Southern targets guide: objects invisible from the UK
Adds TARGETS.md, a target guide for the southern iTelescope sites (Siding Spring Q62, Deep Sky Chile X07) built around UK visibility: from lat 51.5°N anything below dec -38° never rises and dec -25° to -38° culminates under ~15° altitude. Targets are tiered accordingly (never visible vs hopeless), grouped by region (Magellanic Clouds, Carina/Crux, Centaurus, Ara/Scorpius tail, far-southern galaxies, SNR/planetaries), and each is matched to the best scope from TELESCOPES.md with the field-of-view reasoning in the notes. Includes a seasonal booking calendar (evening sky by quarter from the southern sites, with the Q62 30-35° minimum-elevation caveat), a suggested first campaign for July-August (free T33 globulars, T71 narrowband on Ara/ Scorpius, T73 on NGC 6744, then T8 on the Magellanic Clouds in Oct-Nov), and cost-shape notes (fast scopes for nebulae, dark-of-moon for LRGB). README links the new guide; state/TODO.md records the addition.
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- **[TELESCOPES.md](TELESCOPES.md)**: the full review, grouped by observatory, with a
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"choosing a telescope" guide at the end.
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- **[TARGETS.md](TARGETS.md)**: southern-sky targets invisible from the UK, matched
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to scopes and to the time of year to book them.
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- **[data/itelescope-telescopes.csv](data/itelescope-telescopes.csv)**: snapshot of
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the network's maintained specs sheet (source of truth for the numbers).
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- **state/**: project state under the Default Workflow.
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TARGETS.md
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# Southern targets: what the UK can never show you
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A target guide for imaging objects that are invisible (or hopeless) from the UK,
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using the southern half of the iTelescope network: Siding Spring, Australia (Q62)
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and Deep Sky Chile (X07). Companion to [TELESCOPES.md](TELESCOPES.md).
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## The visibility rule from the UK
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From latitude 51.5°N (southern England), an object's maximum altitude is
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`90° - 51.5° + declination`:
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- **Dec below about -38°: never rises.** These objects cannot be imaged from the UK
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at all, ever.
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- **Dec -25° to -38°: technically rises, practically hopeless.** Culminates under
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~15° altitude, buried in atmosphere and murk.
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- Dec -10° to -25°: imageable from the UK but always low and compromised; far better
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from the southern sites.
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Everything below is grouped by those tiers, then matched to scopes and to the time
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of year when it is best placed from the southern sites.
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## Tier 1: never visible from the UK (dec < -38°)
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### The Magellanic Clouds (the headline act)
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Large Magellanic Cloud | -69° | T8 | The whole LMC just fits T8's 4 x 4 degree field |
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| Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) | -69° | T73, T17 | Core detail; the finest emission nebula in either sky |
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| Small Magellanic Cloud + 47 Tucanae | -72° | T8 | Both in a single T8 frame, a unique composition |
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| 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) alone | -72° | T33 (free), T73 | Second-finest globular in the sky |
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### Carina and Crux region
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372) | -59° | T71 | Fills T71's 2.7 x 1.8 degree field perfectly; narrowband showpiece |
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| Carina to Crux widefield | -60° | T70 | The richest stretch of the Milky Way in one 8-degree frame |
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| Southern Pleiades (IC 2602) | -64° | T71, T75 | Bright open cluster |
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| Running Chicken (IC 2944) | -63° | T71, T75 | Emission nebula with Bok globules |
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| Wishing Well Cluster (NGC 3532) | -58° | T71 | Reportedly the best open cluster in the sky |
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| Coalsack + Southern Cross | -60° | T70 | Dark nebula composition |
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### Centaurus and the southern globulars
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) | -47° | T59, T17 | The largest globular cluster known; needs the ~40 arcmin fields |
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| Centaurus A (NGC 5128) | -43° | T17, T32, T73 | Iconic dust-lane radio galaxy |
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| NGC 4945 | -49° | T73 | Big edge-on spiral, underimaged |
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| NGC 6752 (Pavo globular) | -60° | T33 (free) | Third-brightest globular |
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### Ara, Norma and the Scorpius tail
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Fighting Dragons of Ara (NGC 6188) | -49° | T71 | Dramatic narrowband target |
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| Prawn Nebula (IC 4628) | -40° | T71, T75 | Large, faint, great in Ha |
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| NGC 6231 + Table of Scorpius | -42° | T71 | Rich cluster region |
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### Far-southern galaxies
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| NGC 6744 (Pavo) | -63° | T73, T17 | Milky Way lookalike spiral |
