The night sky this month

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during December 2021 .

The Planets Jupiter As darkness falls at the start of December, Jupiter, having a magnitude of -2.29 and an angular size of 38.3 arc seconds, may be seen in the south. It transits at 17:15 GMT with an elevation of ~24 degrees. By month's end its magnitude will have reduced slightly to -2.13 and its angular size to 35.36 arc seconds and it will be seen in the south southwest at nightfall. Happily, this year Jupiter has climbed up the ecliptic somewhat so the atmosphere will not hinder our view of the solar system's giant planet as much as it has in the last two years.

Saturn Saturn precedes Jupiter into the sky and will be seen towards the south southwest at nightfall. It then shines with a magnitude of +0.7 with its disk 16 arc seconds across and the rings spanning some 37 arc seconds. By month's end, it has a reduced brightness of magnitude +0.71 with a 15.46 arc second disk. Sadly, its elevation will only be about 17 degrees at as December begins so the atmosphere will hinder our view of this most beautiful planet.

Mercury Having passed behind the Sun at the beginning of December makes an appearance after sunset in the last few days of the month very low in the southwest below Venus. It will have a magnitude of ~-0.73 and an angular size of ~6 arc seconds. Binoculars may well be needed to spot it, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars This month, Mars climbs out of the Sun's glare in the pre-dawn sky having a magnitude of 1.64 on the first with an angular size of 3.77 arc seconds. It will then be best seen at around 06:41 GMT in the southeast. By month's end the best time to observe it will be at ~07:00 GMT when it magnitude will have increased slightly to 1.54 with an angular size of 4 degrees. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Venus At the start of December, Venus, at magnitude -4.87 and having an angular size of ~39 arc seconds, will only have an elevation of ~8 degrees at sunset looking towards the south southwest. It may well be lost in the Sun's glare until around 16:00. During the month it falls back towards the Sun and will be lost in the Sun's glare. As the ecliptic is at a shallow angle to the horizon in the latter part of the year, it has never got to a high evening elevation during this apparation.

Highlights of the Month December, evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. This month is a good time to look high in the southeast towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system as seen in the diagram below. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4.

December: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. In the late evenings when the Moon is not prominent, the galaxy M31 in Andromeda will be visible high in the southeast. The chart provides two ways of finding it:Around new Moon (3rd December) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

December - still worth observing Jupiter. This is still not a bad month to observe Jupiter which will be visible in the south after sunset. It lies in the southern part of the ecliptic and, sadly, will only reach an elevations of ~22 degrees when crossing the meridian. An interesting observation is that the Great Red Spot appears to be diminishing in size. At the beginning of the last century it spanned 40,000 km across but now appears to be only ~16,500 km across - less than half the size. It used to be said that 3 Earths could fit within it, but now it is only one. The shrinking rate appears to be accelerating and observations indicate that it is now reducing in size by ~580 miles per year. Will it eventually disappear? The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely (as seen in Damian's image) but has now returned to its normal wide state. The diagram on right shows the main Jovian features as imaged by the author at the beginning of December 2012.

December: find Uranus. This month is a still a good time to find the planet Uranus in the late evening as it reached opposition on November 4th. With a magnitude of 5.7, binoculars will easily spot it and, from a really dark site, it might even be visible to the unaided eye. A medium aperture telescope will reveal Uranus's 3.7 arc second wide disk showing its turquoise colour. It lies in Aries, close to the boarder of Cetus as shown on the chart. A highlight below shows when it lies just above the Moon so making it easy to find.

December 6th - after sunset: Three Planets and a crescent Moon. If clear after sunset on the 6th, there will be lovely line up of Jupiter, Saturn and Venus along with a very thin crescent Moon. Binoculars may well be needed to cut through the Sun's glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

December 8th after sunset: - Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon. If clear after sunset on the 6th, one could observe the Moon lying below Jupiter and Saturn.

December 14th - evening: - Uranus above the Moon. If clear in the evening of the 14th, Uranus could be spotted lying up to the left of the Moon.

December 16th - late evening: the Moon below the Hyades and Pleiades Cluster. If clear in the late evening of the 16th, the Moon will be seen to lie just below the Hyades and Pleiades clusters.

December 22nd/23rd - late evenings: the Ursid Meteor Shower. The late evenings of the 22nd and 23rd of December are when the Ursid meteor shower will be at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great. This year, the Moon will be moving towards third quarter so, sadly, its light will hinder our view. The radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation. Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so it is worth having a look should it be clear.

December 31st - before dawn: Mars and the Moon. If clear and given a low horizon towards the southeast, Mars should be visible down to the left of a very thin waning crescent Moon.

December - Evenings of the 12th and 26th: The Straight Wall. The Straight Wall, or Rupes Recta, is best observed either 1 or 2 days after First Quarter or a day or so before Third Quarter. To honest, it is not really a wall but a gentle scarp - as Sir Patrick has said "Neither is it a wall nor is it straight!"

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during December 2021.

In the southern hemisphere it is summertime but everything else is the same, we too are preparing for Christmas and to celebrate the anniversary of Apollo 8 - the first people to ever go around the Moon on Christmas Day 1968.

Speaking about the Moon, this month, the New Moon is on the 4th of December - this is when it is great to go deep-sky observing. First quarter is on the 11th of December - which means the Moon is in the sky in the first part of the night, and is setting after midnight. Full Moon occurs on the 19th of December - we hope you like long walks under the moonlight, because no deep sky objects will be easily visible in the sky as full Moon does make light pollution, and you will use a moon filter if you want to observe the Moon. And finally last quarter on the 27 of December, which means the Moon is in the sky in the last part of the night so rising after midnight. This is very helpful to plan your stargazing accordingly.

Venus, Saturn and Jupiter are beautifully aligned at sunset and visible at the beginning of the month just after sunset. Venus is the closest to the horizon followed by Saturn and then Jupiter. Towards the end of the month, Venus will get too close to the Sun, Neptune and Uranus are visible all night long. Mars is in Libra and moving into Scorpius by the end of the month, which means it will be visible in the morning sky then.

I often get comments like, who can remember oh, so many stars, or is it really hard to remember all those constellations and so on. While this is true, many cultures - we all know that, invented stories about different stars in the sky and that made things easier to remember. Some cultures, in particular, had seasonal asterisms, and some of these asterisms encompassed the entire sky. How to remember all of it? Is by linking to things that are memorable or make your own stories!

With that in mind, let’s look at the sky in December in New Zealand.

December is very famous for Christmas and Christmas is very famous for Christmas trees. As I was learning the south celestial night sky, one night it occurred to me that right now in December, the entire region of the south celestial pole looks like a giant Christmas tree. Of course I am biased, and I love Christmas trees as well, but this trick helped me remember where everything was. Let’s look at that patch of the sky.

The sky looks like a Christmas tree only in December, just after sunset, if you look at the southern part of the sky. I will start at the top with Achernar, we can give that magical tree topper function.

Is very high in the sky about 75 degrees from the horizon. Then, just a bit lower down, the Magellanic Clouds are like two patches of snow one third town the tree and at the base, Look under the Southern Cross, those two stars, Gamma Centauri (Muhlifain) and Delta Centauri, together with the Southern Cross and Musca are the trunk.

All the other stars in Centaurus and Vela are decorations on the lower branches. Can you see the giant celestial Christmas tree? We might not have snow this time of the year in the Southern Hemisphere but it is like nature compensated for that with a celestial Christmas Tree just in time for Christmas.

Then, in the North, the Great Square of Pegasus – is the only horse that looks like a square and one of the very few northern constellations that is not upside-down.

Pegasus pulls a sleigh – we can make that up out of the Pleiades, Hyades and Orion. Draw a line between these asterisms and you can see the sleigh. Orion is the back of the sleigh where the driver sits and the Pleiades is the front where the runners are curved. Can you see the sleigh? We don’t have reindeers in New Zealand so Pegasus the flying horse will have to do.

Running behind the sleigh, on the ground , is a Dog - this is the Dog Star, Sirius. He’s very happy on the snowy road, which is the Milky Way. We can imagine that the sleigh has just come up from behind the Christmas tree and is flying across the sky to the Northern Hemisphere. But there’s one more star, my favourite star here, Canopus. I call this the Cat Star as every Sirius astronomer in New Zealand who wants a cat should contemplate this name first.

Halfway through from the top of the Christmas tree which is the star Achernar, our cat, Canopus jumps to catch the back of the sleigh. By the looks of it, it will probably land on the dog.

So we can turn the night sky in December, in New Zealand into a big Christmas Scene. We have a horse, sleigh, and a big Christmas Tree.

Draw a line from Sirius to Canopus – which are two very bright stars, it will lead you to the Magellanic Clouds. Sirius is in fact the brightest star in the sky, Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky and to the right of the imaginary Christmas Tree is Alpha Centauri, the third brightest star in the sky.

Lower on the Northern horizon, underneath the galloping hind-legs of Pegasus, Andromeda Galaxy is a smidge of light. It is the furthest object we can see with the naked eye, 2.5 million light years distance from us. When the light that we see now from Andromeda left the galaxy, on Earth, some of our hominid ancestors, facing food shortages, developed larger brains, as an evolutionary strategy. This led to the genus Homo, which first arose 2.5 million years ago. Homo habilis developed as the ice ages began, a time known as Pleistocene. And who knows, maybe the first human memories of winter too.
Some cool binocular objects this month lay low around the horizon. Best objects to start with are obviously the Moon, the planets and double Stars (Alpha Centauri, Gamma Velorum, Beta Muscae and Upsilon Carinae, The Pleiades and Andromeda Galaxy are all great binocular targets. Then, of course, the Magellanic Clouds are great to look at.
Some favourites of ours are visible in the night sky in December. The first of these is M74 which is vey hard to see due to its very low surface brightness. With very dark skies it can be seen from the Wairarapa, you’d need Bortle Scale 2 or 1 to see it. Luckily it’s not all bad for galaxy hunting in December as not too far from M74 is the bright galaxy of M77 – also known as Cetus A. This one is easy to spot even from central Wellington. We won’t see the faint outer regions of the spiral arms but the bright active core is very visible and at 33 Million light years distant the photons from this object have spent a long time making their way to Wellington.

We do have some very impressive galaxies in the Southern Sky. One of these is NGC 253 – also known as the Sculptor Galaxy. This is a large spiral galaxy at an angle to us so it looks like an elongated ellipse. It’s relatively bright and easy to spot if you’ve got plenty of aperture. You’ll have to put your light bucket on the back of your scooter and head to a dark sky location to make out much detail, but if you do, you’ll be in for a treat as you take in the complex shapes and clumps of detail visible on the disk. Sculptor is about 12 million light years away and appears about 27 arc minutes long so is quite big.

Quite close to Sculptor is the tight spiral galaxy known as NGC 300. This is a great galaxy to view as it’s quite close at only 6.6 million light years – for Northern Sky observers it’s a bit like a mini M33. Viewing from Wellington will show the bright core but you’ll have to head to the hills to get any detail out of the spiral arms. Keen astrophotographers will have a better time in Wellington as this galaxy is bright enough to burn through the light pollution and produce quite a nice picture.

The problem with viewing galaxies is that they don’t really look anything like the beautiful photographs people take. They are often just a faint grey smudge in the eyepiece and you have to use your best visual observing skills to get any detail out of what you’re looking at. This is when it’s great to swing the telescope around to the majestic brilliance of the likes of the Tarantula Nebula. This gives you a picture in the eyepiece very similar to what photographers capture, just not in colour. This big giant bright complex of gas clouds and massive stars looks a bit like a spider, hence its name and it is a must see of the Southern Sky and is almost compulsory viewing on any observing evening.

At this time of the year the two galaxy groups of the Fornax Cluster and the Grus Quartet are also in a good position for viewing. As the month advances the position of the Fornax Cluster improves and the position of the Grus Quartet gets worse so get in early to see these four stunning galaxies. Both groups are between 60 Mly and 80 Mly distant with the Grus Quartet being three galaxies visually quite close to each other and another galaxy a little further away. With the right eyepiece you can get all four in the same field of view. With the Fornax Cluster it is possible to get up to 11 galaxies at once in the same field of view. These are mainly elliptical galaxies including the stunning Fornax A.

December in the Southern Hemisphere is generally the unhappy month for the astronomer, unless your thing is solar astronomy, because the nights are short and the temperatures are creeping up. It seems to take forever for the night to get truly dark and forever for the telescope to cool down. Unlike the rest of the population, us astronomers are craving a cold front to blow through and give us a nice cool patch of air to settle the thermals and give us some great seeing. The good news is that this time of year is perfect for an all nighter of astronomy (all 4.5 hours of astronomical night) as the Milky Way passes through the zenith in the early hours and there’s a wealth of deep sky objects to fill your eye piece.

Due East – Taurus Orion region

A good place to start an evening’s viewing is Orion, that majestic constellation that is easy to find in the Northeast at about 35 degrees in elevation. With a pair of binoculars an observer can easily see the Great Orion Nebula (Messier 42 or M42) which is a huge star forming region just above Orion’s Belt, which is made up of the three stars of Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. Mintaka is very dear to navigators as it’s located exactly on the celestial equator.

Orion has a number of very interesting stars including Betelgeuse which is a red supergiant and one of the largest stars in the sky. It is one of the few stars that have been imaged and it’s unusual shape is quite apparent showing it probably has a very unstable atmosphere causing the asymmetric bulging of the star. Because of its massive size Betelgeuse will not live for much longer – maybe only another 1000 years. Or it may have already exploded! But given its 400 or so light years away we might not find out for a while. When it does go it will create quite a spectacle on Earth as it will be a very bright supernova and will probably even be visible in daylight.

M42 is relatively close to us at about 1400 light years which makes it one of the brightest nebulae in the sky. With a telescope the M42 can appear to have a greenish tint, unlike the bright red photos that are often published. It is estimated that M42 is about 24 light years across and that it is part of a much larger structure known as the Orion Molecular Cloud, which extends for about 10 degrees across the whole constellation of Orion. This cloud includes the famous Horse Head Nebula (B33), Flame Nebula (NGC 2024), M78 and Barnards Loop (Sharpless 2-276). If you have access to an infrared telescope, you can also see the brightest object in infrared, that is the Becklin-Neugebauer object. M42 is one of the most photographed objects due to its brightness and visibility in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

These are some of my favourite things about December, other than sleigh bells and snowflakes and warm woolen mittens and from here from New Zealand,

I wish you clear skies so that you can always see the stars and always remember we are made of the same star dust as they are.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during May 2021 .

The Planets Jupiter: As May begins and given a low horizon towards the southeast, Jupiter, rising at 03:36 BST around 2 hours before the Sun, may be glimpsed just before dawn shining at magnitude -2.2 and having an angular size of 37.44 arc seconds. By month's end, it rises at 01:43 BST, about three hours before the Sun, when its magnitude will have increased slightly to -2.4 and its angular size to 41.2 arc seconds. Sadly, its low elevation of ~20 degrees as dawn approaches will somewhat hinder our view of the solar system's giant planet. Saturn: Saturn precedes Jupiter into the sky, rising at ~03:00 BST at the beginning of the month. A low horizon towards the south-east will be needed to see them both. It is then shining with a magnitude of +0.71 and its disk is 16.7 arc seconds across with the rings spanning some 39 arc seconds. By month's end, it rises at 01:00 BST with a slightly increased brightness of magnitude +0.57 and a 17.6 arc second disk. We will have to wait a while to see this most beautiful planet at its best. Mercury: This month Mercury has its best evening apparition of the year. The planet is at its brightest, at magnitude-1, at the start of May. It then lies just below the Pleiades cluster in Taurus having an angular size of ~6 arc seconds. From the 3rd to the 6th it lies within a binocular field of view of 2.8 magnitude Alcyone in the cluster's centre. Its greatest elongation east is on the 17th when it stands about 11 degrees above the north-western horizon around 45 minutes after sunset. It will then have a magnitude of +0.41 and an angular diameter of just over 8 arc seconds. It then falls back towards the horizon passing very close to Venus on the 28th. Mars: Mars passed into Gemini on the 23rd of April and starts the month with a magnitude +1.56 It will be best seen in the west at an elevation of ~24 degrees soon after nightfall. Reducing in brightness to +1.74 by month's end, it will still be visible in the evening sky until August before it passes behind the Sun in October. Venus: At the start of May Venus, at magnitude -3.88 and having an angular size of ~10 arc seconds, will only have an elevation of ~6 degrees at sunset towards the northwest. By month's end, its elevation at sunset will have increased to ~11 degrees and its magnitude reduced very slightly to -3.85. Venus will grace the evening sky for the rest of this year and reaches its greatest elongation east from the Sun on October the 29th but will be highest in the evening sky at the beginning of December. Highlights of the Month May 13th - after sunset: Mercury and a thin crescent Moon: If clear this evening, Mercury will be seen up to the right of a very thin crescent Moon. One might also spot Venus down to the right of the Moon. May 13th - early evening: Mars and a thin crescent Moon: If clear this evening, Mars will be seen up to the left of a thin crescent Moon. One might also be able to spot Mercury down to the right of the Moon. May26th - late evening: A supermoon: On the night of the 26th, the Moon will be at Perigee - its closet point to the Earth - and its angular size will be 33.6 arc minutes across compared to its average diameter at full moon of 31 arc minutes - so 8% larger in diameter. As the Moon is then as bright as it can ever be, it is called a 'supermoon'. Sadly, due to Covid, one could not now fly to New Zealand or Eastern Australia where at ~11:19 UT a brief total eclipse of the Moon could be seen. May28th - after sunset: Venus and Mercury: After sunset on the 28th, if clear, one would be able to see Mercury (at magnitude 2.3) around half a degree away from Venus some 300 times brighter. Mercury presents a tiny crescent but Venus a nearly full disk - with both being around 10 arc seconds across. May 31st - before dawn: Jupiter, Saturn and a thin crescent Moon: Before dawn on the 31st, low in the southeast, Jupiter, over to the left, and Saturn, above, a very thin crescent Moon. May 2nd and 18th, evening: The Hyginus Rille: These evenings, should it be clear, are a superb time to view the Hyginus Rille as it will lie close to the terminator. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during May 2021.

