Starting with very basic resources, need advice

[oopfan]

Hi,

You may be confusing 'Celestial Equator' with 'Local Meridian'. Your Local Meridian divides the eastern and western halves of your sky. The dividing line is the Great Circle connecting three points: the South Celestial Pole, the Zenith, and the North Celestial Pole. The Zenith is the point in Space directly overhead. The Celestial Equator divides the northern and southern halves of your sky. It is the projection of the Earth's equator into Space.

EDIT: Right Ascension and Declination is the analog of Longitude and Latitude except that RA and DEC are projections into Space. Eta Carinae is at -60 DEC which means that if you lived at 60 South Latitude then Eta Carinae would pass through your Zenith every day. BTW, I've taken some liberties with my description of RA but it is mostly true for this discussion.

Brian