Northern vs southern hemisphere: which has better night sky targets?

Acquisition Deep Sky Observing Lists
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Northen or Southern Skies
Single choice poll 29 votes
31% (9 votes)
69% (20 votes)
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Ben Saunders avatar
Ben Saunders avatar

The battle of the skies has undoubtedly been debated many times before, but the question remains: who truly has the best night-sky targets—the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Hemisphere?

Living in the North, I often find myself filled with awe and a fair bit of jealousy when I see the incredible targets being captured from the Southern Hemisphere. It leaves me wishing I had access to those skies myself. Is this simply a case of the grass being greener on the other side, or is it time to consider heading south? 🤣.

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Marco Montella avatar
Marco Montella avatar

I think it’s important to factor in the fact that, on average, South Hemisphere imaging locations occur at a lower latitude than the barycentre of human settlements in the Northern. Namibia, for instance, lies at an average 25°S, while Central Europe straddles the 50th parallel.

This means that on average, observing sites in the South can capture a larger fraction of the northern sky than vice versa, making those locations overall preferable.

If we speak purely in terms of Declination, I would say the Hemispheres are about even, with the North possibly having an edge because of the wide field chaos of the Cygnus and Cepheus regions, which I personally find more appealing than the galactic center.

Alejandro Moreschi avatar
Alejandro Moreschi avatar

I live in Argentina, and we have many beautiful objects to see and photograph, such as the Carina and Tarantula Nebulae, and globular clusters like Omega Centauri and 47 Tucanae. But I'm really eager to observe objects in the Northern Hemisphere. I think we yearn for what's out of our reach. For example, as a child, I always wanted to see the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) after watching the Cosmos videos. I remember spending hours looking at the stars at night without realizing that it's impossible to see from here. Even so, I voted for the Southern Hemisphere.

I hope Google Translate understood me because there were a couple of words I didn't know. jajaja

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andrea tasselli avatar
andrea tasselli avatar
Marco Montella:
I think it’s important to factor in the fact that, on average, South Hemisphere imaging locations occur at a lower latitude than the barycentre of human settlements in the Northern. Namibia, for instance, lies at an average 25°S, while Central Europe straddles the 50th parallel.

This means that on average, observing sites in the South can capture a larger fraction of the northern sky than vice versa, making those locations overall preferable.

If we speak purely in terms of Declination, I would say the Hemispheres are about even, with the North possibly having an edge because of the wide field chaos of the Cygnus and Cepheus regions, which I personally find more appealing than the galactic center.


While ~90% of the human population lives in the Northern Hemisphere I think the latitudinal mean line would be around 30N. Europe is the outlier as its habitability in the northern portion is driven by the Gulf Current.
Spacey avatar
Spacey avatar

All the popular targets in the Northern Hemisphere have been so heavily imaged that we’ve all seen them hundreds of times over before we ever got into astrophotography. I live in the northern hemisphere and I think the southern skies have the best DSOs for imaging.

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Aloke Palsikar avatar
Aloke Palsikar avatar

Though I live in Northern Hemisphere in India closer to Equator, I personally feel the Southern Skies will be better. Given there is less land mass, the chances of light and dust pollution will be much lower and the skies will be much clearer and brighter. Constellations and stars seen will be also different !

Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

I have imaged in the south from NSW. The sky was amazing, filled with large, bright objects. Adding in the Magellenic clouds and the high elevation of the Milky Way center, I think it gets the nod.

alpheratz06 avatar
alpheratz06 avatar

Ben Saunders · Jan 23, 2026, 09:26 AM

Living in the North, I often find myself filled with awe and a fair bit of jealousy when I see the incredible targets being captured from the Southern Hemisphere.

Same filling here, specially for large nebulae like Vela and others.

If you can afford, go South…