Stephen Chadwick

The Deep South

This chapter covers the area mostly within 30° of the south celestial pole (SCP) excluding the Magellanic Clouds (see Chap. 8). Much like its counterpart zone in the northern sky the deep south contains several surprises that are both a challenge and delight to astroimagers.

The Hunter and His Dog

We start our journey at the beginning of the year when the area containing Orion and Canis Major is on the meridian. This highly recognizable piece of sky is filled with the brilliant array of Gould’s Belt, a band of nearby blue/white super giant stars that lie mainly south of the plain of the galaxy. This area is a rich star forming region, making it an astronomer’s delight!

Vast Explosive Remnants

This chapter focuses on a part of the Milky Way that appears to have been ripped apart visually! A jagged dark-lane referred to as the Rift seems to split the Milky Way just west of the False Cross.

The Ship of Argo

The ancient constellation of Argo Navis, the Ship of Argo, was split up by astronomers at the end of the nineteenth century into Puppis, the Poop Deck, Vela, the Sail, and Carina, the Keel. These three constellations straddle a very rich piece of the Milky Way.

Processing the Images

Once all light, dark and flat frames have been taken it is time to begin processing the data. There are numerous software applications that can be used for this:

The Heart of the Galaxy

Northern hemisphere astronomers often make the pilgrimage south of the equator at least once in their lives to stand in a dark sky site and witness first-hand what with all intents and purposes is the central bulge of the Milky Way galaxy passing directly overhead. The grandeur of this spectacle is not lost even on casual observers.

Galaxies in the Furnace

During southern spring evenings when the great band of the Milky Way lays around the horizon and the south galactic pole pushes up toward the zenith, this is the time to venture well beyond the bounds of our own galaxy to other ‘Island Universes.’ We journey through the southern galaxies which spread out across the void like sparks flying from the great celestial furnace!

At the Telescope

Before any imaging can be undertaken the mount must be placed on a solid footing. The strongest, most accurate mount in the world will be no good for astroimaging if it wobbles because it is not securely in contact with the ground. If the mount is supported by a tripod then placing it on something solid is preferable to placing it directly onto grass in order to prevent it from sinking into the ground. Specialized feet can be purchased to spread the weight if grass is the only ground that is available. If possible the mount should be isolated from the area being walked on in order to minimize the effect of vibrations.

Equipment Inventory for Astroimaging

Astroimaging takes many different forms, necessitating the use of various types of equipment for each one. Much satisfaction can be achieved by imaging star trails, for which the only requirement is a camera capable of long exposures. If you intend to take wide field images of the night sky then it will be necessary for you to have some way of tracking the movement of the sky and, for this a cheap mount capable of tracking is also required. If your aim is to image the planets and the moon then a basic webcam or video camera will suffice without the need for a high quality mount.

On the Serpent’s Back

As the southern summer Milky Way closes for a rendezvous with the Sun, in the region between the Milky Way and the celestial equator can be found the largest constellation of them all, Hydra, the multi-headed serpent. Sprawled out along the length of this huge celestial serpent we find many beautiful examples of different types of galaxies, which together make up the southern autumn galaxies.