Kia Ora from New Zealand, this is Haritina Mogosanu And Samuel Leske from Wellington New Zealand, we are here with the night sky in May 2021.

If we look at the night sky long enough to observe changes in the patterns of stars, we notice that these patterns shift ever so slowly westwards. The reason for that is our vantage point from where we are looking at the stars behind our Solar System, our galactic immediate neighbours, that vantage point changes every day by about one degree. From Earth, it seems like the same stars come up every day about 4 minutes earlier. But that’s not true for all stars. There are some stars that in New Zealand, never set or rise, their light just gets washed away by the Sun when it rises. These stars move around in circles and we call them circumpolar. The point that is visible from New Zealand around which stars rotate is called the South Celestial Pole. There are some stars that we never see from New Zealand, such as Polaris, the North Star, most of the big dipper stars, Casiopeea and so on, we don’t see them here because they are hidden by the Earth.

So if you ever buy a star and you wish to observe it, here’s something you need to keep in mind. Do you travel much around the Earth? Because except if you are on the equator, where if you are patient and can spare a few months waiting then you can see most of the stars in ideal conditions (I am accounting here for stars that are too low on the horizon) then everywhere else on Earth there are places where you see some stars and some you don’t. And if you decide to move at one of the poles forever, then every night you will see all the stars in your half of the sky and you will never see the other half.

So when we talk about what is in the sky in New Zealand, there are stars that are always in the sky here, these are the circumpolar stars. The bulk of them make a beautiful big circle in the southern part of the sky. The most famous of them is the Southern Cross and the two pointers, beautiful and bright, located straight in the Milky Way. If you ever get lost in New Zealand and you can see the Milky Way, just follow that and somewhere along the way is the Southern Cross. This works anytime on a clear sky night from a dark sky location (which is about 80% of New Zealand by the way). This time of the year, after sunset, the Southern Cross is up high, which means it is in a good position to observe. Around the Southern Cross is the famous asterism, invented by a bunch of Christchurch kids, of The Frying Pan. The two pointer stars are the handle of the frying pan and the stars in Centaurus that surround it are the pan. The southern cross, they said, is the Fish in the Frying Pan. Maori call the dark patch, the Coalsack around the Southern Cross, they call it the Flounder.

An asterism, just like a constellation, means a grouping of stars, but the word constellation is used now for the official sectors in the sky so to describe everything else that is unofficial asterism is the better definition. If you want to make the asterism of The Wok instead of a frying pan, we use the amazing Omega Centauri globular cluster as the pointy bottom of The Wok. Omega Centauri is also in a good position to observe this time of the year, finally!

First identified as a non-stellar object by astronomer Edmond Halley in 1677, Omega Centauri is about 5000 parsecs or 17 thousand light years away from us, and is the most massive globular cluster in the Milky Way, with a diameter of 150 light years across. It has about 10 million stars, weighing almost as much as the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, that is about 4 million times more massive than our Sun. Omega Centauri is visible with the naked eye, in binoculars and in a telescope, the bigger the better the view. It is spectacular. What makes it very special other than it’s lace appearance and size is that at it’s centre, Omega Centauri has its own black hole, and it is believed it might have originally been a dwarf galaxy just like the Magellanic Clouds that was eaten by the Milky Way.

Following the Milky Way, in the constellation Carina there is a hypergiant star, Eta Carinae. Eta Carinae is about 2,300 parsecs or seven and a half thousand light years away. It has at least two stars of a combined luminosity five million times greater than the Sun. For three days in 1843 it became the second brightest stars in the sky, brighter than Canopus (officially the second brightest star in the sky) then faded away so it could not be seen with the naked eye and finally now has come back to being visible and is around magnitude 4-4.3, which means it can be seen with the naked eye if you know where to look. Better though, in a telescope Eta Carinae is spectacular, it has an orange tinge and there are beautiful nebulae surrounding it, it’s one of my favourite telescope objects in the entire night sky. Eta Carinae nebula is also home to WR25, one of the most luminous stars known in our galaxy.

Two open clusters, both great in binoculars but even better in telescopes are nearby the Southern Cross, these are the Jewel Box (on the same side with the pointers) and the Pearl Cluster (NGC 3766), on the opposite side. They are both really beautiful open clusters of stars and you can see blue and red giants in those clusters when you look at them through the telescopes. Pearl Cluster is also very close to Lambda Centauri that is home of the Running Chicken nebula, which is only a good object for astrophotography as it’s very hard to see otherwise.

Right by the Diamond Cross, a good binocular object is the Southern Pleiades. These are also very high in the sky, and good that they are because the Northern Pleiades, also known as the Pleiades are now very close to the Sun and so we can’t see them for a couple of months.

And finally, by the False Cross, in Vela, the Omicron Velorum star cluster or IC 2391 only about 500 light years from Earth and NGC 2516 are also objects we look at on a regular basis, every weekend, this time of the year. NGC 2516 is also known as the Southern Beehive - because it is thought it resembles the real Beehive cluster M44. This proves once again, Sam’s point that astronomers are really really good at naming stars.

The two neighbouring galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic clouds are now a bit harder to observe because they are in the lower third each side of the axis that goes from the Southern Cross to Achernar - also a circumpolar star. After sunset of course, the Large Magellanic cloud is the patch to the west and the Small Magellanic Cloud is the patch to the east of that axis. Just pick up a pair of binoculars and enjoy them. They are not so much visible with the naked eye as you would expect so we always use peripheral or averted vision to see them better. From Wellington’s botanical gardens or on a full Moon night, you can just barely see them. Now because they are lower onto the horizon, we are observing them through a layer of atmosphere which is okay for visual observations but not good for deep sky astrophotography.

As the Earth orbits the Sun, it also spins on its axis. The extension of this axis to infinity gives us the South Celestial Pole and the North Celestial Pole. The height of the celestial pole in the sky gives you the latitude that you are on Earth. The lower the Celestial Pole in the sky, the smaller the circumpolar region and the other way around. In New Zealand, the South Celestial Pole is at approximately 40 degrees in the sky, which is also the radius of the circumpolar zone. Canopus is also circumpolar and is in the sky here all night long.

The circumpolar stars are always in the sky and depending on how much moisture is there in the sky from your observing place or how much light pollution you can enjoy very many of these objects all year long and all night long.

The circumpolar zone is fascinating, if you have one, you can almost learn to use it as a clock for time keeping. The stars rotate in 23 hours and 56 minutes so every day they shift a bit. The ancient Egyptians called these stars “indestructible” (never go away) and aligned their pyramids and temples with them. They also believed their pharaohs became stars of the circumpolar region after they died so by aligning the pyramids to the Pole star the souls of the dead had direct passage north Unfortunately we cannot see those pharaoh that became stars from New Zealand as it just so happens the North Circumpolar Region is hiding right behind Earth as observed from here.

While the Ancient Egyptians saw circumpolar stars "Ikhemw-sek" as indestructible and imperishable they thought that the rest of the stars were "Ikhemw-wredj" unwearying. Kondo. This is alluding to the fact that even though they had a longer path to travel than the circumpolar stars, the other stars still kept coming back up from behind the horizon.

The other part of the sky that we see from New Zealand is seasonal. There’s a new book by famous archaeoastronomer Professor Anthony Aveni called Star Stories, where he discusses seasonality as a common theme among constellation myths. Stories progress as constellations move across the sky, he says, — It’s all about the stories and what we learn from them. “We created constellations for discourse about moral issues and social rules, about affairs both practical and spiritual, about our immediate needs and our wildest dreams” The sky is there to tell tales of moral significance for all of the cultures, he says.

Here in New Zealand, Maori, have even different names and stories for the same stars as they shift across the sky each season occupying a different position as seen after sunset, in regards to the cardinal points.

The most popular of these seasonal constellations are the zodiacal constellations. The stars that make the zodiacal constellations are those stars that are behind the path of the planets in our solar system. Nobody knows for sure who invented them or what they looked like in ancient times but we do know the Summerians left a rich artistic tradition that showed many naturalistic animals but featured prominently lions, bulls and sometimes scorpions. These same animals were pictured in the sky as the earliest zodiacal constellations: Taurus, Leo and Scorpius. (Rogers). Their stars are 3 of the 4 the Royal Stars: Aldebaran in Taurus, Regulus in Leo and Antares in Scorpius. What’s awesome about these constellations is that they are about 90 degrees apart from each other. A fourth constellation that completes the four Mesopotamian pillars of the sky is Aquarius (now set).

This time of the year,after sunset, we can see the constellation of Leo in the mid northern part of the sky while Scorpius is rising from the west.

Gemini is lying along the horizon waiting to set so not in a good position to observe.

Leo is an amazing target for telescopes and binoculars. Close to the area south of the triangle that marks Leo’s hips…M65, M66 and NGC 3628, which will be visible depending on the size of your binoculars they are also known as the “Leo Triplet”. Also in Leo, M105 is an elliptical galaxy. M96 another galaxy in Leo lies at about 35 million light years away.

To the east of Leo is Virgo, home of the 3C 273 quasar, which is a favourite observation target for us.

To the east of Virgo is Libra the scale, reinvented by the ancients by reducing the claws of the scorpion to mark the autumnal equinox when the days were equal to the nights. Hence Libra is a symbol of equality and justice. Due to precession, the equinox now occurs in Virgo. Ironically, the two brightest stars in Libra still bear the names of Northern Claw and Southern Claw, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, a reminder of the former glory of Scorpius.

In May, we have more hours of dark than we have of light. If you are a morning bird you must wait until 7 AM for the sunrise at the beginning of the month and 7:30 at the end of the month. If you are a stargazer, then be happy, as sunset is very early in May, the Sun is going down at about 5:30 at the beginning of the month and around 5 at the end of the month. But that’s not when the darkness falls onto New Zealand, it would take two more hours for it to be well enough beyond the horizon - which is when it is officially night. So only two hours later you should be able to properly see /photograph some deep sky objects, that is if you are lucky enough to have a moonless night.

Speaking of which, here is what happens to the Moon in May:

At New Moon, the Moon rises and sets with the Sun - so is on the same line of sight as the Sun.

The next traditional phase of the Moon is the First Quarter, in May this occurs on the 20th And last but not least Full Moon is on 26 th of May. Just a note, the worst time to look at the Moon through a telescope is at Full Moon. The Moon is really bright as it has the maximum amount of surface lit from the Sun, remember the Moon reflects the light from the Sun so unless you have a Moon filter it will be a strain for the eye. If you look at it through a telescope you will lose the little dark adaptation you got throughout the night. However, the Full Moon is great to photograph through a small telescope with a normal phone camera - held by an adaptor of course or even by your hand.

No naked eye planet is visible in the evening sky but if you wait until after midnight, you will see Saturn and Jupiter and in the morning, just before sunrise they are the two bright objects in the northwestern sky.

Before we sign out, the constellation featured by Globe at Night in May is Crux. Get your observing hat on and help us measure light pollution around the world. You will see detailed instructions on our website, Look after our Night Sky, or on GlobeAtNight.org. All you have to do is count the number of stars you can measure from your street and compare these with the number of stars from Globe at Night’s maps. This is a citizen science project where anyone can participate and make a difference while you learn your stars.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during December 2020 .

The Planets Jupiter , along with Saturn, still remains visible, low in the sky, west of south when darkness falls as December begins and sets around 19:00 GMT. Towards the end of the month it will be seen towards the southwest after sunset and sets by ~17:30 GMT. Its magnitude remains at -2.0 during the month whilst its angular diameter falls from 34.4 to 32.9 arc seconds. Sadly, even when first seen after sunset, it will only have an elevation of ~12 degrees above the horizon so the atmosphere will limit our views. Due its position in the most southerly part of the ecliptic this has been a very poor apparition for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

Saturn Closely follows Jupiter into the sky, some 2 degrees behind at the start of the month but reducing to just 6 arc minutes on the evening of the 21st! [See highlight above.] Saturn is best seen in the south just after sunset on the 1st. Its magnitude remains steady at +0.6 whilst its angular size decreases from 15.7 to 15.3 arc seconds. The rings span some 35 arc seconds across and, at ~22 degrees to the line of sight, show up well. Saturn starts the month in Sagittarius and moves into Capricornus on the 15th. Sadly again, its low elevation of ~12 degrees when first visible in the evening will limit our views of this most beautiful planet.

Mercury will be visible using binoculars very low in the southeast at dawn for the first few days of the month. On the first, it rises only 45 minutes before the Sun shining at magnitude -0.8. It will pass through superior conjunction (closest to the Earth) on the 20th of the month. Please do not use binoculars after the Sun has risen.

Venus , rises in the southeast some 2 hours before the Sun at the star of December but by half an hour less by month's end. Its magnitude remains at -3.9 throughout the month whilst its angular size reduces from 11.7 to 10,7 arc seconds. At the same time its phase, the percentage illuminated disk, increases from 89% to 94% which explains why its magnitude remains constant.

Highlights of the Month Early December - still a good time to view Mars. This is still a good month to observe Mars which had its closest approach to Earth back on October the 6th when it will lay 39 million miles from Earth and reached opposition on the 13th. Wonderfully, at this opposition, Mars has been far higher in the sky than at recent oppositions. In Pisces, Mars, shining at a magnitude of -1.1 at the start of the month, can be seen crossing the meridian at 20:30 GMT. By month's end it magnitude will have dropped to -0.3 whilst being due south at ~19:15 GMT. Its angular size is just over 14 arc seconds at the start of the month dropping to 10.5 arc seconds by month's end. Reaching an elevation of ~45 degrees when due south as seen from the UK, amateur telescopes will enable one to see features, such as Syrtis Major, on its surface when the seeing conditions are good.

During this apparition, Mar's southern hemisphere is tipped towards the Earth and so the South Polar Cap should be visible, though much of its frozen carbon dioxide will have vaporised during the Martian summer. Though the North Polar Cap is beyond our view, one should be able to spot the haze of the North Polar Hood lying above the northern limb of the planet. At 24.6 hours long, the Martian day is similar to ours, so the surface details remain similar at the same time each night. Mars takes 41 days to make an apparent rotation as seen from Earth.

December 14th and 15th after midnight: the Geminid Meteor Shower. The early mornings of December 14th and 15th will give us the chance, if clear, of observing the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. The Moon is new so, pleasingly, its light will not hinder our view. The Geminids can often produce near-fireballs and so the shower is well worth observing if its clear. An observing location well away from towns or cities will pay dividends. The relatively slow moving meteors arise from debris released from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This is unusual, as most meteor showers come from comets. The radiant - where the meteors appear to come from - is close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini as shown on the chart. If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you.

December 21st - after sunset - The closest visible conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn since 1226! After sunset on the 21st of December, let us hope for clear skies as Saturn and Jupiter will be at their closest in the sky since the middle ages at just 6 arc minutes apart! This means that with a telescope at moderate power one would be able to encompass both planets and their brighter satellites; Io Europa, Ganymede and Callisto with Jupiter and Titan with Saturn.

December 22nd/23rd - late evenings: the Ursid Meteor Shower The late evenings of the 22nd and 23rd of December are when the Ursid meteor shower will be at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great. Pleasingly, this year the first quarter Moon Moon will set around midnight so its light will not greatly hinder our view. The radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation. Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so its worth having a look should it be clear.

December - evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. This month, in the evening, is a good time to look high in the south towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system as seen in the diagram below. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4.

December: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum Around new Moon (14th December) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

December 12th - 1 hour before sunrise - Venus and a thin crescent Moon. Before dawn on the 12th of December, Venus will be seen, if clear, down to the lower left of a very thin crescent Moon. Look out for the 'dark' side of the Moon illuminated with light reflected from the Earth - 'Earthshine'.

December 17th - after sunset - Jupiter, Saturn and a thin crescent Moon After sunset on the 17th of December, Saturn and Jupiter will be seen, if clear, to the right of a very thin crescent Moon. Look out for the 'dark' side of the Moon illuminated with light reflected from the Earth - 'Earthshine'.

December - Evenings of the 7th and 23th: The Straight Wall The Straight Wall, or Rupes Recta, is best observed either 1 or 2 days after First Quarter or a day or so before Third Quarter. To honest, it is not really a wall but a gentle scarp - as Sir Patrick has said "Neither is it a wall nor is it straight!"

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during December 2020.

The evening sky in December is commandeered by the edge of our galaxy, visually in the asterisms of Orion and Taurus. The region in question is so beautiful that it simply demands all attention. However, the entire December sky is shattered with bright planets and bright stars at dusk.

Jupiter is the brightest object after sunset, low in the west. Saturn is close to Jupiter, above and right of it at the beginning of the month. Mars is due north at dusk, still beautiful and bright. The three brightest stars in the sky are also visible at the same time: Sirius, the brightest true star is midway up the eastern sky, Canopus, the second brightest star, is high in the southeast and Alpha Centauri, the third brightest star is due south.

In December, Jupiter and Saturn will be very close, as they near their once-in-20-years conjunction on December 21-22nd, 2020. At their closest, they will be only 0.1 degrees apart. That’s just 1/5 of a Full Moon diameter. They will be in close visual proximity from December 17th to the 26th. When two bright objects in the sky are in the same line of sight, we call the phenomenon a conjunction. Every twenty years, Jupiter, orbiting the Sun in 12 years, catches up with Saturn, which takes 30 years to do an orbit. Of course, a conjunction is a visual illusion. In reality, Jupiter is 879 million km away and Saturn 1,610 million km away, mid-month, almost twice further away from the Sun. From Wellington, it would be a bit tricky to photograph or see the two objects through a telescope on the 21st of December but if you observe them at 9PM when it is not yet night, they will be at about 15 degrees above the horizon. Try and find a place with a clear horizon. Otherwise, they will simply be two bright dots visible in the west after sunset.

Another beautiful visual combination is the line that the brightest star Sirius makes with the Second brightest star, Canopus. Extend that line south and you will come across the Large and the Small Magellanic clouds. This is a very good trick to find our beautiful southern dwarf irregular galaxies in the night sky. From a dark sky, the Large Magellanic Cloud looks like a chunk of the Milky Way has been displaced nearby.

