Skywatchers' Journal (Southern Hemisphere)

[coldcreation]

You all down under rule.
I would love to see the Megellanic clouds. Can those be seen with the naked eye?

[Jay-qu]

Oh yeah, but the big cities are starting to drown them out.. luckily I live far enough away from Melbourne to be able to see it just fine, it is even better with a pair of binoculars

[Boerseun]

Yep, you can see the Magellanic Clouds just fine over here. I received a text message from Over Yonder Down Under regarding lager and a meteor shower this past Saturday, and upon investigating the sky, I was greeted with an all-encompassing grey overcast sheet of wetness.

No skies, no stars, no meteors .

Bummer.

[Jay-qu]

But was the Braii at least good?

[Boerseun]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

But was the Braii at least good?

They always are, mate, they always are!
To tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever heard of a bad one!

[Chacmool]

Originally Posted by Boerseun

They always are, mate, they always are!
To tell you the truth, I don't think I've ever heard of a bad one!

Well, there was that spitbraai we once had where the pig fell into the fire and my dad's eyebrows got scorched off...

[Boerseun]

Originally Posted by Chacmool

Well, there was that spitbraai we once had where the pig fell into the fire and my dad's eyebrows got scorched off...

Every sport has its injuries...

[Michaelangelica]

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===
The Full Moon is Tuesday December 5.
The evening sky is now devoid of bright planets.
Saturn can be seen reasonably easily in the early morning sky near Regulus, the brightest star in Leo.
By the end of the week, keen-eyed observers with a flat, unobscured horizon can see Mercury, Mars and Jupiter just above the horizon half an hour before Sunrise, a foretaste of the rare triple massing next week.
For further information see:
http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

Ancient Moon 'computer' revisited
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The delicate workings at the heart of a 2,000-year-old analogue computer have been revealed by scientists.

The Antikythera Mechanism, discovered more than 100 years ago in a Roman shipwreck, was used by ancient Greeks to display astronomical cycles.

Using advanced imaging techniques, an Anglo-Greek team probed the remaining fragments of the complex geared device.

The results, published in the journal Nature, show it could have been used to predict solar and lunar eclipses.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6191462.stm

[Michaelangelica]

Ian Musgrave & Peta O'Donohue
<reynella@mira.net> to ian.musgrave
More options 19:19 (35 minutes ago)
G'Day All

Remember yesterday I wrote that sunspot 930 had quietened down? Well
today it made a liar of me and blasted out an X 3.4 flare aimed
almost directly at us. We don't know yet if there was a coronal mass
ejection, but given past events, it is highly likely that one is
headed our way. So be prepared for aurora on the night of Thursday
the 14th and morning of Friday the 15th. These are also the times
that the Geminid meteor shower is on, so an aurora watch and meteor
watch could be combined.

The areas most likely to see aurora are Tasmania, Southern New
Zealand and Southern Victoria. Unfortunately, Southern Victoria and
Tasmania are also battling savage bushfires, so folks there will
likely be a bit preoccupied with other matters. Lets include them in
our thoughts and wish them respite.

The best place to look for aurora is due south, after midnight. With
the Moon rising around 3 am, there is a lot of darkness to pick up
aurora, dark sky sites will be best placed to see aurora. Tasmanians
and New Zealanders might expect to see sheets and curtains of
glimmering light, Victorians are likely to see shifting orange/red
glows. Of course, due to the complex nature of the interactions
between coronal mass ejections and Earths magnetic field, aurora
cannot be guaranteed, we have had cases where strong flares have
produced hardly a ripple (and conversely, cases where little burps
have caused magnificent displays). But, with the Geminids on, its
won't be a waste of time having a look.

Also, in the new year comet 2006 P1 may become an unaided eye object,
so keep tuned.

Cheers! Ian

To unsubscribe from aurora alert, send an email to
reynella@werple.mira.net.au with "unsubscribe aurora alert" as the subject.

[Michaelangelica]

SUMMER NIGHT SKY
You've spent the whole year with your eyes glued to a computer screen. Now the holidays are here, what better time to expand your horizons? Join Kathy Graham on a dusk-to-dawn tour of the summer night sky.
Summer Night Sky - Features - The Lab - Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Gateway to Science

Then there's the Great Orion nebula, our closest large region of star formation, situated in the saucepan handle. Through binoculars, the Trapezium, the four bright stars at its heart, are easy to spot.

Right now in the early evening, Orion is low in the northeast. But by mid January, it will dominate the northern sky.

Download your personal night sky tour

Feeling starry eyed? Then visit the Sydney Observatory website for upcoming sky events, a night sky star map for each month and an audio guide of the month’s night sky which you can download onto your iPod for your very own personal sky tour.

Orion is very useful for locating other stars such as Sirius, the brightest star in the sky due to its proximity to earth – a mere nine light years away. Sirius has a dense ‘white dwarf’ star circling it and can be spied on Orion’s right.

Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus (it forms the bull’s eye), and one of the brightest stars in the sky, twinkles on Orion’s left. Aldebaran dazzles for good reason. It’s 65 light years away and about 38 times the size of our sun – so big in fact that earth would skim close to its surface if we orbited it.