David, and all,
Yes, the southern sky has the best in class for nearly everything. But
David, you left out a couple of categories. Here is your list:
Best galaxies in the sky: Large and Small Magellanic clouds
Best globs in the sky: 47 Tuc, NGC6752 Pavo (plus Omega Cen way up
high)
Best bright nebula in the sky: Eta Carina, Tarantula (Plus Orion
nebula way up high)
Best dark nebula in the sky: Coal sack right next to Jewel Box cluster
Best open clusters in the sky: 3532 and neighbors near Eta Carina
nebula
Best pole star: Alpha UMi
Did you leave out Planetary Nebulae by mistake, or was it deliberate?
I suppose you could categorize them as "bright nebulae", in which case
I would agree with your selections. However, if it is a separate
category, then the North probably wins one more:
Best PN: M57 -- the Ring.
Also you neglected (or maybe resisted) this one:
Best Constellations. Ah, well, maybe I should leave that soapbox for
its rightful owner-- although I agree with his views ;-)
On the other hand, the South does win one more category, in my book,
perhaps the most important of all. If there is any justice, any truth,
any beauty in the universe, then there has to be a "Best Triangle".
And the award would have to go to: Triangulum Australis. Visually an
almost perfect isosceles and nearly an equilateral, all three stars are
quite bright (mags 1.9, 2.8, 2.8), really prominent (well separated
from others), no other bright stars cluttering up the outline. What
more can you ask for in a triangle? Beats our pathetic, dim (but
nicely-shaped) triangle hands-down.
Bob J.
(p.s., for JBB fans, here is a paragraph in his style, although I make
no claims about the quality relative to the master hissef:
The Hubbie for "Best Triangle in a leading role" goes to: Triangulum
Australis. No heads roll. No motor vehicle chases. Three enormous
talents. Multiple heavenly bodies. Absolutely no plot (extra stars)
to get in the way of the story. Isosceles-Fu.
Three stars.
Joe Bob says check it out!
)
Received on Sat Apr 16 22:07:54 2005