The Southern Cross and the pointers are very low on the Southern horizon, making the asterism of the frying pan. The two pointers are the handle of the pan, and Epsilon Centauri (Birdun), Gamma Centauri (Muhlifain) and Delta Centauri (SAO 239689) are the frying pan. The Southern Cross is the fish frying in the pan. Close to the Southern Cross, the dark region of the Coalsack for Maori is the flounder also frying in the frying pan. Our gastronomical sky also contains the Pot, in Orion, with the bottom of the pot made by the three stars of Orion’s belt and the handle of the pot constructed from the metal of Orion’s sword. The pot is held in place by Eta Orionis.

This is the best time of the year to observe our famous southern sky galaxies, the magellanic clouds. The first person to write about them, was the Persian Astronomer Al-Sufi around 964 AD. Explorer Amerigo Vespucci, in a letter about his third voyage around 1503 - 1504 was the next to write about the Magellanic Clouds and also about the coalsack, referring to them as the three “Canopes”, two bright and one obscure. And finally, Ferdinand Magellan wrote about it after his voyage in 1519. To spot the Magellanic clouds, you need a very dark sky and use your peripheral vision. With a telescope, the Large Magellanic Cloud is an amazing sight. One of my favourite deep sky objects, 30 Doradus or Tarantula nebula is a cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place. Just like the horsehead nebula in Orion, the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud is a place where thousands of stars can form over a period of several million years. Supernova 1987a—the nearest supernova in recent years, co-discovered by New Zealand astronomer and Guinness book record holder Albert Jones, —was in the Large Magellanic Cloud. For regions like the Tarantula Nebula, supernova explosions and strong stellar winds from the most massive stars in the resulting star cluster will disperse the gases, now easily visible in telescopes, leaving behind a cluster of stars which have formed. We can see what happened to such stars when we look at the starcluster the Pleiades.

Close to Zenith is Achernar from Eridanus, all the beautiful stars of Grus and Fomalhaut. In Grus, the Grus Quartet is now visible. In Sculptor, the famous Sculptor galaxy is in a good position to observe. This galaxy has a visual magnitude of about 7 and it is visible with the naked eye, it looks like a blurred star. Sculptor galaxy is about 12 million light years away from us.

A total solar eclipse will be visible from South America on the 15th of December as the New Moon disappears into the Sun’s glare. There will also be a few minor meteor showers, the geminids and leonids, nothing that compares with the northern Hemisphere’s perseids in August. Mercury will pass around the far side of the Sun on December 20th and on the 21st we will have the longest day of the year, the summer solstice.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during November 2020 .

Highlights of the Month Early November - still a good time to view Mars. This is still a great month to observe Mars which had its closest approach to Earth on October the 6th when it will lay 39 million miles from Earth and reached opposition on the 13th so the highest in the south around late evening. Wonderfully, at this opposition, Mars is far higher in the sky than at recent oppositions. In Pisces, Mars, outshining even Jupiter at the start of the month, can be seen rising in the east at sunset at the start of November. It crosses the meridian at 22:30 GMT on the 1st of the month and at 20:30 GMT by month's end. Its magnitude as November begins is -2.1 and fades to -1.2 by the end of the month. Its angular size is just over 20 arc seconds at the start of the month dropping to 14,8 arc seconds by month's end. Reaching an elevation of ~43 degrees when due south as seen from the UK, amateur telescopes will enable one to see features, such as Syrtis Major, on its surface when the seeing conditions are good. This is the best time to observe Mars until 2035!

During this opposition, Mar's southern hemisphere is tipped towards the Earth and so the South Polar Cap should be visible, though much of its frozen carbon dioxide will have vaporised during the Martian summer. Though the North Polar Cap is beyond our view, one should be able to spot the haze of the North Polar Hood lying above the northern limb of the planet. At 24.6 hours long, the Martian day is similar to ours, so the surface details remain similar at the same time each night. Mars takes 41 days to make an apparent rotation as seen from Earth.

November early mornings: November Meteors. In the hours before dawn, November gives us a chance to observe meteors from two showers. The first that it is thought might produce some bright events is the Northern Taurids shower which has a broad peak of around 10 days but normally gives relatively few meteors per hour. The peak is around the 10th of November when the Moon is two days after third quarter so its light may intrude. The meteors arise from comet 2P/Encke. Its tail is especially rich in large particles and, this year, we may pass through a relatively rich band so it is possible that a number of fireballs might be observed!

The better known November shower is the Leonids which peak on the night of the 17th/18th of the month. The Moon is just after new and will have set well before midnight so its light will not hinder our view and so enable the fainter meteors to be seen. As one might expect, the shower's radiant lies within the sickle of Leo and meteors could be spotted from the 15th to the 20th of the month. The Leonids enter the atmosphere at ~71 km/sec and this makes them somewhat challenging to photograph but it's worth trying as one might just capture a bright fireball. Up to 15 meteors an hour could be observed if near the zenith. The Leonids are famous because every 33 years a meteor storm might be observed when the parent comet, 55P/Temple-Tuttle passes close to the Sun. In 1999, 3,000 meteors were observed per hour but we are now halfway between these impressive events hence a far lower rate is expected.

November, evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. This month, in the evening, is a good time to look high in the east towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system as seen in the diagram below. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4.

November: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. In the late evenings when the Moon is not prominent, the galaxy M31 in Andromeda will be visible high in the southeast. There are two ways of finding it:

1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left and up a bit. Then turn 90 degrees to the right, move up to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and, if there is a dark sky, you can even see it with your unaided eye. The photons that are falling on your retina left Andromeda well over two million years ago!

2) You can also find M31 by following the "arrow" made by the three rightmost bright stars of Cassiopeia down to the lower right.

Around new Moon (15th November) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

November: find Uranus. This month is a good time to find the planet Uranus in the late evening as it reached opposition on October 31st. With a magnitude of 5.7, binoculars will easily spot it and, from a really dark site, it might even be visible to the unaided eye. A medium aperture telescope will reveal Uranus's 3.7 arc second wide disk showing its turquoise colour. It lies in Aries, close to the border of Cetus as shown on the chart.

November 13th - 1 hour before sunrise - Venus, Mercury and Spica and a thin crescent Moon. Before dawn on the 13th of November there will be a very nice grouping of the planets Mercury and Venus along with a very thin crescent Moon and Spica, Alpha Virginis.

November 19th - evening: Saturn, Jupiter and a waxing crescent Moon. After sunset on the 19th of the month, a waxing crescent Moon could be seen, if clear, below Saturn and Jupiter.

November 22nd - before dawn : Venus, Mercury and Spica. Before dawn on the 22nd, first Venus and then Mercury will lie down to the lower left of Spica, Alpha Virginis.

November 25th - after sunset : Mars lies up to the left of the Moon. After sunset on the 25th, Mars will be seen above a waxing Moon between third quarter and full.

November 8th and 24th: The Alpine Valley. These are two good nights to observe an interesting feature on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. A thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe. The dark crater Plato will also be visible nearby. You may also see the shadow cast by the mountain Mons Piton lying not far away in Mare Imbrium. This is a very interesting region of the Moon!

The Planets Jupiter along with Saturn still remains visible, low in the sky, just west of south when darkness falls as November begins and sets around 20:30 pm GMT. Towards the end of the month it will be seen towards the southwest after sunset and sets by ~19:00 pm GMT. Its magnitude dims slightly from -2.2 to -2.0 during the month whilst its angular diameter falls from 37.0 to 34.5 arc seconds. Sadly, even when first seen after sunset, it will only have an elevation of ~14 degrees above the horizon so the atmosphere will limit our views. Due its position in the most southerly part of the ecliptic this has been a very poor opposition for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

Saturn. Following Jupiter into the sky, some 5.1 degrees behind at the start of the month but reducing to just 2.3 degrees by month's end, Saturn is best seen in the south just after sunset on the 1st. Its magnitude remains steady at +0.6 whilst its angular size decreases from 16.3 to 15.7 arc seconds. The rings span some 35 arc seconds across and, at ~22 degrees to the line of sight, show up well. Saturn lies in Sagittarius near the border of Capricornus. As the year progresses, Saturn becomes closer to Jupiter until, on the 21st December they are just 0.1 degrees apart. Sadly again, its low elevation of ~16 degrees when crossing the meridian will somewhat limit our views of this most beautiful planet.

Mercury is visible all month in the pre-dawn sky, shining initially with a magnitude of +1.6 and rises over an hour before the Sun when its 21% illuminated disk has a diameter of 8.6 arc seconds. As the month progresses, its apparent size decreases to 5 arc seconds but, as its phase (the percentage illuminated disk) has increased from 14% to 95%, its magnitude actually increases to -0.7. Mercury reaches greatest elongation west on the 10th of November shining at magnitude -0.6 and still rises an hour before the Sun by month's end.

Mars: See highlight above.

Venus still dominates the pre-dawn sky rising around three hours before sunrise as November begins and half an hour less by month's end. It shines at magnitude -4 as November begins, dropping fractionally to -3.9 by the 11th for the remainder of the month whilst its angular size shrinks from 13.1 to 11.7 arc seconds. During the same time its phase (the illuminated percentage of the disk) increases from 81% to 88% which is why the fall in magnitude is so small. It still reaches an elevation of ~21 degrees at sunrise at the start of the month. For the majority of the month, Venus lies in Virgo but moves into Libra on the 23rd.

The Stars The November Sky in the south - early evening. To the south in early evening moving over to the west as the night progresses is the beautiful region of the Milky Way containing both Cygnus and Lyra. Below is Aquilla. The three bright stars Deneb (in Cygnus), Vega (in Lyra) and Altair (in Aquila) make up the "Summer Triangle". East of Cygnus is the great square of Pegasus - adjacent to Andromeda in which lies M31, the Andromeda Nebula. To the north lies "w" shaped Cassiopeia and Perseus. The constellation Taurus, with its two lovely clusters, the Hyades and Pleiades is rising in the east during the late evening.

The constellations Lyra and Cygnus. This month the constellations Lyra and Cygnus are seen almost overhead as darkness falls with their bright stars Vega, in Lyra, and Deneb, in Cygnus, making up the "summer triangle" of bright stars with Altair in the constellation Aquila below.

Lyra is dominated by its brightest star Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky. It is a blue-white star having a magnitude of 0.03, and lies 26 light years away. It weighs three times more than the Sun and is about 50 times brighter. It is thus burning up its nuclear fuel at a greater rate than the Sun and so will shine for a correspondingly shorter time. Vega is much younger than the Sun, perhaps only a few hundred million years old, and is surrounded by a cold,dark disc of dust in which an embryonic solar system is being formed!

There is a lovely double star called Epsilon Lyrae up and to the left of Vega. A pair of binoculars will show them up easily - you might even see them both with your unaided eye. In fact a telescope, provided the atmosphere is calm, shows that each of the two stars that you can see is a double star as well so it is called the double double!

Between Beta and Gamma Lyra lies a beautiful object called the Ring Nebula. It is the 57th object in the Messier Catalogue and so is also called M57. Such objects are called planetary nebulae as in a telescope they show a disc, rather like a planet. But in fact they are the remnants of stars, similar to our Sun, that have come to the end of their life and have blown off a shell of dust and gas around them. The Ring Nebula looks like a greenish smoke ring in a small telescope, but is not as impressive as it is shown in photographs in which you can also see the faint central "white dwarf" star which is the core of the original star which has collapsed down to about the size of the Earth. Still very hot this shines with a blue-white colour, but is cooling down and will eventually become dark and invisible - a "black dwarf"!

M56 is an 8th magnitude Globular Cluster visible in binoculars roughly half way between Albireo (the head of the Swan) and Gamma Lyrae. It is 33,000 light years away and has a diameter of about 60 light years. It was first seen by Charles Messier in 1779 and became the 56th entry into his catalogue.

Cygnus , the Swan, is sometimes called the "Northern Cross" as it has a distinctive cross shape, but we normally think of it as a flying Swan. Deneb, the arabic word for "tail", is a 1.3 magnitude star which marks the tail of the swan. It is nearly 2000 light years away and appears so bright only because it gives out around 80,000 times as much light as our Sun. In fact if Deneb where as close as the brightest star in the northern sky, Sirius, it would appear as brilliant as the half moon and the sky would never be really dark when it was above the horizon!

The star Albireo, which marks the head of the Swan, is much fainter, but a beautiful sight in a small telescope. This shows that Albireo is made of two stars, amber and blue-green, which provide a wonderful colour contrast. With magnitudes 3.1 and 5.1 they are regarded as the most beautiful double star that can be seen in the sky.

Cygnus lies along the line of the Milky Way, the disk of our own Galaxy, and provides a wealth of stars and clusters to observe. Just to the left of the line joining Deneb and Sadr, the star at the centre of the outstretched wings, you may, under very clear dark skies, see a region which is darker than the surroundings. This is called the Cygnus Rift and is caused by the obscuration of light from distant stars by a lane of dust in our local spiral arm. The dust comes from elements such as carbon which have been built up in stars and ejected into space in explosions that give rise to objects such as the planetary nebula M57 described above.

There is a beautiful region of nebulosity up and to the left of Deneb which is visible with binoculars in a very dark and clear sky. Photographs show an outline that looks like North America - hence its name the North America Nebula. Just to its right is a less bright region that looks like a Pelican, with a long beak and dark eye, so not surprisingly this is called the Pelican Nebula.

Pegasus. The Square of Pegasus is in the south during the evening and forms the body of the winged horse. The square is marked by 4 stars of 2nd and 3rd magnitude, with the top left hand one actually forming part of the constellation Andromeda. The sides of the square are almost 15 degrees across, about the width of a clenched fist, but it contains few stars visible to the naked eye. If you can see 5 then you know that the sky is both dark and transparent! Three stars drop down to the right of the bottom right hand corner of the square marked by Alpha Pegasi, Markab. A brighter star Epsilon Pegasi is then a little up to the right, at 2nd magnitude the brightest star in this part of the sky. A little further up and to the right is the Globular Cluster M15. It is just too faint to be seen with the naked eye, but binoculars show it clearly as a fuzzy patch of light just to the right of a 6th magnitude star.

Andromeda. The stars of Andromeda arc up and to the left of the top left star of the square, Sirra or Alpha Andromedae. The most dramatic object in this constellation is M31, the Andromeda Nebula. It is a great spiral galaxy, similar to, but somewhat larger than, our galaxy and lies about 2.5 million light years from us. It can be seen with the naked eye as a faint elliptical glow as long as the sky is reasonably clear and dark. Move up and to the left two stars from Sirra, these are Pi and Mu Andromedae. Then move your view through a right angle to the right of Mu by about one field of view of a pair of binoculars and you should be able to see it easily. M31 contains about twice as many stars as our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and together they are the two largest members of our own Local Group of about 3 dozen galaxies.

M33 in Triangulum. If, using something like 8 by 40 binoculars, you have seen M31 as described above, it might well be worth searching for M33 in Triangulum. Triangulum is the small faint constellation just below Andromeda. Start on M31, drop down to Mu Andromedae and keep on going in the same direction by the same distance as you have moved from M31 to Mu Andromedae. Under excellent seeing conditions (ie., very dark and clear skies) you should be able to see what looks like a little piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky or a faint cloud. It appears to have uniform brightness and shows no structure. The shape is irregular in outline - by no means oval in shape and covers an area about twice the size of the Moon. It is said that it is just visible to the unaided eye, so it's the most distant object in the Universe that the eye can see. The distance is now thought to be 3.0 Million light years - just greater than that of M31.

The constellation Taurus. Taurus is one of the most beautiful constellations and you can almost imagine the Bull charging down to the left towards Orion. His face is delineated by the "V" shaped cluster of stars called the Hyades, his eye is the red giant star Aldebaran and the tips of his horns are shown by the stars beta and zeta Tauri. Although alpha Tauri, Aldebaran, appears to lie amongst the stars of the Hyades cluster it is, in fact, less than half their distance lying 68 light years away from us. It is around 40 times the diameter of our Sun and 100 times as bright.

The Hyades and Pleiades. To the upper right of Taurus lies the open cluster, M45, the Pleiades. Often called the Seven Sisters, it is one of the brightest and closest open clusters. The Pleiades cluster lies at a distance of 400 light years and contains over 3000 stars. The cluster, which is about 13 light years across, is moving towards the star Betelgeuse in Orion. Surrounding the brightest stars are seen blue reflection nebulae caused by reflected light from many small carbon grains. These reflection nebulae look blue as the dust grains scatter blue light more efficiently than red. The grains form part of a molecular cloud through which the cluster is currently passing. (Or, to be more precise, did 400 years ago!)

The Crab Nebula. Close to the tip of the left hand horn lies the Crab Nebula, also called M1 as it is the first entry of Charles Messier's catalogue of nebulous objects. Lying 6500 light years from the Sun, it is the remains of a giant star that was seen to explode as a supernova in the year 1056. It may just be glimpsed with binoculars on a very clear dark night and a telescope will show it as a misty blur of light.

Its name "The Crab Nebula" was given to it by the Third Earl of Rosse who observed it with the 72 inch reflector at Birr Castle in County Offaly in central Ireland. As shown in the drawing above, it appeared to him rather like a spider crab. The 72 inch was the world's largest telescope for many years. At the heart of the Crab Nebula is a neutron star, the result of the collapse of the original star's core. Although only around 20 km in diameter it weighs more than our Sun and is spinning 30 times a second. Its rotating magnetic field generates beams of light and radio waves which sweep across the sky. As a result, a radio telescope will pick up very regular pulses of radiation and the object is thus also known as a Pulsar. Its pulses are monitored each day at Jodrell Bank with a 13m radio telescope.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during November 2020.

