[travel.au, beauty] stars

[wispfox]

Random stars thoughts.

I now know constellations in the south better than I do in the north. Go figure. 'Course, I hardly knew them here, so it wasn't that difficult to do. :)

I need to remember to go outside and try to find orion (since that constellation is visible in both hemispheres).

The Southern Cross, if including the stars which help locate it, makes me think of a kite, not a cross. And the milky way is lovely; I don't think I've ever seen it that well (possibly - based on the Southern Cross being in it, and only visible in that hemisphere - because I can't see most of it here). Not sure I've ever seen the stars as clearly as I did ~1.5 hours away from Melbourne, but that may actually only seem to be the case because there are just _more_ stars visible there (I've heard that that is true, but don't know how accurate that actually is).

I really should brave the cold some night and star gaze. They are generally much, _much_ clearer in winter than in summer, here, IIRC (probably because the cold prevents much in the way of cloud cover, although I think there might just be better availability in winter, as well). I'm just not really entirely sure where to _go_ to see reasonable amounts (as vs. an easily countable number) of stars, at least not within a reasonable distance from where I live.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I envy you, a little bit.

Orion is almost due south around 9:00 pm these days. He'll be upside down compared to the way you saw him in Oz.

The southern Milky Way is much more vivid than the parts of the galaxy we can see from here. Your best view of the Milky Way right now is up to the north, looking toward Perseus. I recommend some low magnification binoculars to really bring out the Milky Way starfields.

[jim-p.livejournal.com]

I really should brave the cold some night and star gaze. They are generally much, _much_ clearer in winter than in summer

Ah yes... Tam and I sometimes use "It's a great observing night" as a synonym for "It's cold enough out to freeze the tail feathers off a penguin"

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Even, e.g., Concord is far enough from the city lights to give decent viewing; find an open field on a hill on a road, and you can even star-gaze from the comfort of your car (with the headlights off, of course). I can see all of Orion, even his scabbard, from my driveway, so light pollution isn't *too* bad up here. (At least in comparison with where I grew up!)

If you really want to see the dark stuff, though, you're probably going to have to head north into VT or further west in MA, and it'll be colder...but you'll be able to see the Milky Way, that there are more than seven sisters in the Pleiades, and some of the fainter stars in the major constellations. Star maps are lovely and, with the advent of the Web, free!

Star gazing is also a good excuse to snuggle under a blanket with other folks in the quiet of the evening. :)