I am not so sure but it seems to me that IC1396 has to be one of the more
interesting star forming regions and we have it in the northern sky.....
Likewise the pair IC1805/IC1848 have a tremendous appearance too, in my
opinion of course.
they are all northern sky high declination objects.
rdc
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Jardine" <rljtac@No-Spam>
To: "The Astronomy Connection" <sf-bay-tac@No-Spam>
Sent: Saturday, April 16, 2005 10:06 PM
Subject: [TAC] Best of N/S
> 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 22:33:21 2005