Australian Astronomy

[Tabouli]

Rita:
> I'm surprised that none of the Down-Under people on this List 
have popped up with answers. I know there are more who speak 
out than just Tabouli and Storm.<

Hang on, hang on, here I come, trailing stars behind me...

malaprop2000:
>I have a star guide and I really love the idea of Harry seeing the 
Phoenix but I want to make sure that he could see it.  The Southern 
Cross looks like it would be an excellent choice - four bright stars 
in the shape of a cross -  but I don't know if it can actually be seen 
from the Southern Hemisphere.<

Can the Southern Cross be seen from the Southern Hemisphere?? (isn't the answer in the question?)  Yes, yes and absolutely!  Take a look at the Australian and New Zealand flags some time... both feature the Southern Cross, because this constellation is one of the most prominent features of the Southern Hemisphere night sky.  Obviously all constellations shift with the seasons and rise and set, but I guarantee that the Southern Cross is visible in the night sky from most of Australia most of the time.  This and Orion's belt are the two constellations most school children are taught to find in primary school down here (the pointer stars Alpha and Beta Centauri point to the Southern Cross was the slogan).  Australia has even been known to *call* itself the "Land of the Southern Cross" in TV advertisement jingles and the like...

For concrete evidence of exactly when the cross is visible and whether the Phoenix is visible, etc.etc. I'd need to consult an astronomy textbook (with charts like "the Southern sky in winter/summer" and so on) or get someone crafty and mathematical like David to calculate it.  You might even be able to find celestial globes somewhere.

One more thing: the Southern Cross actually has five stars... the four brightest form the cross, and there's a fifth, dimmer one inset a little at about 4 o' clock.


malaprop2000:
> Yes, I know the likelyhood of an Australian or New Zealander surfing 
the net and finding this fic is nil but I'd like to get it right if possible.<

Wot, wot, wot?  Nil?  I don't know the population of New Zealand (4 million?), but there are 20 million people in Australia, and I assure you that a lot of them are Harry Potter fans!  The oceans of HP books and merchandise populating everything from department stores to petrol stations and newsagencies (when HP books are the only novels available from your little local newsagency, you know JKR has arrived) are proof of that.  Fear not, some Antipodeans will find your fic.  Moreover, most of them will know the Southern Cross is usually visible but very very few would know enough about astronomy to know whether the Southern Cross would be visible at the time required by your story, so I wouldn't worry too much...

(Tabouli chuckles mildly to herself, wondering if malaprop's musings are further evidence of Australia just not featuring on the US (?) radar much.  We do feature on the British radar, by virtue of having a lot of ties and relatives and immigration between the two countries, but as rumour has it, Australia is the last word in remote and obscure destinations in much of the rest of the world...)

Tabouli (in her remote Australian outpost)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]