Introduction to the Southern Sky

The deep sky viewed from the deep south is the finest there is. Exotica such as Wolf-Rayet stars are naked eye objects here. Nebulae? Globulars? The biggest and the best are right overhead.

One of richest fields in the whole sky is in the area of the ‘three crosses’ – the ‘true’ Southern Cross, Crux, and the adjoining asterisms sometimes known as the ‘diamond cross’ and the ‘false cross.’ Essentially this area comprises Crux plus the old constellation of Argo Navis; now Carina, Puppis and Vela (fig. 1). Most of the objects described in detail at this site are from there.

Fig. 1: Region of the southern sky, approximately centred on the Eta Carina Nebula, comprising Crux plus the old constellation of Argo Navis; now Carina, Puppis and Vela.

The problem, of course, is that nearly all of the books you can buy will have been written by northern hemisphere writers and will be rather short on description of southern objects. This can lead the newcomer to the mistaken belief that all the ‘good’ observational targets lie in the Northern Hemisphere. In fact, though, the southern sky contains a wealth of wonderful objects and, arguably, the finest examples of almost any type of object you'd care to see. So persevere: Many grand objects are described on this and similar web sites, and there are some good books around featuring southern objects and it is worth tracking them down. A few are listed here.

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