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Constellations

From a camp-site in Berowa, 10 miles north of Sydney, I took the following pictures on a recent holiday in Australia. I'd never seen the skies from the Southern Hemisphere and spent most of my time identifying the southern constellations. And also the northern constellations! Have you tried to identify familiar constellations when they are upside down? I unfortunately was unable to see many clear skies due to rather cloudy weather. Oh well, there's always next year!

1. 2. 3.

1. Scorpius (17 October 1999 19:35 local time)

Scorpius is setting head first into the western horizon. You can clearly see M7 near the sting above centre in the image and a hint of the Milky Way passing through the sting. A bonus in this picture is that I managed to capture Mars too! (top right of the picture). Alpha and Beta Centauri can be seen bottom left. Scorpius is my favourite constellation and it was a treat for me to be able to see it in its entirety.

Olympus OM-1N; 28mm Wide angle lens; f/2.8; Kodak 400 ISO Slide Film; 1 minute.

2. Scorpius (17 October 1999 19:35 local time) - enhanced image.

Same picture as above (1) but imaged processed using Adobe Photoshop 5 to produce a rather interesting image bringing out detail in the Milky Way. The glow at the bottom of the image is the glow from the Sun setting only an hour previous.

3. Crux - The Southern Cross (17 October 19:25)

I should have checked my planetarium software to work out when would have been a good time to visit Oz. This image shows Crux setting (left of bottom centre), with Alpha an Beta Centauri above centre. Omega Centauri had already set. I didn't get to see Omega Centauri until I reached Adelaide a week later, and then it was beside a street lamp!

Olympus OM-1N; 28mm Wide angle lens; f/2.8; Kodak 400 ISO Slide Film; 1 minute.