The evening sky of November holds the Maori asterism of Te Waka O Tamarereti, which depicts one of my favourite cultural interpretations of how the stars ended up in the night sky. Here in New Zealand, this time of the year, after sunset, we see the Milky Way surrounding the horizon; when it's like that, the galaxy here looks like a river. Move away from the light polluted cities and you should be able to clearly see it wrapping around the horizon, this is how dark the sky is in New Zealand, throughout the entire country.
Planets In November 2020, Jupiter and Mars are the brightest objects we can see first after sunset. Jupiter is in the western sky and Mars is in the north. As the sky darkens, Saturn appears just above Jupiter. Jupiter and Saturn are now visually very close, enough to be in the same binocular view. Every 20 years Jupiter catches up on Saturn but of course this is an illusion as they are on the same line of sight but at different distances from Earth. Unseen to the naked eye, very close to Jupiter is Pluto. In the morning sky, Venus rises a little south of east an hour before the Sun all month. Mercury might be seen in the dawn mid-month, below and right of Venus, and much fainter, rising 35 minutes before the Sun. Constellations By mid month, Te waka o Tamarereti is clearly visible in the sky. Starting from the West, Antares the red giant heart of Scorpius is setting and the asterism of the fish hook of Maui is now the prow of the waka. To the South, the two stars pointing to the Southern Cross, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are now the rope of the waka, the Southern Cross is the anchor. Interesting to see, due to precession, about 2000 years ago the Southern Cross as seen from New Zealand, would have completely disappeared beyond the horizon just like an anchor. That was the time when Canopus , the second brightest star in the sky, was visible from Greece. Canopus is a circumpolar star, which means it is always in the sky, for Maori he is Atutahi, the chief of all stars. Two other stars that were visible from Europe 2000 years ago are Alpha and Beta Centauri. They are part of the constellation of Centaurus. Next in line is the Southern Cross , pointing down at this time of the year, indicating South just like an arrow. Southern Cross is also circumpolar from New Zealand. The Southern Cross points at Achernar , also a circumpolar star here, which is now very high in the sky. Each side of this imaginary line that goes from the Southern Cross to Achernar, at about two thirds from the Southern Cross and one third from Achernar, are the two Magellanic clouds. Close to the horizon, in the asterism of te Waka O Tamarereti , is Sirius , the brightest star in the sky, which rises a little south of due east after sunset. By the end of the month it will be up at sunset. This time of the year, from New Zealand we can see the brightest star in the sky, Sirius, second brightest star, Canopus and third brightest star in the sky Alpha Centauri, in the same time. Left of Sirius is the constellation of Orion , which is the taurapa, or the end of the waka. In New Zealand, Orion's belt makes the beautiful and practical asterism of 'The Pot'. Also in Orion, Rigel, a blue supergiant star, is directly above the line of three stars; Betelgeuse, a red-giant star, is straight below. To the left, orange Aldebaran and the Hyades cluster along with the Pleiades which are further left make the feathers of the canoe and the ripples in the water. Deep Sky Objects The Large Magellanic Cloud is on the eastern side of the imaginary line and the Small Magellanic Cloud on the western side of it. The Small Magellanic Cloud is 200,000 light years away from us. A fuzzy patch very close to the Small Magellanic Cloud is the beautiful 47 Tucanae globular cluster. The cluster is however, much closer to us, at only 16,000 light years away. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a symphony of stars, at about 160,000 lights years away. A dwarf irregular galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud is visually located on the border between the constellations Dorado and Mensa, and is one of very few galaxies that are visible to the naked eye. It really looks like a cloud. The Tarantula nebula in the large Magellanic Cloud is a beautiful object in a good telescope. Very low in the north we observed through our own 16' telescope the Andromeda Galaxy , but you do need a clear sky north and a low horizon to be able to see it. It was truly a spindle of light. Andromeda is the furthest object we can see with the naked eye and we just can make it up from here. Close to Zenith is Achernar from Eridanus, all the beautiful stars of Grus and Fomalhaut . In Grus, the Grus Quartet is now visible. In Sculptor, the famous Sculptor galaxy is in a good position to observe. This galaxy has a visual magnitude of about 7 and it is visible with the naked eye, it looks like a blurred star. Sculptor galaxy is about 12 million light years away from us.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during October 2020 .

The Planets Jupiter Jupiter is now visible, low in the sky, just west of south when darkness falls as October begins and sets around 10:30 pm BST. Towards the end of the month it will be seen towards the southwest after sunset and sets by ~08:30 pm GMT. Its magnitude dims slightly from -2.4 to -2.2 during the month whilst its angular diameter falls from 40.5 to 37.1 arc seconds. Sadly, even when first seen after sunset, it will only have an elevation of ~14 degrees above the horizon so the atmosphere will limit our views. Due its position in the most southerly part of the ecliptic this has been a very poor opposition for those of us in the northern hemisphere..

Saturn Saturn, following Jupiter into the sky, some 8 degrees behind at the start of the month but reducing to 5.2 degrees by Halloween, Saturn is best seen in the south just after sunset on the 1st. Its magnitude drops slightly during the month from +0.5 to +0.6 whilst its angular size decreases from 17.2 to 16.4 arc seconds. The rings span some 35 arc seconds across and, at ~22 degrees to the line of sight, show up well. Saturn lies in Sagittarius near the border of Capricornus. Saturn halted its retrograde motion on the 29th of September and, as the year progresses becomes closer to Jupiter until, on the 21st December they are just 0.1 degrees apart. Sadly again, its low elevation of ~16 degrees when crossing the meridian will somewhat limit our views of this most beautiful planet..

Mercury Mercury passes in front of the Sun on the 25th of the month (inferior conjunction) and will not be visible this month..

Mars See highlight above..

Venus Venus, was at greatest elongation east back on August 12th but still dominates the pre-dawn sky rising around three hours before sunrise as October begins and a little less by month's end. It shines at magnitude -4.1 as October begins, lying some half a degree from Regulus in Leo, dropping to -4 by month's end whilst its angular size shrinks from 15.5 to 13.2 arc seconds. During the same time its its phase (the illuminated percentage of the disk) increases from 72% to 81% which is why the fall in magnitude is so small. It still reaches an elevation of ~32 degrees at sunrise. Venus entered the constellation of Leo on the 23rd of September and moves into Virgo on the 23rd of the month..

Highlights of the Month October - a great month to view Mars. During this opposition, Mar's southern hemisphere is tipped towards the Earth and so the South Polar Cap should be visible, though much of its frozen carbon dioxide will have vaporised during the Martian summer. Though the North Polar Cap is beyond our view, one should be able to spot the haze of the North Polar Hood lying above the northern limb of the planet. At 24.6 hours long, the Martian day is similar to ours, so the surface details remain similar at the same time each night. Mars takes 41 days to make an apparent rotation as seen from Earth..

October - Find Neptune This month Neptune is just pass opposition and so will be visible during much of the night. It lies in Aquarius below one of the circlets in Pisces and shines at magnitude +7.8 having a 2.4 arc second disc so binoculars or a telescope will be needed to spot it under a dark sky. I hope the charts will help you find it - not so difficult as it lies close to a nice grouping of stars. Of course, a well aligned computerised telescope will take you right there but, unless the seeing is exceptional, I suspect that the dark bluish disk will not be that obvious..

October, evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. This month is a good time to look high in the east towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system as seen in the diagram below. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4..

October: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum Around new Moon (16th October) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!.

October 2nd - 1 hour before sunrise - Venus and Regulus Before dawn on the 2nd of the month, if clear, one will spot Venus sining at magnitude -4.1 just half a degree to the upper right of Regulus, Alpha Leonis..

October 10th - before dawn: The third quarter Moon close to Pollux in Gemini. Before dawn on the 10th of October, the third quarter Moon will lie down to the right of Pollux in Gemini..

October 14th - before dawn : Venus and a very thin crescent Moon. Before dawn on the 14th should it be clear, Venus will be seen below a very thin waning crescent Moon. One may well be able to spot 'Earthshine' the dark side of the Moon lit by light reflected form the Earth..

October 22nd - after sunset : Jupiter, Saturn and a waxing Moon After sunset on the 22nd, Jupiter will be seen above a waxing Moon, one day before first quarter with Saturn up to its left..

October 29th - evening : Mars and a near full Moon. During the evening of the 29th, Mars will lies above the waxing Moon just 2 days before full..

October 7th and 23rd evening: the Hyginus Rille For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contrast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater. On the evenings given above, the rille lies near the terminator..

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during October 2020.

SEE WITH THE NAKED EYE Visible planets this month in order of disappearance: Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. If you are lucky to have a flat horizon in the northeast and like planet Venus, you will be seeing it in the morning sky. This month, Mercury will reach its highest point in the evening sky on the 2nd of October and Mars will be at opposition, closest to Earth, on the 14th of October. Thus we will be able to easily see features from Mars in a telescope.

The Sun is in the zodiacal constellation of Virgo. It sets around 07:23PM and rises around 07:00AM.

Mercury is in Virgo, about 9 light minutes away.

Venus is in Leo, visually very close to the Sun. Is about 8 light minutes away.

Mars is visually in the zodiacal constellation Pisces, at a distance of just about 4 light minutes away.

Jupiter is in the constellation of Sagittarius of about 40 light minutes from Earth.

Saturn is visually in Sagittarius, 80 light minutes away.

SEE WITH BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPE Uranus is in Aries. It has a visual magnitude of +5.7 so under a very dark sky and if you have amazingly good eyes you might be able to see it, with the naked eye. It’s about 158 light minutes away approx.

Neptune is in the evening sky, in Aquarius. It takes light approximately 4 hours to reach us from Neptune. At a visual magnitude of +7.8 you will need binoculars or telescopes to see it.

Pluto in Sagittarius, very close to Jupiter. We cannot see Pluto with the naked eye, as it has a magnitude of +14.4 is 5059 million kilometres away, at about 281 light minutes – more than 4 hours and 30 light minutes.

IN OCTOBER The Milky Way’s centre is now on the western horizon after sunset. Scorpius and Sagittarius are the two constellations whose stars are between us and the galactic centre. We are very lucky here in New Zealand to see the centre of the Milky Way high in the sky, which means we are looking at it through less layers of atmosphere than in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, from mid latitudes, the centre of the Milky Way climbs only about 30 degrees above the horizon.

October is a good month to still see many deep sky objects. The majority of them are around the galactic bulge. In Scorpius, our favourites are: Ptolemy’s cluster – M7 a beautiful open cluster of stars, the Butterfly Cluster – M6, which resembles a butterfly, and the globular clusters Messier 4 and Messier 80. The Bug Nebula NGC 6302 and The Cat’s Paw nebula – NGC 6334 are excellent astrophotography targets. Neighbouring Scorpius is Sagittarius. This is the constellation where we map the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Sagittarius’s famous asterism (grouping of stars) is the teapot, which is visible upside down here in New Zealand. Sagittarius cannot be seen from Scotland or Scandinavia. We are very lucky here to be able to observe it overhead.

The Milky Way is at its densest in Sagittarius. Inside the constellation, which is a patch of the sky, we can admire two beautiful Star Clouds, easily seen in binoculars: the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud and the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud – Messier 24. Some stunning deep sky objects in Sagittarius are Lagoon Nebula – M8, Omega Nebula or Swan Nebula and the Trifid Nebula, another famous one also known as M20. The Trifid Nebula is about 2 degrees from Lagoon Nebula.

In the circumpolar region, the Small Magellanic Cloud is in a good position to observe. Close to it, 47 Tucanae is one of the most beautiful and large globular clusters that adorn the night sky. 47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster in the sky and one of the most massive clusters in the Galaxy. It’s angular diameter is roughly the size of the full Moon, that is the width of your pinky at arm’s length. It can be seen with the naked eye from Earth although it is far far away, about 13,000 light years from Earth.

The three famous crosses of the southern sky, the Southern Cross, Diamond Cross and the false cross are very low on the horizon, and for the next three months we will be looking at them through an extra layer of atmosphere.

Some notable deep sky objects this month are Helix Nebula in Aquarius, Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula and the Grus Quartet in Grus. Famous for its nickname “The Eye of Sauron” Helix Nebula is a very large planetary nebula. Dumbbell Nebula – M27 in Vulpecula is very bright and the first planetary nebula to be discovered. In Grus, a gathering of four interacting galaxies are known as the Grus Quartet. They are fascinating to see in a large telescope.

Bright Objects Beautiful bright stars are visible in the night sky. Right at the top of the sky, Antares, the red giant and main star from Scorpius shimmers in an incredibly beautiful red colour as seen through a telescope. On the southern horizon lays Canopus, glistening all colours, including red and green as we see it through the atmosphere. On the opposite side, on the northern horizon is Altair, the main star in Aquila.

Just after sunset, at the beginning of the month, you can catch a good view of planet Mercury, which now reaches its highest point in the sky and sets about two hours after the Sun. Jupiter and Saturn are evening objects, they are visible at Zenith. Mars is visible after 9 PM and Venus is just slightly visible in the morning, rising one hour before the Sun.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during September 2020 .

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during September 2020.

The First point of Libra

These fancy words are naming the point on the celestial map where from Earth it looks like the Sun shifts celestial hemispheres. As the Sun is changing its position in relation to the background stars every day, the two main lines you will find on a celestial map, the celestial equator (see above) and the ecliptic cross over at equinoxes. 2000 years ago the September crossover occurred in the constellation Libra. Due to Earth’s wobble, which has a spinning top movement, the crossover happens now in Virgo. Astronomers however kept the First point in Libra as the name for the September equinox. In 400 years from now it will be in Leo. (by the way this is the same reason why the time when the Sun is in any particular zodiacal constellation shifted back with almost a month too. The equinox is only a moment in time as Earth continuously moves as it orbits around the Sun.

What’s the Sun up to?

According to TimeandDate.com, September Equinox in Wellington, New Zealand is on Wednesday, 23 September 2020 at 1:30 a.m. NZST. As the month goes, the days will be longer than the nights until we reach Summer Solstice. Since the equinoxes only occur twice per year they are very special astronomical events.

Since 1870s New Zealand used the meteorological dates to mark the beginning of spring, thus spring here begins on the 1st of September! People who come here from the Northern Hemisphere usually think that spring begins at the autumnal equinox- which by the way is on the 23rd. But just for the sake of the argument, according to WeatherWatch Managing Director Philip Duncan, there are actually four ways to start a season (1) looking at astronomical dates, which would place the date on September 22 or 23, based on the equinox, (2) by meteorological dates – which is a three-month division of the year into seasons, thus Spring starts on September 1, (3) observing the solar winter, which is the three “darkest” months with the June 21-22 winter solstice in the middle, which shifts the beginning of spring to August 8 and (4) looking at what nature does, which in New Zealand is hard to pin down.

The Milky Way and Zodiacal Light

In September, the asterism of Scorpius is at this time of the year the Fishhook of Maui that drags the Milky Way down from the sky. We get to admire the amazing galactic centre and the Milky-Way.kiwi inside it which is fantastic. Enjoy it while it lasts!

In addition to the Milky Way, if you are stargazing from somewhere with very dark skies, you can spot what is called the “Zodiacal Light”. It's a cone-shaped light that stretches from low on the horizon along the ecliptic. Yes, it is the ecliptic again!! The zodiacal light is the light we see reflected from dust and ice particles in the plane of our own solar system! How cool is that? So in the sky we can see both the galaxy that we inhabit and the solar system. Two objects at two completely different scales! And in different parts of the sky as well. But the part of the sky where we observe the Zodiacal Light, is where the ecliptic would be. Once you;ve learned where that is you will see it is very useful, especially at figuring out where the planets are in the sky, as they orbit around the Sun in the same path, you’ve guessed it on the ecliptic. But because some of their orbit planes are ever so slightly on an angle compared to Earth’s plane, they don't match perfectly so that’s why the Zodiacal band is a band of stars about 8 degrees each side of the ecliptic as that’s where the planets are visible.

Scorpius, Centaurus and Southern Cross

After sunset, you can see the fish hook at Zenith and then falling down towards the western part of the sky. Scorpius Te Matau a Maui has a magnificent red supergiant star Antares, Maori call it Rehua. It is the Summer wife of the Sun. In a telescope it looks like a beautiful ruby and is impossible to miss on a clear night. It looks quite reddish, just like planet Mars! The name Antares is the rival of Mars, as planet Mars sometimes gets very close to Antares, because Antares is one of those stars on the Zodiacal Band. When this happens the two of them rival in redness and brightness. I believe Mars wins but that’s just because is made of iron. We took a lot of images of Antares recently with our new fantastic project the Slooh Telescopes and it’s a really big star.

Scorpius has some fabulous deep sky objects. Also with Slooh, we took a heap of them over the last month.Cat Paw’s nebula this one is a good astrophotography target, The Butterfly Cluster, or M6 which you can also see in a telescope, it’s an open cluster of stars, M7 also known as Ptolemy’s cluster is also an open cluster M4, the globular cluster near Antares. NGC 6231 or Melotte 153 is a beautiful open cluster as well which was discovered as far back as 1654 by Giovanni Hodierna, who listed it as “luminosae” in his catalogue. South of Scorpius you can find the constellation of Centaurus, a creature that is half-human and half-horse in Greek mythology, home of Alpha, Beta and Omega Centauri.This time of the year it is very high in the sky so in a good position to observe.

Circumpolar objects to New Zealand

In September, in the evenings, you will find the Southern Cross in the south western part of the sky. So just after sunset is at the 3 o’clock position heading down followed by the pointers. Canopus would be at the same time grazing the southern horizon so hard to see from hilly Wellington. Achernar and the two Magellanic Clouds would be in the south eastern part of the sky.Some other bright stars Just after sunset, Virgo will be on the western horizon, very close to the Sun. It will be visible only in the first part of the month, with the beautiful star Spica sinking beyond the horizon by the middle of the month. In Libra, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali are the former claws of scorpius, now the scales of justice. Some sources say that they have been chopped from Scorpius and recreated into a scale of justice at the time when the First Point of Libra was in Libra, which is why Libra was created by our ancestors, not because they noticed that people born that time of the year were indecisive, or always tried to get revenge or where weighing their arguments carefully, but to mark one of the two equinoxes. Sagittarius has many beautiful bright stars, and I love the particular teapot shape it has which now can be seen as the constellation is at Zenith. Nunki is our favourite star this month also because we took a picture of it recently.

In the north, we can see the bright star Altair in Aquila, the constellation of the eagle, a triangle-shaped constellation in north-eastern skies. Lower on the northern horizon, mirroring somewhat Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky which is lower on the southern horizon, is Vega, nicknamed Antopus by the awesome Ian Cooper. This is a play of words with Antares, which means the rival of Mars, Ian says that Vega rises low in the north when Canopus is low in the south and they are like two rivals eyeing each other up. Another beautiful star is Albireo, in Cygnus. It is a spectacular blue and red giant double. Only about 10 degrees above the horizon, the stars of Lyra, where Vega lays, also host a fabulous Messier object, which is really easy to see in a telescope, that is M57 the Ring Nebula, the remnants of a star. In astronomical terms it is a planetary nebula. Nearby, another one of its kind, remnants of another star that died is in Vulpecula, M 27 – Dumbbell Nebula is another good target. As they are not so good to photograph from Wellington, we've just been using the telescopes from Slooh which have prime views of these amazing objects. Probably the best star and one of my favourite objects in the night sky is Albireo, which we also view with Slooh, just because it is too low to photograph.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during August 2020 .

