Peter and Jocelyn from New Zealand

In summertime, the Southern Hemisphere skies are host to some of the most spectacular objects you can see. Astronomy buffs from the northern hemisphere travel south just to see some of these gems. Amongst them, magnificent naked-eye-visible globular cluster NGC 104 (near the Small Magellanic Cloud) is an absolute show stopper. Otherwise known as 47 Tucanae, it is estimated at 13 billion years old and ranks with other southern beauty Omega Centauri (late autumn object) as the two stand apart globular clusters visible from Earth … both exclusive to southern skies. Globular clusters are very old structures in the universe.

Stellar nursery – NGC 2070 “Tarantula” nebula – a  star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is another of the summer southern gems. It is a massive nebulosity and would stretch across the sky if it were as close as M42. The “Great Orion Nebula” – M42 is one of the most beautiful objects in the sky. Another stellar nursery, it is a delicate but voluminous gas cloud with a powerhouse of activity within its fine structure. Peter and Jocelyn enjoyed taking extra time using different eye pieces yielding higher magnifications to explore the different structures within the nebula in this wondrous Orion region.

 

“I have been fascinated with the Cosmos all of my life, but never experienced the raw images via telescope until now. Thanks so much Bruce, an absolutely brilliant night!

We started locally and although setting, with such a powerful telescope, familiar objects such as the moon were transformed and exceptionally close. What an eye opener.

The evening viewing included 47 Tucanae, the Tarantula and the Great Orion nebula – all completely fascinating. We also looked at three galaxies including the Silver Coin galaxy which was huge! Attempting  to comprehend the shear vastness, distances, size, beauty and make up of these observable objects is a journey in itself; an unbelievable experience that continues to inspire Jocelyn and me, as well as rekindling a love for all things ‘space’.

Well done Bruce, we really loved the evening with you at ‘The Honeysuckles’.