The star chart shows the sky above our
southern horizon at 10:00 PM on May 27, 2000. Our old friend Scorpius
has poked his head well above the horizon in the southeast. As the
year progresses, Scorpius will rise higher and higher in the early evening,
becoming one of the most prominent summer constellations. The red
giant, Antares (just below the Scorpion's head), is about 600 million miles
in diameter - larger than the orbit of Mars.
Omega Centauri, the largest globular
cluster in the sky, is about 11 deg above the southern horizon. Under
good conditions, this globular is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy 4th
mag object. The globular is about 300 light years in diameter, and
it contains about 1 million stars. In the central region, the stars
are only about 1/10 light year apart - very tightly packed in comparison
with our region of the galaxy. For example, Alpha Centauri, the sun's
closest neighbor, is about 4 light years away. If we lived in a big
globular, it might not get very dark at night, so maybe we wouldn't need
daylight saving time.
The Sombrero Galaxy (M104), on the Virgo-Corvus
border, is a fine example of a spiral galaxy oriented edge-on to our line
of sight. There is a prominent equatorial bulge, and a prominent
dark lane of dust extending across the width of the galaxy. Not a
naked eye object.
Here's something you can see with the
naked eye. With a clear view of the southern horizon, we can see
part of Crux Australis, the fabled Southern Cross. Actually, there
is no bright star marking the point where the arms of the cross intersect,
so the "cross" looks more like a kite. When I saw the Southern Cross
a couple of years ago on our eclipse cruise, from about 5 deg north of
the equator, I didn't find it overwhelmingly impressive. In any case,
you can see part of the Cross right here at home, when conditions are just
right.
You can print a copy of this star chart so you
can take it outside.