The Planets Jupiter. Visible throughout the hours of darkness and lying up to the left of the 'teapot' in Sagittarius, Jupiter reached opposition on July 14. It is now visible in the south-southeast as darkness falls and crosses the meridian, so highest in elevation, at 11:30pm BST at the start of the month and by 9:30pm by month's end. Its magnitude dims slightly from -2.7 to -2.6 during the month whilst its angular diameter falls from 47 to 44 arc seconds. Sadly, even when due south, it will only have an elevation of ~16 degrees above the horizon so the atmosphere will limit our views. A 'highlight' gives the times when the Great Red Spot faces the Earth.

Saturn. Following Jupiter into the sky, some 8 degrees behind Jupiter as August begins, Saturn reached opposition on the 20th of July so, again, is visible throughout the hours of darkness - along with Jupiter dominating the southern sky in the late evening. Its magnitude drops slightly during the month from +0.1 to + 0.3 whilst its angular size decreases from 18.4 to 18 arc seconds. The rings span some 42 arc seconds across and, at 22 degrees to the line of sight, have opened out very slightly from previous months. Saturn lies in Sagittarius close to the boarder of Capricornus. Sadly again, its low elevation of ~16 degrees when crossing the meridian will somewhat limit our views of this most beautiful planet.

Mercury is barely visible in the pre-dawn sky as August begins with a magnitude of -0.9 and a 6.1 arc second disk but, moving away from the Earth, passes behind the Sun on August 17th.

Mars, in Pisces, can be seen towards the southeast at the start of the month rising 3 hours after sunset as August begins and 2 hours by its end. Its magnitude will rise from -1.1 to -1.8 during the month as its angular size increases from 14.6 to 18.7 arc seconds. It reaches an elevation of ~40 degrees as dawn approaches so amateur telescopes will enable one to see features, such as Syrtis Major, on its surface when the seeing conditions are good.

Venus rises about 2am in the north north-east throughout the month but, as the Sun rises later as the days pass, the interval between Venus-rise and Sunrise increases by about 20 minutes. It shines at magnitude -4.5 as August begins, dropping to -4.3 by month's end whilst its angular size shrinks from 27 to 20 arc seconds. During the same time its phase (the illuminated percentage of the disk) increases from 43% to 59% which is why the fall in magnitude is not that great. Venus reaches greatest elongation west on August 12th, some 46 degrees away from the Sun. In Taurus as August begins, it passes into the upper left of Orion on the 5th before moving into Gemini on the 13th ending the month some 9 degrees below Pollux, the head of one of the 'twins'.

Highlights August - a great month to view Jupiter. This is a great month to observe Jupiter which will be visible during all the hours of darkness. It lies in the southernmost part of the ecliptic in Sagittarius and, sadly, will only reach an elevations of ~16 degrees when crossing the meridian. An interesting observation is that the Great Red Spot appears to be diminishing in size. At the beginning of the last century it spanned 40,000 km across but now appears to be only ~16,500 km across - less than half the size. It used to be said that 3 Earths could fit within it, but now it is only one. The shrinking rate appears to be accelerating and observations indicate that it is now reducing in size by ~580 miles per year. Will it eventually disappear?

The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely but has now returned to its normal wide state.

August: Look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. A list on the 'Night Sky' page gives the best late evening times during August to observe the Great Red Spot which should then lie on the central meridian of the planet and so face the Earth. The times are in UT.

August 1st - late evening: Jupiter, Saturn and a waxing gibbous Moon. In the late evening should it be clear, Jupiter will be seen towards the south above a waxing gibbous Moon with Saturn over to its left.

August 9th - late evening: Mars above a waning Moon. Looking towards the south-east in the late evening, Mars will be seen up to the left of the Moon, 1 day before 3rd quarter.

The mornings of August 12th and 13th - midnight to dawn: look out for the Perseid meteor shower. If clear, these mornings should give us a chance of observing the Perseid meteor shower - produced by debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The early morning of the 12th August will give us the best chance, if clear, of viewing the shower, but the peak is quite broad and so it is well worth observing on the nights before and after. Most meteors are seen looking about 50 degrees from the "radiant" which lies between Perseus and Cassipeia. On the 11th, the Moon, at third quarter, rises just after midnight so its light will begin to hide the fainter meteors. On the 12th and 13th it rises later and its phase will have reduced so its effects will be less. NB: As we need to view a very wide area of sky, normal binoculars would be of no use but the Vixen SG 2.1 x 42 that I have reviewed in the Astronomy Digest could be useful albeit over the smaller field of view of ~27 degrees.

August 15th - before dawn : Venus below a very thin crescent Moon. Just before dawn on the 15th, and given a low horizon between the east and northeast, it might be possible to spot Venus below a very thin crescent Moon. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

August 31st - six minutes past 5am BST: Mars and the International Space Station. If it is clear before dawn on the 31st of the month, you could see (assuming Stellarium is right) the International Space Station pass very close to Mars at around 05:06:45 BST. Just under 30 seconds later it will pass the Pleiades Cluster.

August 9th and 25th - evening: The Hyginus Rille. These evenings, should it be clear, are a superb time to view the Hyginus Rill as it will lie close to the terminator. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contrast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during August 2020.

In August 2020 we have a couple of spectacular planets in the evening sky, Jupiter and Saturn, the centre of our galaxy climbs at zenith and with it all the beautiful deep sky objects that we are so looking forward to seeing every year. Unfortunately for us, although there are many meteor showers in the northern part of the sky, they are quite low on the horizon for us to enjoy them as northern hemispherians do. Here is what’s in the sky in August.
Planets Mars. With the launch of NASA’s Perseverance as well as the UAE’s and China’s Mars missions, all eyes are on Mars for the next few months. Our eyes will be on Mars as well because from now until October Mars is only going to get better and better in the night sky. At the start of the month it rises at just after 11pm in Pisces and is about 95 million kilometres away. At that distance it is 14.6 arcseconds in size, which is not much smaller than Saturn, less the rings.

By the end of the month the red planet is still in Pisces and rising at just before 10pm and has got about 20 million kilometres closer to us. This will put Mars at a size of nearly 19 arcseconds in the eyepiece, bigger than Saturn and just under half the size of Jupiter. By early October it will be just over 60 million kilometres away and nearly 23 arcseconds in size. You’ve got two months to get used to observing the red planet and improving your imaging skills to capture the stunning details of the planet as it reaches opposition.

When it is so close to Earth, you can even draw Mars as you look at it through a telescope. And the best thing about that is that the main feature that we see through the telescope, the top / or bottom of Syrtis Major is where Perseverance is headed to.

Saturn. The two gas giants that are dominating the evening sky are also a great sight to see over August. Saturn rises between Capricornus and Sagittarius before sunset at around 4:20pm and by sunset is nearly 15 degrees above the horizon. At the end of the month it is rising two hours earlier so it is in a very favourable position for observing in the early evening. Opposition for Saturn is on 2 Aug 2021 so we’ve got a year to wait, though at 1.4 billion kilometres it is not going to look a lot different throughout the months.

Jupiter rises about 40 minutes before Saturn in Sagittarius throughout the month and joins Saturn in a very favourable viewing position in the early evening, great for the astronomer who likes to get to bed early. A great feature of Jupiter is that you can witness an eclipse many times a month. One of these is from 9:18pm on 7th of August when you watch Europa disappear into the brightness of Jupiter followed by the shadow appearing on the planet’s disk at 10:25pm.

Venus tracks its way closer and closer to the Sun in our early morning sky throughout the month. The brightest of the planets is visible just below Orion and ends the month near Procyon in Canis Minor. Mercury is heading behind the Sun as the month progresses so is not going to be visible except at the very start of the month, and then with some difficulty.

Constellations Scorpius has been dominating the night sky so far in Winter as it occupies the zenith in the evening. Now we are seeing Sagittarius rising higher and higher each night and dragging with it the constellation of Capricornus.

We have some good news for the people who like golf. From New Zealand, the Capricorn , which is supposed to be a goat (capri) with one horn (corn), alluding to the legend of the horn of plenty, looks in fact exactly like a golf flag, yet a gigantic one.

On the other side of Scorpius, Libra the scale is on a descending path onto the horizon and Virgo’s star, Spica is even closer to the horizon.

In the morning, we are seeing the return to our skies of Orion , rising earlier and earlier each night. The season of Matariki is closed now and the Pleiades is also becoming more and more visible in the morning sky, rising at 3am.

Deep Sky Deep Sky objects are fantastic at this time of the year as the centre of the Milky Way reaches the zenith it brings up the amazing nebulae of Omega, Eagle, Triffid and Lagoon. Lagoon is an amazing nebula to view in a telescope with the large open cluster NGC 6530 next to the bright nebula. A short distance away in the Trifid Nebula or M20. It is easy to spot the distinctive shape that led to its common name.

Heading down the Milky Way Way towards Scutum you’ll find the Omega Nebula, or M17, this is a bright nebula, easily visible in even modest telescopes. Not far from Omega you’ll find the much fainter Eagle Nebula, M16, which is home to the pillars of creation from the famous Hubble Space Telescope image of this nebula.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the night sky above the world's middle line during Month 4 2020 .

The Planets As April begins, Jupiter rises some three and a half hours before the Sun shining at magnitude -2.1. It then follows Mars and precedes Saturn, just above Mars, into the pre-dawn sky. During the month it brightens to magnitude -2.3 whilst its angular size increases from 37.0 to 40.6 arc seconds. A low south-eastern horizon will be needed and our views of the giant planet and its Galilean moons will be somewhat hindered by the depth of atmosphere through which it will be observed.

As April begins, Saturn rises at 05:33 UT, 20 minutes after Jupiter, and by its end at 02:50 UT whilst its magnitude increases slightly from +0.7 to +0.6 whilst its angular size increases from 16.1 to 16.9 arc seconds. Saturn reaches ‘quadrature', 90 degrees in angle from the Sun, on April 21st enhancing the three-dimensionality of its globe and rings. At 21 degrees, the rings are slightly less tilted to the line of sight than they have been for some time. Sadly, its low elevation before sunrise will somewhat limit our views of this most beautiful planet.

Mercury is lost in the Sun's glare this month, so cannot be observed.

Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start of the month. It then rises at ~04:48am and will be best seen at around 6am having an elevation of ~8 degrees. It will then have a magnitude of +0.78 and a 6.4 arc second, salmon-pink, disk and lies just inside Capricornus. By month's end it will have moved over to the east of Capricornus and its magnitude will have increased to +0.43 and it angular size to 7.6 arc seconds. Having started the month just below Saturn, it rapidly leaves Saturn and Jupiter as it crosses Capricornus.

Venus is still dominating the south-western twilight sky. It reached greatest elongation east from the Sun on the 24th March but is still near its highest possible altitude and April is still one of the very best months to observe it in its 8 year cycle of apparitions. As April begins, it will then have an elevation of ~39 degrees at sunset - about the highest elevation it can ever achieve! During the month its angular size increases from 25.5 to 38.2 arc seconds but, at the same time, it phase (the percentage of the disk illuminated) decreases from 47% to 26% and so the brightness only increases slightly from -4.5 to -4.7 magnitudes. This is about the brightest that Venus ever gets!

Highlights of the Month April 1st - before dawn: Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Before dawn on the first of the month, Mars will be seen to lie just below Saturn with Jupiter over to their right.

April 3rd - evening: Venus within the Pleiades Cluster. After sunset on the 3rd of April, if clear, Venus will be seen to lie just to the left of Merope within the Pleiades Cluster. A great photographic opportunity!

April 15th - before dawn: the Moon joins three planets. Before dawn on the 15th of April, the Moon, just after third quarter, lies below a lineup of Mars, Saturn and Jupiter.

April 25th - after sunset: A very thin crescent Moon lies between the Hyades and Pleiades Clusters. If clear after sunset on the 25th of the month, a very thin crescent moon will be seen to lie between the Hyades and Pleiades Clusters in Taurus. It may be possible to spot the 'Old Moon in the New Moon's arms' due to earthshine. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the night sky below the world's middle lineduring Month 4 2020.

In these very strange times, as we find ourselves locked inside our homes, we might have some ideas as to what to do with the April night sky. Hopefully you’ll be able to actually get out of your house and take your telescope somewhere else to have a look at the night sky.April is a month of action in astronomy and stargazing! Global Astronomy Month (GAM) is organised each April by Astronomers Without Borders and the International Dark Sky Week is also in April, this year from Sunday, April 19 until Sunday, April 26!
Planets Look for Venus in the evening sky, where it is shining very bright. You can try to see it during daytime if your eyesight is good and you know exactly where to look. Look for Jupiter after midnight at the beginning of the month, and after 10:30 PM towards the end of it - thanks to daylight saving as well as Earth’s revolution around the Sun that among other things makes stars rise 4 minutes earlier every day. Try to spot Saturn and Mars about half an hour after Jupiter. Morning Owls can still enjoy Mercury as well as a beautiful arch of planets stretching across the sky and are welcome to tell us if it is worth waking up that early to see them. Sadly Mercury will disappear in the twilight of the rising Sun at the end of the month.
Stars
Try to see the brightest stars in the sky - now is the time (as it was last month but we can still enjoy these in April). They are Sirius , the dog star, Canopus the cat star and Alpha Centauri , our closest neighbour 41.3 trillion kilometres away (so in the safe zone). Although, technically Sirius and Alpha Centauri are double stars, so then are they the three brightest stars or the five brightest stars?
Galaxies
Milky Way - the obvious choice is brightest towards Crux. The centre of the galaxy rises around 10PM. In it, Scorpius is now here called Manaia ki Te Rangi, the guardian of the sky, and if you're into jewelry, you’ll see that it looks like a manaia made of green stone - pounamu. It’s a beautiful name for Scorpius and is great that the asterism can look like so many things, including a scorpion - which here in New Zealand don’t exist. Other visible galaxies are the Magellanic Clouds . Look for these in the Southern part of the sky, obviously, the part that we call circumpolar from here as the stars there never set and never rise but move around the celestial south pole in circles. Usually any star above declination -60 classifies as circumpolar from here. There are a whole bunch of amazing galaxies around Leo at this time of year. For our northern hemisphere listeners, Leo in the southern hemisphere is upside down from what you’re used to. The most amazing of the group of galaxies is the Leo triplet , which is M66, M65 and NGC 3628, and it’s really amazing to see three of them in the eyepiece. If you’ve got a big enough telescope, you can always go a little better, up the sky to NGC 3593 and then a little bit further away to NGC 3596 which are two nice galaxies too. Also a little bit above Leo, there’s another bunch of galaxies, Messier objects M95, M96, and M105, and in fact round M105 there’s another couple of galaxies, NGC 3389 and NGC 3384 - they’re all quite easy to see. If you’ve got a big telescope, you can also have a look for four other galaxies that are closer to Leo than the three I just mentioned: NGC 3338, NGC 3367, NGC 3377 and NGC 3412. They are all pretty easy to find as well. NGC 3367, if you can catch that one, is a hundred and fifty million light years away, which is staggering. Closer to the horizon, there’s all the galaxies that are around Virgo. They’re probably still a bit low for us, but by April if we stay up late enough there will be a beautiful bunch of galaxies to have a look through. That’s one of the great groups of galaxies that we share with the northern sky. Also, one of the classics for us is the Sombrero Galaxy , absolutely magic to look through on the telescope. Then, there’s M83 , which is the big spiral that we see down here in the southern hemisphere. There’s Centaurus A , also known as the Hamburger Galaxy , and there’s another great galaxy that we quite like looking at as well - it’s NGC 4945 , which is just above Omega Centauri, between Omega Centauri and the Southern Cross.
Binocular objects
Omega Centauri is a nice big globular cluster, really easy to see and you can totally spot that. Now, if you’ve got a nice dark sky you’ll also be able to see M83 pretty easily in binoculars, so that’s definitely worth checking out. There’s not many galaxies you can see in binoculars, but M83 is one of them, and in summer you can see Sculptor, so now we’re sort of getting into the colder months M83 dominates. Then there are the larger clusters, the Southern Pleiades you can look at, which is pretty amazing in the binoculars. Omicron Valorum is high in the sky, as is NGC 2516, the Southern Beehive , and of course if you’re looking at the Southern Beehive you probably also want to look at the other Beehive, M44 in Cancer, which is also an absolutely wonderful binocular object as well. M42, the Eta Carina nebula is always great, and the Wishing Well cluster stands out really well in binoculars as well. 47 Tucanae is the other really nice globular cluster to have a look at. Of course what you can do as well is just lie on the ground with your binoculars and just browse around the Large Magellanic cloud. You’ll see the Tarantula nebula , and you might see a whole bunch of fuzzy-looking stars, which will be the big collection of globular clusters and other open clusters they have in that galaxy. So well worth having a look there, especially if you have a decent high-powered pair of binoculars, but still quite cool on small binoculars as well.
So, from here from New Zealand, we wish you clear skies so that you can always see the stars, and stay safe - stay inside, keep your two metre distance from people, and don’t get sick. Clear skies, everyone, and let’s hear each other healthy next month.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during March 2020 .

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere’s night sky during November 2019.

The Planets Jupiter As March begins, Jupiter rises more than 90 minutes before the Sun shining at magnitude of -2. It then follows Mars and precedes Saturn into the pre-dawn sky - all rising within the space of an hour. During the month it brightens to magnitude -2.1 whilst its angular size increases from 34.2 to 36.9 arc seconds. A low south-eastern horizon will be needed and our views of the giant planet and its Gallilean moons will be hindered by the depth of atmosphere through which it will be observed.

