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Southern targets guide: objects invisible from the UK #2

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laurence merged 2 commits from southern-targets into main 2026-07-18 21:28:38 +01:00
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laurence commented 2026-07-18 21:28:34 +01:00
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Feature

TARGETS.md: a UK-visibility-tiered guide to southern-sky targets (never rises below dec -38 from lat 51.5N; hopeless below -25), grouped by region, each matched to the best Q62/X07 scope from TELESCOPES.md. Includes a seasonal booking calendar, a July-August starter campaign, and a points-budget section sized to the current 2,638 point balance.

Tools used

WebFetch of itelescope.net (standard-plans rates, support portal). Visibility maths and target/scope matching from the existing TELESCOPES.md review data.

What was achieved

A bookable plan: free T33 warm-up, T71 narrowband on Ara/Scorpius now, T73 on NGC 6744, T8 on the Magellanic Clouds in Oct-Nov, with moon-phase and rate tactics to stretch the points. README links the guide; state/TODO.md updated.

## Feature TARGETS.md: a UK-visibility-tiered guide to southern-sky targets (never rises below dec -38 from lat 51.5N; hopeless below -25), grouped by region, each matched to the best Q62/X07 scope from TELESCOPES.md. Includes a seasonal booking calendar, a July-August starter campaign, and a points-budget section sized to the current 2,638 point balance. ## Tools used WebFetch of itelescope.net (standard-plans rates, support portal). Visibility maths and target/scope matching from the existing TELESCOPES.md review data. ## What was achieved A bookable plan: free T33 warm-up, T71 narrowband on Ara/Scorpius now, T73 on NGC 6744, T8 on the Magellanic Clouds in Oct-Nov, with moon-phase and rate tactics to stretch the points. README links the guide; state/TODO.md updated.
laurence added 2 commits 2026-07-18 21:28:34 +01:00 
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.
The user holds 2,638 iTelescope points. Adds a budgeting section built on the
published standard-plan rate shape (affordable scopes ~$19-54/hr, premium
~$54-118/hr, ranges reflecting moon-phase and plan discounts; exact per-scope
rates live in the login portal planner). Estimates points per finished target
(150-350 narrowband on fast scopes, 300-500 dark-of-moon LRGB galaxies,
200-350 for the T8 Magellanic shot), concluding ~2,600 points covers 8-12
showpiece targets. Stretch tactics: free full-moon weeks for clusters, the
daily free 30 minutes for framing tests, and booking narrowband at bright
moon when rates bottom out.
laurence merged commit 9ba4cdcd35 into main 2026-07-18 21:28:38 +01:00
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Reference: laurence/itelescope#2
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