[Michaelangelica]

Now we can make all them damn 'northenors' jealous.
We can see the Southern Cross right guys!
there is a least one S. African here I know so let's the two of us get together and bogie!

And for those of us on the other half of the planet:

==== IN THE SKY THIS WEEK ===
Comet 73P is now visible to the unaided eye under dark skies. The comet is at its brightest by the end of this week, but bright moonlight will make it difficult to see without binoculars. The best time to see 73P is around 3-4am this week. The Full Moon is Saturday May 13. In the early evening, ruddy Mars is in Gemini, not far from Saturn, which is easily spotted in the northeastern sky as a pale gold object, within binocular range of the Beehive cluster. Jupiter rises in the late evening and is the brightest object above the eastern horizon. Now is a good time to beg or borrow a small telescope to watch it. In the dawn sky bright Venus is readily seen above the eastern horizon. On the late evening/early morning of May 14-15 the bright red star Antares will be covered by the Moon. For comet spotting maps and occultation times see:
http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

[Chacmool]

Originally Posted by Michaelangelica

Now we can make all them damn 'northenors' jealous.
We can see the Southern Cross right guys!
there is a least one S. African here I know so let's the two of us get together and bogie!

Whoohoo! Boerseun and I are both from South Africa. The Southern Cross rocks!

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by Chacmool

Whoohoo! Boerseun and I are both from South Africa. The Southern Cross rocks!

I ran into two Yank tourists on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.
They wanted me to point out the Southern Cross.
Very difficult among all the lights of a big city.
I did my best.

In the Outback you can almost see by starlight.
(As I guess you can in 'wild' Africa)

Glad you like the idea! Now we are 3 !

[Jay-qu]

I with-held my post till I had a look at the sky tonight.. clouds! fun fun.. still no sign of the comet and Im missing Jupiter!

[Michaelangelica]

This does it all really

http://home.mira.net/~reynella/skywatch/ssky.htm

May Skies
Last Modified Fri, 12 May 2006 06:06:10 GMT
updated Comet Schwassmann-Wachman spotters maps updated.
Useful info for visitors from New Zealand, South Africa and South America.
1-4 May; Mars near Epsilon Geminorum. May 2; Mars near Moon. May 4, Moon near Saturn. May 5; opposition of Jupiter. May 6, Moon near Regulus. May 12, Moon near Jupiter. Early morning May 15; Occultation of Antares visible Australia, NZ, Indonesia and Singapore. May 16; Mars near delta Geminorium. May 24; Venus near the Moon. updated May 1 on, Comet Schwassmann-Wachman visible in binoculars, fragment B breaks up; possibly unaided eye by 6th- 13th.
Looking up at the stars is still a rewarding pursuit, despite the increasing light pollution in our major cities. The southern sky is full of interesting objects, many of which go unseen in the northern hemisphere. All you need for a good nights viewing is yourself, a good idea of where south and east are, and your hands. Optional extras are a small pair of binoculars, a torch with red cellophane taped over the business end and a note book. A great many tips for backyard astronomy may be found here, although many of them are more relevant to the northern hemisphere. A general article on amateur astronomy from New Scientist is here (May require subscription otherwise see the TASS site.).

This page is designed to give people a simple guide to the naked eye sky. In the descriptions of planet and star positions, distances in the sky are given as "fingers width" and "hand span". This is the width of your hand (with all the fingers together as in making a "stop" sign, not bunched as a fist) or finger when extended a full arms length from you.

[Jay-qu]

Clear skies today not a cloud, should be good tonight!

[Michaelangelica]

Big Meteor/or big bit of Space Junk just hit Queensland!

Reports are just coming in of sightings of a bright green streak though the sky (About a foot long said one person); at 6.15pm EST Australiaan time
People saw the bright green streak from Brisbane to Bundaberg and further north. One person said he heard an impact boom a few minutes after seeing the light. The light lasted for about 7 seconds.
Some people reported seeing a blue light, one person in a plane said it was bright white. Most said it seemed to break up into 10-15 smaller lights which quickly went out

........................................

Apart from that, the last two months there has not been a cloud in the sky. The last three days (since I started this thread) it has been cloudy.
the garden needs it
Michael

[Jay-qu]

somewhat dissapointing sky tonight.. there was a high fog that blurred everything and because of the near full moon it was illuminated making only the brightest stars visible. I had a look at jupiter any way and I wasnt sure if I was looking at one of its moons or just a visual artifact due to the fog..

[Michaelangelica]

G'Day All

According to
<<http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/live.html>http://www.tvcomm.co.uk/radio/live.html>
this live radio meteor web page, we are currently undergoing high
radio meteor activity, probably associated with comet 73P. Whether
this translates to high visual meteor activity is another thing. I
can't check the skies, too much cloud. Anyone else out there with
clear skies, look out to your north, use the location map here
http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/200...eors-from.html
to see if you can see any meteors.

Cheers! Ian


================================================== ====
Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis and Michael James Musgrave
reynella@werple.mira.net.au http://werple.mira.net.au/~reynella/
Southern Sky Watch http://www.abc.net.au/science/space/default.htm

================================================== ====
Ian Musgrave Peta O'Donohue, Jack Francis, Michael James and Andrew
Thomas Musgrave
reynella@mira.net http://home.mira.net/~reynella/
Southern Sky Watch http://www.abc.net.au/science/space/default.htm
(scroll down right hand menu)
AstroBlogg http://astroblogger.blogspot.com/
Sky & Space http://www.skyandspace.com.au/public/home.ehtml

[Jay-qu]

my north is very boring at night.. mostly trees

also tonight is fairly cloudy, but last night was beautiful!