Saturn At the start of March, Saturn rises at 05:33, half an hour after Jupiter, and, by its end, at 04:42 whilst its magnitude remains at +0.7 and it angular size increases from 15.5 to 16.1 arc seconds. Sadly, its low elevation before sunrise will limit our views of this most beautiful planet. Binoculars might be needed to spot it, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Mercury Mercury is lost in the Sun's glare this month so cannot be observed.

Mars, Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start the month. It then rises at ~04:30am and will be best seen at around 6am having an elevation of ~8 degrees. It will have a magnitude of +1.1 and a 5.5 arc second, salmon-pink, disk and lies just to the left of the 'lid of the teapot' in Sagittarius. By month's end it will have just moved into Capricornus and will be seen further round towards the south before dawn when its magnitude will have increased slightly to +0.8. Its angular size will have increased to 6.4 arc seconds but no markings will be seen with a small telescope. During the month it moves eastwards with respect to Jupiter and Saturn which had followed it into the pre-dawn sky as March began and passes below Jupiter on the 21st and Saturn as April begins.

Venus, Venus is now dominating the south-western twilight sky and appears higher each night until the 24th when it reaches greatest elongation east from the Sun and will then have an elevation at sunset of ~40 degrees - about the highest elevation it can ever achieve! During the month its angular size increases from 18.8 to 25.2 arc seconds but, at the same time, it phase (the percentage of the disk illuminated) decreases from 63% to 48% and so the brightness only increases slightly from -4.3 to -4.5 magnitudes.

Highlights Early March - evening: Spot Uranus near Venus. A chance to find Uranus, at magnitude 5.8, with binoculars as it is approached by Venus. The chart shows the relative positions of Uranus and Venus during the first week of March. Uranus forms a 'propeller' with two other stars so should be easy to spot as Venus passes close by.

March 8th - late evening: the near full Moon lies below Leo. In the late evening, the Moon, one day before full, lies below the belly of Leo, the Lion.

March 18th - before Dawn: Three planets and a waning crescent Moon. If clear before dawn on the 18th, looking towards the southeast, one should see a waning crescent Moon down to the right of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

March 28th/29th - early evening: Venus and a thin crescent Moon will be seen near the Hyades and Pleiades Clusters. If clear in the early evening of the 28th, Venus will be seen to the upper right of a very thin crescent Moon with both lying below the Hyades and Pleaides Clusters. On the following night, the crescent Moon will lie in the upper right of the Hyades Cluster Nice photo opportunities.

March 31st - before Dawn: Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. If clear before dawn on the 31st, one will see a nice grouping of, from left to right, Saturn, Mars and Jupiter.

March 15th evening: Mons Piton and Cassini Best seen close to third quarter, Mons Piton is an isolated lunar mountain located in the eastern part of Mare Imbrium, south-east of the crater Plato and west of the crater Cassini. It has a diameter of 25 km and a height of 2.3 km. Its height was determined by the length of the shadow it casts. Cassini is a 57km crater that has been flooded with lava. The crater floor has then been impacted many times and holds within its borders two significant craters, Cassini A, the larger and Cassini B. North of Mons Piton can be seen a rift through the Alpine Mountains (Montes Alpes). Around 166 km long it has a thin rille along its center. I have never seen it but have been able to image it as can be seen in the ‘8 day Moon’ part of the lunar section.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during March 2020.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during February 2020 .

The Planets Jupiter As February begins, Jupiter rises more than 90 minutes before the Sun shining at magnitude of -1.9. During the month it brightens to magnitude -2.0 whilst its angular size increases slightly from 32.5 to 34.1 arc seconds. A low south-eastern horizon will be needed and our views of the giant planet and its Gallilean moons will be hindered by the depth of atmosphere through which it will be observed.

Saturn passed directly behind the Sun on the 13th of January and, as February begins, will rise less than one hour before the Sun. Then, equipped with binoculars and a very low south-eastern horizon, it might be glimpsed at magnitude +0.58 in the pre-dawn sky - but please do not use binoculars after the Sun has risen. As February progresses, its magnitude actually reduces very slightly to +0.66 as it angular size increases from 15.1 to 15.5 arc seconds. Saturn crosses the Ecliptic (the path of the Sun across the heavens) in a southerly direction on the 13th, just 13 days before Jupiter reaches this point whilst Mars reaches it on the 1st of February. (Stellariun shows them beautifully aligned along the ecliptic this month.)

Mercury passed in front of the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 10th of January and, on the 10th of February, comes to its greatest elongation east, some 18.2 degrees in angle from the Sun. Mercury starts the month at magnitude -1 and dims to magnitude +0.2 by the 14th and will then soon be lost in the Sun's glare. From the 1st to the 14th, its angular size increases from 5.6 to 8.1 arc seconds but its phase (the % illuminated disk) falls from 85% to just 32% - hence the fall in magnitude. On the 1st of the month, it will set about 70 minutes after the Sun and will have an elevation, low in the west-southwest, of ~9 degrees. This will increase until the 10th before it begins to fall back towards the Sun. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start of the month. It then rises some three hours before the Sun and will be best seen at around 7am having an elevation of ~8 degrees. It will have a magnitude of +1.4 and a 4.3 arc second, salmon-pink, disk. By month's end it will be seen further round towards the south before dawn and its magnitude will have increased slightly to +1.1. Its angular size will have increased to 5.5 arc seconds but no markings will be seen unless you have access to the Hubble Space Telescope. Lying along the ecliptic it is moving eastwards above the 'Teapot' of Sagittarius and will lie just above its 'lid' on the 24th.

Venus is now dominating the south-western twilight sky and appears higher each night, climbing from ~29 degrees above the horizon to more than 38 degrees at sunset. During the month its angular size increases from 15.3 to 18.6 arc seconds but, at the same time, it phase (the percentage of the disk illuminated) decreases from 73% to 63% and so the brightness only increases slightly from -4.1 to -4.3 magnitudes.

Highlights February: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. In the evenings when the Moon is not prominent, the galaxy M31 in Andromeda will be visible high in the south. There are two ways of finding it:

1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left and up a bit. Then turn 90 degrees to the right, move up to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and, if there is a dark sky, you can even see it with your unaided eye. The photons that are falling on your retina left Andromeda well over two million years ago!

2) You can also find M31 by following the "arrow" made by the three rightmost bright stars of Cassiopeia down to the lower right.
Around new Moon (23rd February) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

February 3rd - evening: the Moon between the Hyades and Pleiads Clusters. In the evening one could see the waxing Moon, moving towards full, lying to the right of the Hyades Cluster. Aldeberan is a red giant star far closer to us than the Hyades.

February 7th - after sunset: Venus lies above Mercury. After sunset, low in the southwest, Venus will lie above Mercury. Venus will not be missed, but to spot Mercury which lies down to its lower right, a low horizon just south of west and perhaps binoculars will be needed - but please do not use them until the Sun has set.

February 18th - before dawn: a thin crescent Moon lies just to the right of Mars. If clear around 7 am on the 18th, one will see a thin cresent Moon lying over to the right of Mars. This could be a nice photo opportunity.

February 27th - after sunset: a very thin crescent Moon lies down to the lower left of Venus. After sunset on the 27th, and given a low horizon towards the west, you may be able to spot a very thin crescent Moon lying down to the lower left of Venus.

February 29th - before dawn: a lineup of Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. If clear around 6:30 am on the 29th, one will see a nice lineup of, from left to right, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. A low horizon towards the southeast will be needed to spot Saturn.

February 1st and 14th evening: The Hyginus Rille. During these evenings the terminator lies close so making it more obvious. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during February 2020.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during January 2020 .

The Planets Jupiter passed behind the Sun on December 27th, 2019 and will be lost in the Sun's glare in the early part of January. But, by the middle of the month, it will become visible, shining at magnitude -1.9 in the pre-dawn sky and, by month's end, will rise about an hour before the Sun. A low eastern horizon will be needed and our views of the giant planet and its Gallilean moons will be hindered by the depth of atmosphere through which it will be observed.

Saturn passes directly behind the Sun on the 13th of January so could not be seen until the very end of the month. Then, equipped with binoculars and a very low eastern horizon, it might be glimpsed at magnitude 0.6 in the pre-dawn sky as it rises about 40 minutes before the Sun - but please do not use binoculars after the Sun has risen.

Mercury passes in front of the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 10th of January so will not be visible until the very end of the month. Then, at magnitude -1.0, it will set about 70 minutes after the Sun and will have an elevation, low in the west southwest, of ~9 degrees. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start of the month. It then rises some three hours before the Sun and will be best seen at around 7am having an elevation of ~11 degrees. It will have a magnitude of +1.6 and a 4.3 arc second, salmon-pink, disk. By month's end it will be seen further round towards the south before dawn and its magnitude will have increased slightly to +1.4.

Venus rises rapidly in the twilight sky this month. As January begins, it could be best seen, shining at magnitude -4, at about 5 pm having an elevation of ~11 degrees above the south-western horizon. As the month progresses, remaining at magnitude -4, its elevation at sunset increases and will be best seen at about 6 pm having an elevation of ~22 degrees. During the month its angular size increases from 13 to 15 arc seconds but, at the same time, it phase (the percentage of the disk illuminated) decreases from 82% to 74% and so the brightness remains constant.

Highlights January, evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. January is a good time to look high in the south after dark towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system as seen in the diagram below. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4.

January: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. In the evenings when the Moon is not prominent, the galaxy M31 in Andromeda will be visible high in the south. There are two ways of finding it:

1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left and up a bit. Then turn 90 degrees to the right, move up to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and, if there is a dark sky, you can even see it with your unaided eye. The photons that are falling on your retina left Andromeda well over two million years ago!

2) You can also find M31 by following the "arrow" made by the three rightmost bright stars of Cassiopeia down to the lower right.
Around new Moon (24th January) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

January 4th - before dawn: Mars lies above Antares in Scorpius. If clear before dawn on the 4th, one will see Mars (magnitide +1.55) just above the first magnitude red giant star Antares.

January 7th - evening: the Moon lies within the Hyades Cluster. In the evening one could see the waxing Moon, moving towards full, lying above Aldebaran in the Hyades Cluster. Aldeberan is a red giant star far closer to us than the Hyades.

January 10th - after sunset: Venus lies above Delta Capricornus. After sunset, low in the southwest, Venus will lie above the ~3rd magnitude star Delta Capricornus or Deneb Algedi.

January 27th - evening: a very thin crescent Moon lies between Venus and Mercury. If clear after sunset, looking towards the southwest one could see a very thin crescent Moon, just 3 days after New, lying below Venus and above Mercury.

January 7th and 24th: Two Great Lunar Craters These are two great nights to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during January 2020.

Welcome to a new decade of astronomy, discovery and fun!

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from New Zealand have recorded a live observing session of the New Zealand's night sky.

This month we look up into the night sky of January and February.

We are actually at Stonehenge Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the middle of the night. To the south is the Southern Cross with the famous globular cluster Omega Centauri almost about to peer behind the tree, and then we can follow the Milky Way up past the asterisms of the Diamond Cross, the False Cross, Canis Major, Orion, then we have Taurus, the Pleiaides, or Matariki as we are calling these stars here, Aries, and that's the end of the Milky Way.

This time of the year we can see only one spiral arm of our galaxy, the one we actually live in, the Orion Spur. Everytime we look towards Orion we look toward the edge of the galaxy. Every time we look towards Scorpius (which is now well beyond the horizon) we look towards the centre of our galaxy.

This time of the year is also when we see very bright stars, not as many clusters and objects that are at the centre of the galaxy but still plenty in Carina Vela and Crux region here, all these objects are oldies but goldies and we still have the Magellanic Clouds to admire, they are very beautiful, especially under a dark sky like the one from Wairarapa.

Stonehenge Aotearoa is located in the North Island of New Zealand in Wairarapa, which is one of the darkest locations in New Zealand.

We decided to do something different this month and record live on this location from where we usually do our deep sky stargazing away from the light pollution of the big cities.

With us we have the giant 16 inch telescope and we have been galaxy hunting all evening. The field of galaxies hunting is pretty amazing at the moment. In Grus, there is the Grus quartet, with four really bright galaxies; in Cetus there is Cetus A - we find about 5 galaxies around that one; in Fornax, if you follow the great Eridanus river around the sky, which goes from Orion's Rigel, all the way to Achernar here in New Zealand and is now at zenith, well up there are about 10 galaxies, at one point we had 6 galaxies simultaneously in the eyepiece. In terms of starhopping you will find these half way through between Rigel and Achernar, as you look towards Achernar from Rige, there are 4 stars looking like a parallelogram, to the left of those stars is a tiny little triangle and that's where you see these galaxies.

We also decided to try out our narrow band OIII filter on the telescope and had a great look at Eta Carinae nebula and Tarantula nebula and browsed the Large Magellanic Cloud to see nebula after nebula. The filter makes a great difference to viewing.

We are now going to move the large Leviathan telescope and look at the 47 Tucanae globular cluster, which is one of the greatest globular clusters in the southern hemisphere, here in New Zealand is located on the south circumpolar region; the nucleus of this globular cluster is very well defined. You can resolve the stars to the centre in the core and it almost looks tri dimensional.

Now we look at Sculptor galaxy, which is a famous and easy-to-look-at galaxy here in the southern hemisphere. We can see the galaxy spanning across the entire eyepiece and fits in a very pointy triangle that also spans the length of the eyepiece almost perpendicular to the galaxy. Through the middle of Sculptor are four stars, another parallelogram.

We will now try and find M1, the Crab nebula in Taurus, which also looks great with the OIII filter on. M1 is a wispy cloud remnant from a supernova explosion that occurred in 1054. Taurus is really high, and we can also see the Pleiades, Hyades and Aries on the northern horizon.

In New Zealand, the stars of the zodiacal constellations shift slowly through the northern part of the sky and they move on the sky counter clockwise looking north, completely the other way around like in Europe. We can also see Orion that is upside down in the sky and from it we can observe the galactic arm stretching all the way to the Southern Cross where we can see with the naked eye the Flounder - or the Coalsack as we know it in Europe, the Flounder (Te Patiki) is the Maori name of this region of space where dust obscures the light that comes from the stars. Inside it, is the Jewel Box.

The Magellanic clouds are very bright right now. Canopus is almost at Zenith, and we can make a line from Sirius, the brightest star in the sky to Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky, if you extend that line it will point towards the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - the four objects are aligned.

Back to the Crab Nebula it looked fluffy and beautiful. Hard to believe this was visible in the daytime for three weeks when the star went supernova in 1054. Close to it, we also observed Orion's nebula, a place where stars are born. In this telescope, M42 is very bright with the four stars of the trapesium being very clearly visible. We are also observing M78 that Sam believes is the forgotten cousin of M42 on which everyone focuses usually, but seeing this beautiful reflection nebula in M78 lit up by the brightest stars, you realise it's a great object on its own, and you can notice a dust line that stands out quite well.

Next we look at Eta Carinae, just because it's so beautiful. We always visit this one. The dust lines are spectacular and there is a really crisp boundary between the nebula and the lines of dust. With the OIII filter, the nebula is very sharp. Close to it, the Wishing Well cluster (NGC 3532) is a massive collection of stars that fills the eyepiece, with almost equidistant stars, one of them is really bright, the cluster is almost resembling a snowflake. On the other side of the Carina Nebula, sitting almost straight on the Galactic Equator is Gem Nebula (NGC 3293). Both Gem and Wishing Well are objects located between the Southern Cross and the False Cross.

The Gem Nebula is small and you can clearly see one red giant star, that stands out. It is a very beautiful cluster, that is similar to the Jewel Box but often overlooked because it's close to Eta Carinae.

Same sky we look at now in January at midnight will be visible earlier and earlier throughout the month.

We are now shifting to NGC 2546 in the Milky Way, just a bit away from the False Cross, a bit to the left of it, in Puppis.

For the grand finale we looked at the really hard to see globular clusters in Musca, which now is almost at 2 o'clock from the Southern Cross. The sky is so clear that we can see Omega Centauri very easily with the naked eye. NGC 4833 is a lovely globular cluster about 6.9 magnitude where we can resolve stars to the centre, it has a tiny star at the side. Then we look at another fainter glob mag 7.2 NGC 3472, quite big and we can see the diffuse cloud-like smudgy pattern, but on top there are many stars we can resolve, a faint glob - compared to everything else we've been looking at.

Next we go to another galaxy near Sculptor close to the star Deneb Kaitos. This one is a faint galaxy, elongated, pretty faint, and a few stars in front of it. NGC 247, a 9.1 spiral galaxy.

Now we look for another glob, NGC 288, a magnitude 8.1 globular cluster visually just beyond sculptor galaxy. Very faint, surrounding it is a group of stars similar to Corona Borealis but the telescope version.

Grus is now closing to the horizon, 10 degrees , with all its visually double stars, looking like a necklace.

Tonight we have seen beautiful things in the sky and shared them and this amazing New Zealand night sky, where the milky way is so bright, it's been a great night, with more galaxies than you can poke a stick at, a really great night.

Thank you to Stonehenge Aotearoa for letting us plant our telescopes in their field and to Rhian Sheenhan for the use of his amazing music - which we always listen to when we do observing.

We wish you clear skies from New Zealand.

Hari and Sam

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during December 2019 .

The Planets Jupiter , shining on the 1st at magnitude -1.8 and with an angular size of 32 arc seconds, can be seen very low in the southwest as darkness falls at the start of December but, soon after, will be lost in the Sun's glare. Jupiter lies in the southeastern part of Ophiuchus and is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic so, as it appears in the twilight, will only have an elevation of ~6 degrees. With its low elevation, atmospheric dispersion will take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet and it four Gallilean moons.

Saturn will be seen west of south as darkness falls at the start of the month. Then, its disk is ~16 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still, at ~24 degrees, nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning some 36 arc seconds across. During the month its brightness remains +0.6 with an angular size of 15.4 arc seconds. Sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the south-eastern side of the milky way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~12 degrees after sunset. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, . Following its transit of the Sun and reaching greatest elongation west on the 28th of November, can be seen in the pre-dawn sky low in the southeast at the start of December. On the 1st it will have a magnitude +0.29 and will rise around an hour before the Sun. It will then have an elevation of some 9 degrees before being lost in the Sun's glare. With an angular size of ~5 arc seconds, it will then fall back towards the Sun and be lost from view by the middle of the month.

