. I just wish I had been down there when the LMC and SMC had been viewable. I want to get back down there again.

They are always viewable - circumpolar! You just need to have a good, clear, dark horizon to enjoy the view out of season. Which, coincidentally, is quite possible in Oz, unlike where we live.

I am hoping to do a lot of observing in the LMC, no matter how high or low it is when I go next year. I didn't when I went on my big observing trip in 97 (except NGC 2070, the Tarantula Nebula) and I wish I had.
Here's a sketch I did in 1997. It's not very good.

Why, very recognizable. You have a fine rendition of the double plume of NGC 2069 there.