Bliss in Chile

Just a short note from Chile; I may write more when I return home.

Mamalluca, the public observatory run by the town of Vicuña, has some
good points and some bad points. But whatever else you can say, the
staff is fantastically friendly, enthusiastic, and helpful. They have
allowed me temporary use of their 16-inch Dob, quite a step up from
the 100mm achromat that I brought with me. And the view of 47 Tucanae
through a 16-inch scope is worth the full price of my plane ticket.

Alas, the Magellanic Clouds through a 16-inch scope are more than
I had bargained for; I hardly know where to start.

- Tony Flanders

"Tony Flanders" wrote:

Just a short note from Chile; I may write more when I return home.

Stimulated by Tony's message, I'm posting my impressions from a short travel
to Argentina and Brasil I did a few weeks ago. For Italian reading people,
the full version with pictures is available at:
http://www.legnano.org/antares (click on "Cartoline dal Sudamerica)

It's quite midnight at the borders of the desert in Northern Patagonia's
High Valley. A dog (I hope it's simply a dog) barks in the distance. The
strong south wind blowing since early morning cleaned up the sky, only a few
striped clouds are left. I raise the eyes and there it is, the Southern
Cross, at 15 deg over the horizon, with the Jewel Box barely visible. Higher
in the sky, Scorpius looks at me with its pincers down and the crumpled tail
pointed at the zenith. A few farther on, Sagittarius, upside-down, poured
the whole content of its Teapot. I move the look to south and here are the
Magellanic Clouds and 47 Tucanae shining quite as a planet, even at naked
eye it's clear that it's not a common star. And around the South Pole are
the "hidden" constellations: Pavo, Indus, Dorado, Musca, Octans...
I take my binocular and sweep the southern sky: 47 Tucanae is really
impressive (my kingdom for a 2" refractor and a 20 mm!), inside the Large
Magellanic Cloud the globular clusters are clearly visible, Omega Centauri,
unfortunately already setting, is half-hidden in the last haze and in the
glare of the far away light pollution. In the Northern Constellations, here
almost at the zenith, all objects are really "well" visible: my 10x50 does
not fit the entire M24, the Large Star Cloud, M7 and M6 and even M4 and the
whole Milky Way offer an unusual look.
Well, it's already time to go back. There are 40 minutes of uneven road to
go. It has been only for a half-an-hour, but an unforgettable half-hour.
Clear skies,
--
Beta Persei
45° 35' N
08° 51' E

Grazie. E interessante. L'ho bookmarkato. :-)
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

Beta Persei wrote:

"Tony Flanders" wrote:

Just a short note from Chile; I may write more when I return home.

Stimulated by Tony's message, I'm posting my impressions from a short travel
to Argentina and Brasil I did a few weeks ago. For Italian reading people,
the full version with pictures is available at:
http://www.legnano.org/antares (click on "Cartoline dal Sudamerica)

It's quite midnight at the borders of the desert in Northern Patagonia's
High Valley. A dog (I hope it's simply a dog) barks in the distance. The
strong south wind blowing since early morning cleaned up the sky, only a few
striped clouds are left. I raise the eyes and there it is, the Southern
Cross, at 15 deg over the horizon, with the Jewel Box barely visible. Higher
in the sky, Scorpius looks at me with its pincers down and the crumpled tail
pointed at the zenith. A few farther on, Sagittarius, upside-down, poured
the whole content of its Teapot. I move the look to south and here are the
Magellanic Clouds and 47 Tucanae shining quite as a planet, even at naked
eye it's clear that it's not a common star. And around the South Pole are
the "hidden" constellations: Pavo, Indus, Dorado, Musca, Octans...
I take my binocular and sweep the southern sky: 47 Tucanae is really
impressive (my kingdom for a 2" refractor and a 20 mm!), inside the Large
Magellanic Cloud the globular clusters are clearly visible, Omega Centauri,
unfortunately already setting, is half-hidden in the last haze and in the
glare of the far away light pollution. In the Northern Constellations, here
almost at the zenith, all objects are really "well" visible: my 10x50 does
not fit the entire M24, the Large Star Cloud, M7 and M6 and even M4 and the
whole Milky Way offer an unusual look.
Well, it's already time to go back. There are 40 minutes of uneven road to
go. It has been only for a half-an-hour, but an unforgettable half-hour.
Clear skies,
--
Beta Persei
45° 35' N
08° 51' E

"Bill Meyers" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Grazie. E interessante. L'ho bookmarkato. :-)
Ciao,
Bill Meyers

Grazie a te.
Cieli sereni,
--
Beta Persei
45° 35' N
08° 51' E