Mars, Mars can be seen towards the southeast in the pre-dawn sky at the start of its new apparition. It rises some two and a half hours before the Sun at the start of the month and will have an elevation of ~15 degrees before it is lost in the Sun's glare. It then has a magnitude of +1.7 and a 3.9 arc second, salmon-pink, disk. By month's end it will be seen further round towards the south before dawn and its magnitude will have increased slightly to +1.6.

Venus, Venus may just be glimpsed in the south-west at the start of the month, but will be difficult to see due to the fact that the ecliptic is at a shallow angle to the horizon and so Venus will have a very low elevation. As the month progresses, it will rise higher in the sky and on the 31st will have reached an elevation of 14 degrees as darkness falls. During December, its magnitude remains at about -4 and its disk increases from 11.6 to 13 arc seconds across. A low horizon and possibly binoculars will be needed to spot Venus, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Highlights November - still a chance to observe Saturn. . Saturn is now low (at an elevation of ~13 degrees) just west of south as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory.The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring.

December, late evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. December is a good time to look high in the Southeast after dark towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4.

December: find Uranus. This month is a still good time to find the planet Uranus in the late evening as it reached opposition on October 28th. With a magnitude of 5.7, binoculars will easily spot it and, from a really dark site, it might even be visible to the unaided eye. A medium aperture telescope will reveal Uranus's 3.7 arc second wide disk showing its turquoise colour. It lies in Aries, close to the boarders of Pisces and Cetus as shown on the chart.

December: find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. Around new Moon (26th December) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

December 1st If clear before dawn and looking southeast, one could see a nice lineup of Mercury, Mars and Spica. Arcturus will be seen high up to their left.

December 10th In the evening one could see the Moon, close to full, lying between the Pleiades and Hyades Clusters. Aldeberan is a red giant star far closer to us.

December 12th - before dawn: Mars and the double star Alpha Librae. If clear before dawn on the 12th, one will see Mars (magnitude +1.67) just above the double star Alpha Librae (Magnitudes +2.74 and +5.15) or Zubwnelgenubi. Despite its name it is the second brightest star in Libra. This would make a nice image using a small telescope.

December 14th and 15th after midnight: the Geminid Meteor Shower. The early mornings of December 14th and 15th will give us the chance, if clear, of observing the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. The Moon is at First Quarter and will set around 11 pm so, when Gemini is highest in the sky, its light will not hinder our view. The Geminids can often produce near-fireballs and so the shower is well worth observing if it is clear. An observing location well away from towns or cities will pay dividends. The relatively slow moving meteors arise from debris released from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This is unusual, as most meteor showers come from comets. The radiant - where the meteors appear to come from - is close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini as shown on the chart. If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you.

December 22nd/23rd - late evenings: the Ursid Meteor Shower The late evenings of the 22nd and 23rd of December are when the Ursid meteor shower will be at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great. Sadly, this year Full Moon is on the 21st, so its light will greatly hinder our view. The radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation. Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so it is worth having a look should it be clear.

December - Evenings of the 5th and 18th: The Straight Wall The Straight Wall, or Rupes Recta, is best observed either 1 or 2 days after First Quarter or a day or so before Third Quarter. To be honest, it is not really a wall but a gentle scarp - as Sir Patrick has said "Neither is it a wall nor is it straight!"

Southern Hemisphere

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during December 2019.

Where we are This time we went to Stonehenge Aotearoa, but don't worry this is still in the Southern Hemisphere. Here is what's in the store for December. Overview of the night sky Orion The Planets Venus and Saturn will have a close encounter on the 11th of December, look west to see them just after sunset. Have a good look as the next day it will be full Moon, which will light pollute the skies.

Meteor Showers The Moon Clear skies from Haritina and Sam from New Zealand, and see you next year!

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during November 2019 .

The Night Sky

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere’s night sky during November 2019.

The Planets Jupiter , shining on the 1st at magnitude -1.9 and falling to -1.8 during the month, can be seen very low in the southwest as darkness falls. As the month progresses, its angular size drops from 33.4 to 32.1 arc seconds - but, by the end of the month, will be lost in the Sun's glare. Jupiter lies in the southeastern part of Ophiuchus and is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic so, as it appears in the twilight, will only have an elevation of ~8 degrees. With its low elevation, atmospheric dispersion will take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet and it four Gallilean moons.

Saturn , will be seen just west of south as darkness falls at the start of the month. Then, its disk is ~16 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still, at 25.2 degrees, nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning some 39 arc seconds across. During the month its brightness remains +0.6 whilst its angular size falls to 15.4 arc seconds. Sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the south-western side of the milky way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~13 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, following its transit of the Sun on the 11th - see Highlight below - Mercury rises rapidly into the pre-dawn sky, increasing in brightness by half a magnitude each day and rising about 7 minutes earlier as the days progress. The rates slow until Mercury reaches greatest western elongation some 20 degrees in angle from the Sun on the 28th. By then, it will have brightened to magnitude -0.5 and will rise one and a quarter hours before the Sun. It will then have an elevation of some 11 degrees before being lost in the Sun's glare.

Mars, which passed behind the Sun (superior conjunction) on September 2nd, can be seen in the pre-dawn sky at the start of its new apparition. It might just be glimpsed just south of east at the start of the month but will then only have an elevation of ~11 degrees at sunrise. Then, binoculars could well be needed to spot its +1.8th magnitude, 3.7 arc second disk - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen. However, by the end of the month, Mars rises some two and a half hours before the Sun remaining at magnitude -2.8 with disk still less than 4 arc seconds across. It will have risen to ~12 degrees elevation before being lost in the Sun's glare.

Venus, may just be glimpsed in the west south-west setting an hour after the Sun at the start of the month, but will be difficult to see due to the fact that the ecliptic is at a shallow angle to the horizon and so Venus will have a very low elevation. Bymonth's end the Sun sets just before 4 pm and Venus an hour and a quarter later but it will still be hard to spot with an elevation of just 6 degrees as darkness falls. Its magnitude remains at about -3.8 and its, almost fully illuminated disk, ~11 arc seconds across. Binoculars and a very low horizon will be needed to spot Venus, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Highlights November - still a chance to observe Saturn. Saturn is now low (at an elevation of ~13 degrees) just west of south as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory.Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are currently at an angle of 25 degrees to the line of sight. The rings will continue to narrow until March 2025 when they will appear edge-on again.

November, late evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. November is a good time to look high in the Southeast towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system as seen in the diagram below. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4.

November: find Uranus. This month is a good time to find the planet Uranus in the late evening as it reached opposition on October 28th. With a magnitude of 5.7, binoculars will easily spot it and, from a really dark site, it might even be visible to the unaided eye. A medium aperture telescope will reveal Uranus's 3.7 arc second wide disk showing its turquoise colour. It lies in Aries, close to the boarders of Pisces and Cetus as shown on the chart.

November 1st - after sunset: A crescent Moon between Saturn and Jupiter, after sunset, low in the south-west, Jupiter will be seen down to the lower right of a waxing crescent Moon whilst, up and to its left will be seen Saturn.

November 9th - before dawn: Mars lies above Spica. Before dawn, low in the southeast, Mars (at magnitide 1.76) will be seen just above Spica (at magnitude 0.95) in Virgo.

November 11th: A Transit of Mercury. Whereas in 2016 the whole of the transit was visible, this year the Sun will have set (~4:16 pm) well before its end. First contact is at 12:35 when its disk will just impinge onto the Sun's surface with second contact at 12:37. Then, the Sun will have an elevation of ~20 degrees over the south-southwestern horizon. Mercury reaches the midway point of its transit at 3:19 - with the Sun at an elevation of just 7 degrees but will be lost from view long before fourth contact as it leaves the Sun' surface at 6:04. Mercury's disk is just 10 arc seconds across - compared to the Sun's 1938 arc seconds, so a small telescope would be needed to observe the transit should, hopefully, it be clear.As the Sun is at solar minimum, it is unlikely that any sunspots will be visible to be confused with Mercury but, if so, Mercury's disk will appear darker and will, of course, be moving across the Sun's surface.

November 16th - late evening: the Moon in Gemini. In the late evening, looking southeast, the waning Moon before third quarter will be seen within the constellation Gemini.

November 22nd - in twilight: Venus lies close to Jupiter. After sunset, looking southwest, Venus will lie just two degrees below Jupiter - with Saturn high and away to the left.

November 5th and 18th: The Alpine Valley These are two good nights to observe an interesting feature on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb is the Apennine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. As shown in the image is a thin rill runs along its length which isquite a challenge to observe. The dark crater Plato will also be visible nearby. You may also see the shadow cast by the mountain Mons Piton lying not far away in Mare Imbrium. This is a very interesting region of the Moon!

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during November 2019.

Southern Hemisphere

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere’s night sky during November 2019.

A bit about November The Sun rises around 6 AM on the beginning of the month and sets around 8 pm and at the end of the month earlier with about 20 minutes at around 5:40 and 40 minutes respectively later at night setting at about 8:40 .

Planets, We actually just came back from Rotorua where we enjoyed a bit of stargazing under the beautiful dark sky from there. We spotted the planet Jupiter, still bright, moving now towards Saturn, then of course Saturn and invisible next to it - we did not spot but we knew it was there - Pluto. November is still good to catch up with these two amazing planets if you have not had the chance to look at them yet. At the beginning of the month, Venus and Mercury are very close and joined by Antares and Jupiter make a spectacle in the evening sky. You’ll need a good opening on the horizon to spot them. Keep an eye on Venus all throughout the month. Around ninth of November it will pass close to Antares at about 4 degrees then it will move in closer to Jupiter and Saturn so that on the 24 of November is within one and a quarter degrees to Jupiter. That close enough to fit 2 and a bit full Moons between them, and watch this space around ten of December, when Venus will be within 2 degrees of Saturn. Neptune and Uranus are out there too, Neptune is in Aquarius and Uranus in Aries. .

Asterisms. November here is called Orongo, which means the time after the great rain. And does it rain in October! November harbours one the most beautiful asterisms I have ever seen, the grand canoe of Tama Rereti, te waka o Tama Rereti. And when I say harbours, it almost really does, the asterism stretches around the horizon as the Milky Way surrounds the horizon.The Milky Way is the canoe, Scorpius is the prow, Southern Cross is the anchor and Orion the stern. The Hyades and Pleiades are the feathers and the wake left behind by the canoe. From the bow, the anchor rope is marked by Alpha Centauri, the third brightest star in the sky, and also Beta Centauri; together these are also known as the Pointers of the Southern Cross. The Southern Cross represents the great stone anchor or Te Punga that keeps the canoe of Tamarereti in its place.

Southern Cross. This time of the year, the Southern Cross is in its lowest position on the horizon and points down indicating south. If you look up from the Southern Cross, you will come across Achernar, the end of the river Eridanus. On each side of this line are the Large Magellanic Cloud, on the left, and to the right of it, the Small Magellanic Cloud, our beautiful galaxies we admire here in the Southern Hemisphere.

Magellanic Clouds, - these are a great attraction in November for the simple reason that most of the centre Milky Way now is beyond the horizon or around it so we are looking at them through a layer of atmosphere. By the time Orion has enough height in the sky to observe it properly, it would be December so the Magellanic Clouds are always a good idea for a target to fall onto.Good times for observing would be at the end of the month, we have new moon on the 27 of November and don’t go observing stars on the 13th of November as the Moon is full.

Transit of Mercury, a spectacular event is going to happen on the morning of the 12th of November (nz time), that is the transit of Mercury. The transit will end as the Sun rises here in Wellington so not the best place to view it but hopefully with a clear eastern horizon we should be able to catch a glimpse.

Stars and Galaxies, up in the sky, almost at Zenith, is Grus and close to it is Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus. As you look up, Fomalhaut, Achernar and another star, Deneb Kaitos of Grus make a triangle. Just below the ecliptic, the great square of Pegasus is riding the Northern horizon. So in November we should be able to see again the brightest stars in the sky in order: Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri and also the most prominent four galaxies The Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds and very low in the north, the Andromeda Galaxy, easily seen in binoculars in a dark sky and faintly visible to the eye. It appears as a spindle of light.

From Wellington New Zealand, Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske wish you a fantastic November.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during October 2019 .

The Planets Jupiter , shining on the 1st at magnitude -2 and falling to -1.9 during the month, can be seen low in the southwest as darkness falls. As the month progresses, its angular size drops from 35.8 to 33.5 arc seconds. Jupiter lies in the southeastern part of Ophiuchus and is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic so, as it appears in the twilight, will only have an elevation of ~10 degrees. With its low elevation, atmospheric dispersion will take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn, will be seen in the south as darkness falls at the start of the month. Then, its disk is ~16.8 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still, at 25.2 degrees, nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning some 41 arc seconds across. During the month its brightness falls from magnitude +0.5 to +0.6 whilst its angular size falls to 16 arc seconds. Sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the south-western side of the milky way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, reaches eastern elongation (at an angular distance of 24.6 degrees) on the 19th of the month but, as the ecliptic is at such a shallow angle at this time of the year, its elevation at sunset (~1.5 degrees) is so low that, lying to the upper left of Venus, it will be very hard to spot. A very low south-western horizon will be needed along with binoculars - but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars, which passed behind the Sun (superior conjunction) on September 2nd, returns to the pre-dawn sky at the start of its new apparition. It might just be glimpsed just south of east in the latter part of the month but will only have an elevation of ~11 degrees at sunrise by month's end. Binoculars could well be needed to spot its +1.8th magnitude, 3.7 arc second disk - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Venus, may be glimpsed in the west south-west some 30 minutes after sunset at the start of the month, but will be very difficult to see due to the fact that the ecliptic is at a shallow angle to the horizon and so Venus will have a very low elevation. By month's end it sets about one hour after the Sun but will still be hard to spot. Its magnitude remains at about -3.9 and its disk, ~10 arc seconds across, is almost fully lit. Binoculars and a very low horizon will be needed, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Highlights October - observe Saturn. Saturn is now low (at an elevation of ~13 degrees) just west of south as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory.

As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little "squashed". Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison.

The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring.

Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are currently at an angle of 25 degrees to the line of sight. The rings will continue to narrow until March 2025 when they will appear edge-on again.

October - find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra There are two very nice objects to spot with binoculars high, just west of south, after dark this month. Two thirds of the way up the right hand side of the 4 stars that make up the "keystone" in the constellation Hercules is M13, the best globular cluster visible in the northern sky.

Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!

October, late evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. October is a good time to look high in the Southeast towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol in an eclipsing binary system. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4. Visible times of the eclipse are (in UT): on the 5th at 22:12 and the 28th at 20:42.

October: find Uranus. This month is a good time to find the planet Uranus in the late evening as it reaches opposition on October 28th. With a magnitude of 5.7, binoculars will easily spot it and, from a really dark site, it might even be visible to the unaided eye. A medium aperture telescope will reveal Uranus's 3.7 arc second wide disk showing its turquoise colour. It lies in Aries, close to the boarders of Pisces and Cetus as shown on the chart on the ‘Night Sky Jodrell’ page.

October - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!

October 3rd - after sunset: Jupiter near the Moon. After sunset, low in the south-west, Jupiter will be seen down to the lower left of a waxing crescent Moon.

October 5th - after sunset: Saturn near the Moon. After sunset, low in the south, Saturn will be seen just up to the left of the first quarter Moon.

October 17th - late evening: The Moon close to the Hyades Cluster. In the late evening, looking southeast, the waning Moon will be seen up to the left of Aldebaran and to the left of the Hyades Cluster. [NB, Aldebaran is not part of the cluster and lies closer to us.]

Southern Hemisphere

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere’s night sky during October 2019.

A bit about October. October, as the name says it, (from the Greek ôctō meaning "eight") is the eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus c. 750 bc. The original calendar consisted of 10 months beginning in spring with March; October retained its name after January and February were inserted into the original Roman calendar.

What’s the Sun up to? The reality is that the Sun does not spend an equal amount of time passing through the zodiacal constellations, for the simple reason that these constellations are different areas patches in the sky. So technically, this month, the Sun is in Virgo until the 1st of November when it moves into Libra and has been in Virgo since the 17th of September. Virgo is a really long constellation to transit.

What’s at Zenith? Beautiful Sagittarius is at Zenith just after Sunset and then as the month progresses it’s replaced by other amazing constellations such as Microscopium, which is basically a rectangle, and then one of our favourite constellations, Grus towards the middle of the month - or later on in the evening, whichever you prefer. The cool thing about Grus, the Crane is that it has many double stars, it almost looks like a curved line, which is the imaginary tail that points us towards the Small Magellanic Cloud, which is in the neighbouring constellation, another bird, the Toucan.

In addition to that, another favourite of mine, Fomalhaut, is getting very close to Zenith this time of the year. I love Fomalhaut because when I was in the Northern Hemisphere, before I travelled here, it was the southernmost star that I could see, and it was said to show the passage south. It actually does if you know where to look. Fomalhaut is one of the Royal stars, along with Antares, Regulus and Aldebaran. The Royal stars were the guardians of the sky in approximately 3000 BCE during the time of the Ancient Persians in the area of modern-day Iran. The Persians believed that the sky was divided into four districts with each district being guarded by one of the four Royal Stars. The stars were believed to hold both good and evil power and the Persians looked upon them for guidance in scientific calculations of the sky, such as the calendar and lunar/solar cycles, and for predictions about the future.

What’s on the Ecliptic? The ecliptic is the part of the sky that holds the path of the Sun as we see it from here from Earth, and other than bright planets, it also hosts some bright stars. There’s Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali in Libra getting close to the western horizon and then red giant Antares in Scorpius and a few of the stars in Sagittarius, that make the teapot. Capricornus has also some bright stars and it’s very characteristic shape of a golf flag. Then, this is kind of it with the bright stars, will have to wait until late in the night to see Taurus and Aldebaran, the other of the Royal Stars and last but not least, Regulus, in Leo will rise just before the Sun.

The Milky Way, Scorpius and Orion The bulk of the Milky Way is on the Western horizon. The Galactic centre slowly going down sinking behind the Sun. The Southern Cross, which is also visually in the Milky Way, is doing its big descent as it dives towards the horizon, getting lower and lower each evening throughout the month, as seen after sunset. It is circumpolar so it never disappears from the Southern Sky but it means the lovely clusters and nebulae that you would have enjoyed in Spring and Winter have long gone from being in a favourable viewing position — they now compete with the horizon.