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| NGC 1313 (Topsy-Turvy) | -66° | T73 | Distorted starburst spiral |
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| NGC 1566 (Spanish Dancer) | -55° | T73 | Grand-design face-on spiral |
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| NGC 2070 region galaxies | -69° | T17 | See Magellanic section |
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### Southern nebulae, supernova remnants and planetaries
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Vela SNR | -45° | T70 | Huge filamentary shell, needs the 8-degree field |
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| Gum Nebula | -43° | T70 | 36 degrees across; even T70 mosaics it |
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| Southern Ring (NGC 3132) | -40° | T73 | Small bright planetary |
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| Toby Jug Nebula (IC 2220) | -59° | T73 | Reflection nebula |
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## Tier 2: hopeless from the UK (dec -25° to -38°), excellent from the south
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| Target | Dec | Best scope | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Cat's Paw (NGC 6334) | -36° | T71 | Narrowband showpiece |
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| War and Peace (NGC 6357) | -34° | T71 | Pairs with the Cat's Paw in one T75 framing |
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| NGC 1365 (Great Barred Spiral) | -36° | T73, T17 | The archetypal barred spiral, Fornax |
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| Fornax cluster core | -35° | T17, T32 | Galaxy cluster field |
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| M83 (Southern Pinwheel) | -30° | T73, T17 | Face-on spiral, superb from Q62/X07 |
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| NGC 300 and NGC 55 (Sculptor) | -37°/-39° | T17, T75 | Nearby resolved spirals |
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| NGC 253 (Sculptor Galaxy) | -25° | T17, T32 | Huge dusty starburst, low and ruined from the UK |
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| Corona Australis dust complex | -37° | T71, T75 | Reflection nebula and dust river |
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## When to book what (from the southern sites)
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Seasons refer to what is well placed in the evening-to-midnight sky at Siding Spring
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and Deep Sky Chile. Siding Spring scopes have 30-35 degree minimum elevation limits,
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so aim within a few hours of culmination; T70 in Chile can go to the horizon.
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- **Jan-Mar:** Tarantula and the LMC, NGC 1313, Vela SNR and the Gum Nebula, Carina
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rising late evening.
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- **Apr-Jun:** Eta Carinae at its best, Crux and the Coalsack, Omega Centauri,
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Centaurus A, NGC 4945, the Musca dark nebulae.
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- **Jul-Sep (now):** the Scorpius tail and Ara at the zenith: Cat's Paw, War and
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Peace, Prawn, NGC 6188, NGC 6231; NGC 6744; Corona Australis; 47 Tucanae and the
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SMC in the second half of the night.
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- **Oct-Dec:** Magellanic Cloud prime time, 47 Tucanae, Sculptor galaxies (NGC 253,
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55, 300), Fornax cluster and NGC 1365, NGC 1566.
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## A sensible first campaign (July-August)
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1. **Free warm-up on T33** (30 min/day, Siding Spring): 47 Tucanae or NGC 6752 in
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LRGB across a few nights. Costs nothing, learns the booking system.
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2. **T71 narrowband run** (Chile, f/2.8): NGC 6188 or the Cat's Paw + War and Peace
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region. Fast optics keep the bill down; use the standard 300 s calibrated subs.
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3. **T73 galaxy shot**: NGC 6744, currently well placed, as an LRGB target.
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4. **Book ahead for October-November:** T8 for the LMC (or SMC + 47 Tuc in one
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frame): the single most "you cannot do this from the UK" image on the network.
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## Cost-shape notes
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- Fast scopes (T71 f/2.8, T75 f/3.8, T70 f/3.5) reach depth in the least imaging
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time, which is what you pay for: prefer them for nebulae.
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- The two free scopes cover both hemispheres of this list poorly (T68 is northern)
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but T33 covers southern globulars and compact targets well.
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- Moonlight: narrowband targets (Carina, Ara, Scorpius nebulae) tolerate moon;
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save galaxy and globular time (T73, T17, T8 LRGB) for dark-of-moon bookings.
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@ -9,6 +9,9 @@
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- 2026-07-17: specs sheet snapshotted to data/itelescope-telescopes.csv (24 scopes).
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- 2026-07-17: TELESCOPES.md written: per-scope reviews for all 23 active telescopes
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plus a choosing guide (T74 noted as in commissioning, no specs published).
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- 2026-07-18: TARGETS.md written: southern targets invisible from the UK (dec tiers
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from lat 51.5°N), matched to Q62/X07 scopes, seasonal booking calendar, and a
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July-August starter campaign (T33 free, T71 narrowband, T73 galaxy, T8 LMC later).
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## In progress
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