Sky & Telescope February 1986 [antikvár]

Discover the Southern Skies IGlen Cozens, Sydney, New South Wales, AustraliaIF YOU'RE ONE of the matiy peopletraveling to the Southern Hemisphere to view Halley's comet this April, then prepare yourself for another celestial spectacular the southern stars! Any tlark site away from city lights will be a front-row seat for a universe unfamiliar to Northern Hemisphere observers.Comet Halley will be only one of the starring performers, so plan some time to study our other local luminaries. Brilliant clusters, colorful stars, splashes of nebulosity, and galaxies will dominate the sky after sunset.Try approaching this southern territory like a wide-eyed pioneer. The sky is fresh and new and waiting to be explored. Getting to know the heavens has always been a paradox: the more you know about the sky, the more matter-of-course it becomes. These "new" skies, however, still offer a chance to rediscover your own sense of mystery and wonderment at the heavens.To assist in your rediscovery, here is a list of the more spectacular Southern Hemisphere celestial wonders visible in late March and early April. Come equipped with a planisphere and binoculars, or bring a small telescope. There's a cornucopia of delights waiting.THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDSA massive web of stars and nebulosity known as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and its smaller companion, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), loom in the southwest after sunset and dominate the heavens. These are actually galaxies that are close neighbors to our Milky Way. When Portuguese sailors first viewed them in the 15th century, they named them in honor of their nation's accomplished voyager, Ferdinand Magellan.The Large Magellanic Cloud. The LMC, in the constellation of Dorado the goldfish, will be the largest single object in view. In its entirety, the LMC extends 12 Moon diameters across the sky. Although large, the LMC is not brilliant. We receive as much light from it as from a Ist-magnitude star, but spread out over a large area. To the naked eye it appears as a hazy patch at about 4th magnitude.Since the LMC is only 180,000 light-years away, an observer armed only with126 Sky Telescope, February, 1986"When you see the Southern Crossfor the first time you understand now why you came this way"- Stephen StillsLike the ghosts of giant butterflies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds loom over telephone wires on Mount Magnet, near Perth, Australia. Expect a similar naked-eye view of the pair if you're traveling south of the equator this April. Shigct-sugu Fujinami of Japan look this 45-second exposure on June 24, 1974, while on an eclipse expedition. He was using an ordinary 35-mm lens and Tri-X film.binoculars can see about as much detail in it as can be glimpsed in the Andromeda galaxy, 10 times farther away, when using a 20-inch telescope.Consider the LMC a visual workout with progressively more challenging sights. At least a dozen objects are within reach of 7x50 binoculars, and with little difficulty you'll find more than 70 with an 8-inch telescope. The New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (NGC) lists over 300 objects in the LMC that are described as either bright or very bright.The best by far is the Tarantula nebula. Robert Burnham, Jr., in his Celestial Handbook, writes of it: "Among the 50 or so bright diffuse nebulae which appear scattered across the face of the Large Magellanic Cloud, one object stands forth without an equal; not only in the Cloud, but, as far as we know, in the entire universe. If such an object were as close to us as the Orion Nebula, it would cover some 30° of the sky, and shine with a total brightness three times greater than that of Venus." Brilliant star clusters and nebulosity surround the Tarantula as if captured in a spider's web. All these objects will fit nicely within a 1° telescopic field of view.The northern rim of the LMC also contains a number of interesting star clusters. Of them, NGC 1910 warrants special attention. This stellar grouping encompasses more than 100 giant and supergiant stars, including S Doradus, one of the most luminous stars known. Shining with an average brilliance of 500,000 Suns, S Doradus, the brightest star within NGC 1910, can be seen with a good pair of binoculars, but the view is better in a small telescope.The Small Magellanic Cloud. Half the size and 22° west of the LMC is the SMC, in the constellation of Tucana, the Toucan. Of the 34 NGC objects in it, only nine are bright. In the cloud's northern sector four objects fit within a wide telescopic field of view. NGC 346 is a large, nebulous star cluster, about as bright as the Trifid nebula, and has a conspicuous, elongated ridge of stars. To its southwest lies the bright globular cluster NGC 330, and NGC 371 is the larger, fainter cluster of stars to its northeast. Eastward of