Suggestions for Binocular Targets from Ixtapa, Mexico?

I'm off to Mexico for Thanksgiving. Not great timing (near to a full
moon), but I figure that there may be something that an extra 13
degrees of Latitude will help with. (I live in San Diego (about 32
degrees North) and Ixtapa appears to be at about 19 degrees North).

The binoculars are 10x50's.

Next trip, I'm holding out for a "south of the equator" voyage at a
new moon!

Clear, Dark Skies

Mark

Mark Smith wrote:
I'm off to Mexico for Thanksgiving. Not great timing (near to a full
moon), but I figure that there may be something that an extra 13
degrees of Latitude will help with. (I live in San Diego (about 32
degrees North) and Ixtapa appears to be at about 19 degrees North).

The binoculars are 10x50's.

Next trip, I'm holding out for a "south of the equator" voyage at a
new moon!

Clear, Dark Skies

Mark

this may help as a start

http://skymaps.com/downloads.html

I'm off to Mexico for Thanksgiving. Not great timing (near to a full
moon), but I figure that there may be something that an extra 13
degrees of Latitude will help with. (I live in San Diego (about 32
degrees North) and Ixtapa appears to be at about 19 degrees North).
The binoculars are 10x50's.
Next trip, I'm holding out for a "south of the equator" voyage at a
new moon!

Some great southern sky bino targets for this and your next trip:
http://www.astroleague.org/al/obsclu.../ssbinoc2.html

Senor Frog's and the 'sites' in the more hedonistic neighboring
town of Zihuatenejo are also highly recommended

SSX

Mark Smith wrote in message . ..

I'm off to Mexico for Thanksgiving. Not great timing (near to a full
moon), but I figure that there may be something that an extra 13
degrees of Latitude will help with. (I live in San Diego (about 32
degrees North) and Ixtapa appears to be at about 19 degrees North).

The binoculars are 10x50's.

Hmm, you've got several things working against you. For my money,
the best stuff to view from those latitudes on November evenings
are the great galaxy fields in Sculptor and Fornax. But galaxies
in 10x50 binoculars are best described as detectable as opposed
to interesting. And full Moon greatly cripples what little power
10x50 binoculars do have for seeing faint fuzzies.

Taking all that into account, I recommend naked-eye observing with
the binoculars as an adjunct. Grus is a magnificent constellation
when high in the sky, but invisible or lackluster when seen from
farther north. Achernar, Alpha Eridani, is the 9th brightest star
in the sky, and rarely seen from the U.S. And if you stay up late,
you can see Canopus, and trailing behind that the magnificent
clusters of the Milky Way in Puppis, Vela, and Carina. They're
bright enough to show well even in such a tiny instrument at
full Moon.

- Tony Flanders