Seeing The Magellanic Clouds For The First Time
October 16, 2021Pat And Sammy Complete The Grand Tour
From our nearby thin crescent Moon to the largest known barred spiral galaxy 65 million years away, guests Pat and Sam from regional Victoria visited many wonderful worlds on our Astro Tour.
We like to begin our evenings with a naked eye view of the sky to give perspective on what we are actually seeing “up there”. For most, this is usually both unexpected and fascinating and provides a greater sense of the vastness of it all.
Two of the prominent objects seen by many for the first time – including Pat and Sam, are the deep south located Magellanic Clouds. Sadly, not seeing them previously is usually due to excessive man-made light that pollutes our night skies more and more every year … Some who live in semi-dark sky areas might see them and think of them as faint clouds. The Magellanic Clouds are not clouds at all, but very visible close neigbouring galaxies of our own galaxy. As southern objects, they cannot be seen by our neighbours in the northern hemisphere. We, in the south, are very fortunate.
Pat and Sam’s tour over several hours included superb Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune with planetary nebulae, galaxies and much more. The night was still and clear – ideal conditions to be under a night sky. We feel sure that looking up into the night will never quite be the same again for these two night travellers … We hope so!
“We really enjoyed the astronomy tour. Bruce was a fantastic host with superb knowledge of the night sky. Highly recommend!” Pat B
For further enquiries contact Honeysuckles Astronomy Tours and we will be happy to discuss your requirements with you.
Call Bruce +61 412 100 501 or email