The other patch of the Milky Way that remains in a very good position for viewing is the area around Sagittarius and Scorpius with many globular clusters and nebulae (distant, celestial clouds) to look at. The highlights, for me, are the bright nebulae such M16 (the Eagle Nebula), Lagoon Nebula and the very photogenic Trifid Nebula. Ptolemy’s Cluster is a great naked eye object that is visible between the two constellations.

South Circumpolar Zone Just after sunset, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Southern Cross are close to the horizon where the Small Magellanic Cloud is in a good position to observe.

Comets If you want to go hunting for comets in the Southern Sky you might be able to spot 289P/Blanpain. It starts the month at 10.2 magnitude so not very bright, but by the end of the month it will be 8.8, and quite close to the Helix nebula. Another one worth having a look for is C/2018 W2 Africano which starts the month at its brightest, at the Aquarius end of Pisces. On Friday the 4 October this comet will get about degree from Neptune so a great opportunity to get a photo of both of these icy cold objects. The comet will be at magnitude 10 and Neptune at 7.8. Another interesting comet that we might catch a glimpse of is P/2008 Y12 Soho. This one will be approaching closer and closer to the sun and can be found not far from Venus, so you’ll need a fantastic horizon and great conditions, it will brighten significantly as it gets near to the Sun, but that will also make it impossible to see.

The best time to see it will be tomorrow night when it is magnitude 4.4 about 4 degrees to the right of Mercury, and 21 degrees from the Sun so it should be high enough above the horizon and dark enough.

The Moon is full on the 14th October and the New Moon is on 28 October. At 11pm on the 17th October the Moon gets very close to Pluto, though at magnitude 14.4 it will be well and truly overshadowed by the -10 magnitude Moon, kind of an almost occultation that you wouldn’t be able to see easily anyway.

On the 5th October it is international observe the Moon night, so get out there with your telescopes, binoculars, or just your eyes and take a moment to appreciate the celestial body that gives our planet a handy tilt, tides and a day that’s 24 hours long, without the Moon we may not have been able to climb out of the primordial soup at all.

Mercury It’s a good time to see Mercury at the start of the month with it being a good 20 degrees from the Sun. Mercury should be easy to spot if you have a good Western horizon, just look for Venus, after sunset, almost on the horizon and then the next brightest, slightly orange thing above it is Mercury.

Jupiter is always amazing to view, though it’s starting to get a bit further away from us, as compared to a month ago. At the start of the month the gas giant will take up 36 arcseconds of your eyepiece but by the end of the month this will have reduced to just a bit more than 33 arcseconds. Jupiter sets about 1:23am at the start of the month and by the end it is setting at 11:48pm.

You will be able to see Europa cross the planet’s disk on the 3rd in the early evening as soon as the Sun goes down, followed by Io again at around 9pm. The next good one to watch is on the 10th at 7:15pm when Europa and then shortly thereafter Io pass in front of Jupiter. Another one of these paired moons crossing starts at 10pm on the evening of the 18th as well. So there are plenty of opportunities to catch an eclipse on Jupiter this month.

Saturn Over the course of the month Saturn gets about 100 million kilometres further away but starts in a good position for viewing. Saturn is almost a month behind Jupiter with it setting at 1:20am at the end of the month, and setting at the start of the month at 3:10am.

Neptune Another planet that is worth taking a look at, though don’t expect to see much, is Neptune. This cold gas giant is over 4.3 billion kilometers away. It is so far away that it takes light from Neptune 4 hours to get to the Earth. You might be able to make out the hint of a disk, but at an apparent size of 2.4 arcseconds you may need to use a bit of imagination, though you will see the bluish hue of Neptune. You can find it by looking for the bright star Phi Aquarii in Aquarius and it’s about 40 arcminutes from that star.

Uranus is also worth looking at if you happen to be up quite late as it doesn’t rise until about 10pm at the start of the month and 7:35pm by the end of the month. This planet is a bit closer at 2.8 billion kilometres and its apparent size is 3.7 arcseconds, so you shouldn’t need to use too much imagination to see the greenish hue of its disk.

Happy Observe the Moon Night on the 5th October.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during September 2019 .

The Planets Jupiter , shining on the 1st at magnitude -2.2 and falling to -2 during the month, can be seen in the south as darkness falls. As the month progresses, its angular size drops from 39 to 36 arc seconds. Jupiter, in the southern part of Ophiuchus, ended its retrograde motion on the 11th of August and so is now moving away from Antares in Scorpius initially lying some 7 degrees up and to its left. A highlight gives the times when the Great Red Spot faces the Earth. Sadly it is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic so, as it appears in the twilight, it will only have an elevation of ~13 degrees (from central UK). Happily, its elevation will only have dropped by a degree or so an hour later in full darkness. With its low elevation, atmospheric dispersion will take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn , crosses the meridian, so is highest in the sky, at around 9pm BST as September begins. Then, its disk is ~17.6 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning some 41 arc seconds across. By month's end it will be best seen at around 8 pm BST when lying just west of south. During the month its brightness falls from magnitude +0.3 to +0.5 whilst its angular size falls to 16.9 arc seconds. Sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the south-western side of the Milky Way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, passes behind the Sun (Superior Conjunction) on the night of September 3rd/4th so will not be visible this month.

Mars, which passes behind the Sun (Superior Conjunction) on September 2nd, lies too close to the Sun to be visible. We will have to wait until the end of October to spot it in the pre-dawn sky at the start of its next apparition.

Venus, went through superior conjunction on the far side of the Sun on the 14th August. By month's end it will set in the west south-west 30 minutes after sunset but will be very difficult to see due to the fact that the ecliptic is at a shallow angle to the horizon and so Venus will have a very low elevation. Binoculars and a very low horizon will be needed, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Highlights September - observe Saturn. Saturn which reached opposition on the 9th of July, is now low (at an elevation of ~14 degrees) in the south as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory.The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring.

September - Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra There are two very nice objects to spot with binoculars in the south-western sky after dark this month. Two thirds of the way up the right hand side of the 4 stars that make up the "keystone" in the constellation Hercules is M13, the best globular cluster visible in the northern sky.Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!

September, late evening: the Double Cluster and the 'Demon Star', Algol. Later in the month is a good time to look high in the Southeast towards the constellations of Cassiopea and Perseus. Perseus contains two interesting objects; the Double Cluster between the two constellations and Algol the 'Demon Star'. Algol is in an eclipsing binary system. Normally the pair has a steady magnitude of 2.2 but every 2.86 days this briefly drops to magnitude 3.4. Visible times of the eclipse are (in UT): on the 12th at 23:43 and the 15th at 20:31..

September 5th to 9th - midnight: Find Neptune. These nights are a great time to find the blue planet Neptune as it is very close to the 4th magnitude star Phi Aquarii. With a magnitude of 7.8, large binoculars or a small telescope will be required to spot it. A medium aperture telescope will reveal Neptune's disk showing a hint of blue grey. With such a telescope, you might also be able to spot its 14th magnitude Moon Triton. On the night of the 5th/6th Neptune lies just 13 arc seconds from Phi Aquarii! .

September - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object.

August 9th - evening: Jupiter near the Moon. In the evening towards the south-west, Jupiter will be seen down to the lower left of the Moon, a day after first quarter.

September 8th: Two Great Lunar Craters This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon - seen in the image below - the rays of material that were ejected when itwas formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during September 2019.

A bit about September September comes from Latin word “septem”, which means “seven.” This is because in the old Roman calendar it was the 7th month, rather than 9th as it is today. Old Roman calendar used to only have 10 months until Julius Caesar introduced a new Julian calendar with 12 months. September has 30 days and marks the Autumn season in the northern hemisphere, and Spring in the Southern Hemisphere. This is the time of harvest and when many schools start their new school year in the northern hemisphere. Here, in New Zealand it is the month when we celebrate the September equinox, when the day is equal to the night.

What’s the Sun up to? The Sun rises at 6:47 am on the first day of September and earlier and earlier every day so that on the 28th of September it will rise at 6:01 AM. However, the clock will shift by one hour so on the 30th of September it will rise at 6:57 am. The sun sets at 5:55 PM on the 1st of September and later and later 7:24 PM on the 31st of August. The days are getting longer.In September, the Sun transits first the zodiacal constellations of Leo, and then moves into Virgo on the 17th of September where it stays until October 31st. The zodiacal constellations are those stars visible behind the plane of our solar system, about 8 degrees each side of the ecliptic. This is why we say they form a band in the sky, called the Zodiacal Band. Since the Sun is transiting both the space we call Leo and Virgo it means we cannot see the stars in these constellations, they are behind the Sun.

It's dangerous to look into the Sun!! Of course, if you have solar telescope, that is well maintained and is designed for looking at the Sun, then you can look at the Sun.The Sun in Virgo means only one thing: opposite the Sun (that 180 degrees on the other side of the zodiacal band) is Pisces. Pisces will rise just after sunset and be visible all night long.

The Milky Way and Zodiacal Light In September the constellation of scorpius is the Fishhook of Maui that drags the Milky Way down from the sky here in Aotearoa. In addition to the Milky Way, if you are stargazing from somewhere with very dark skies, you can spot what is called the “Zodiacal Light” It’s a cone-shaped light that stretches from low on horizon along the ecliptic. The ecliptic marks the plane of our solar system bearing the zodiacal constellations. The ecliptic is a great circle on the celestial sphere representing the Sun's apparent path during the year, so called because lunar and solar eclipses can only occur when the moon crosses it. The zodiacal light is the light we see reflected from dust and ice particles in the plane of our own solar system! How cool is that? So in the sky we can see both the galaxy that we inhabit and the solar system. Two completely different scales!

Planets

Jupiter We continue to see Jupiter near constellation of Scorpius throughout the month of September in the evening sky.

Saturn We also can enjoy the view of Saturn this month again. Near Sagittarius, Saturn with its magnificent rings continues to grace us with its presence. You can easily see the rings through a telescope here at Space Place but unfortunately you cannot discern the rings with just your eyes.

Venus You can also catch a view of the planet Venus just after the sun sets later this month.

Mercury Venus is also joined by Mercury in September. Although much fainter, you can see Mercury paired close with Venus later in September also right following sunset. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun in our solar system and can be difficult to observe but it’s possible if you time it right!

Neptune In the late evening and morning sky, you can see the farthest planet from the sun in the solar system, Neptune in the eastern skies this month! Don’t try looking for it with your naked eye, as it is the only planet in our solar system not visible to naked eye, but with some help from telescopes or binoculars, you can see this ice giant planet and it will look like a bluish dot. Quite a delight to see!

Uranus Lastly, Uranus is also a morning planet this month. Uranus' name is derived from Greek word for ouranos for “heavens” or “starry sky”. Uranus has a multitude of unique features including but not limited to its axis around which it spins being almost parallel to the solar system plane rather than perpendicular. In that sense it spins sideways around the sun, like a bicycle wheel. It would take a whole separate podcast to talk about Uranus but just know when you’re looking at this greenish and bluish planet that it is quite remarkable!

Scorpius, Centaurus and Southern Cross At this time of the year, in Aotearoa, the Māori names for Scorpius is Te Matau A Maui - the fishhook of Maui that drags the Milky Way from the sky all night long. The constellation Scorpius has a magnificent red supergiant star Antares. It is impossible to miss on a clear night. It looks quite reddish, just like planet Mars!

Centaurus South of Scorpius you can find the constellation of Centaurus, a creature that is half-human and half-horse in Greek mythology. Although the constellation itself is more difficult to discern, it contains two very well known star systems in the southern hemisphere: alpha and beta centauri. Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to Earth! It’s about 4.37 light years away so it takes light about 4.37 years to reach it. As a reference, it takes about 8 minutes for light to reach us from the Sun! It is a triple star system and there was an exoplanet discovered orbiting Proxima Centauri, one of the three stars in this system.

Circumpolar objects to New Zealand Circumpolar are objects that rotate around the celestial pole. These objects are above the horizon at all times in a given latitude. For instance Cassiopeia is circumpolar from Europe but here in Wellington we cannot even see it, here on the other hand we have the Southern Cross with the pointers that are circumpolar.The Diamond Cross and the False Cross are circumpolar too. Canopus and Achernar are also circumpolar. The same for the Magellanic Clouds, Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, the Jewel Box, the Southern Pleiades, the Gem Cluster and Omicron Velorum.

Crux Alpha and Beta Centauri can be used as pointers to what is arguably the most well-known constellation in the southern hemisphere, the Southern Cross or Crux. In September, in the evenings, you will find the southern cross in the south western part of the sky. So just after sunset is at 3 o’clock position heading down followed by the pointers. Canopus would be at the same time grazing the southern horizon so hard to see from hilly wellington. Achernar and the two magellanic clouds would be in the south eastern part of the sky.

Bright stars on the Ecliptic Very close to the ecliptic are Spica in Virgo early in the month. Spika means “head of grain” from Latin, it’s the grain that Virgo is holding. We can also see stars Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali in Libra, and Nunki in Sagittarius. The ecliptic intersects the Milky Way in Scorpius.

Stars in the Milky Way Starting from the centre of the Galaxy, going North are Shaula, the stinger of Scorpius, Atria in Triangulum Australe.

Other Bright stars: In the north, we can see the bright star Altair in Aquila, the constellation of the eagle, a triangle-shaped constellation in north-eastern skies. Canopus, the brightest star in the southern hemispheres continues to shine bright and can be seen near horizon in southern skies.

From Wellington New Zealand, Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske wish you a fantastic September.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during August 2019 .

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere’s night sky during May 2019.

The Planets Jupiter, starts the month shining at magnitude -2.5 which increases to to -2.6 as the month progresses. At the same time, its angular size increases from 43 to 46 arc seconds. As May begins it rises by midnight UT so will be due south around 3 am UT whilst at month's end it rises at ~9:30 pm UT so due south at ~01:30 UT. See the highlights fro when the Great Red Spot faces the Earth. Sadly it is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius so, as it crosses the meridian, it will only have an elevation of ~ 14 degrees. It lies just above the centre of the Milky Way. Atmospheric dispersion will thus take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn, shining with a magnitude increasing from +0.5 to +0.3 during the month, rises around midnight during the month so crosses the meridian just before dawn. Its disk is ~18 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning 40 arc seconds across. Morning twilight is the best time to observe it but, sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the southern side of the milky way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~10 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, passes through superior conjunction (behind the Sun) on May 21st and will only be visible, low in the west-northwest, on the last few days of the month. One will need a very low horizon and binoculars could well be needed to reduce the Sun's background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars, though fading from +1.6 to +1.8 magnitudes during the month, is still visible in Taurus in the south western sky after sunset lying half way between Betelgeuse, in Orion, and Capella, in Auriga. Mars sets some three hours after the Sun at the start of May (with an elevation as darkness falls of ~20 degrees) but less than two and a half hours by month's end. Its angular size falls from 4.2 arc seconds to less than 4 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus, has a magnitude of -3.8 in May with its angular size reducing from 11.5 to 10.8 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth. However, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 88% to 92% - which is why the brightness remains constant at 3.8 magnitudes. It rises about an hour before the Sunbut its elevation is only ~4 degrees at sunrise so a very low horizon in the East is required and binoculars may well be needed to spot it through the Sun's glare - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Highlights May 7th - after sunset: Mars lies above a thin crescent Moon. Given a low horizon looking towards the west after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars lying halfway between Betelgeuse and Capella above a very thin crescent Moon. .

April 12th - evening: The Moon in Leo Looking southwest in the evening a first quarter Moon will be seen lying close to Regulus in Leo.

May 19th - early evening: Mars above M35 in Gemini. Looking west in early evening if clear, and using binoculars or a small telescope one could see Mars lying just above the open cluster, M35, in Gemini. Perhaps a last chance to see Mars at the very end of its apparition.

May20th - midnight: Jupiter and the Moon. During the night of the 20 May, Jupiter will lie over to the right of the waning gibbous Moon.

May 23rd - early morning: Saturn and the Moon. In the early Morning of the 23rd of May, Saturn will lie up to the right of the waning gibbous Moon.

May 28th - around midnight: spot asteroid 1, Ceres. On the 28th May, Ceres is at its closest approach to Earth lying over to the right of Jupiter. It will have a magnitude of 7 so binoculars should enable you to spot it and the chart will help you find it. A planetarium program such as Stellarium will show you its position in the days before and after its closest approach. Ceres is the largest of the minor planets and is now classified as a 'Dwarf Planet'.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during August 2019.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere’s night sky during May 2019.

The rise of the Galaxy Kia Ora from New Zealand, we are here at Space Place at Carter Observatory holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan, our Wellingtonian star composer. This month we have a very special guest, one of our own Milky Way Kiwi - from far across the Cook Strait and The Southern Alps, from Lake Tekapo - Holly. We have again instructions for looking up, we talk a little bit about the month of May we look at what the Sun is up to, the Milky Way, Orion and Scorpius, we talk about the brightest stars visible and finally some favourite binocular and telescope objects, circumpolar objects and planets.

A bit about May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. It is named after the Greek goddess, Maia or Roman goddess of fertility, Bona Dea. Old English - Maius, Latin name - Maius mensis - Month of Maia, Old French - Mai. Maia was one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes. Maia is the daughter of Atlas and Pleione the Oceanid and is the oldest of the seven Pleiades. Because they were daughters of Atlas, they were also called the Atlantides. For the Romans, it embodied the concept of growth and as her name was thought to be related to the comparative adjective maius, maior "larger, greater". Convallaria majalis, the Lily of the Valley, one of my favourite flowers - is named after it and it is the flower of May in Europe.

What’s the Sun up to? The Sun rises from 7 to 7:30AM throughout the month and sets from around 5:30 to 5:00 PM. Beautiful and long nights are here.In May, the Sun transits first the zodiacal constellations of the Ram (Aries) and after 14th of May is in Taurus. This means that Scorpius is on the other side of the zodiacal wheel and visible starting after sunset.

The Milky Way We are now looking towards the centre of our galaxy, which rises in the South East just after sunset and reaches meridian after 3 AM at the beginning of the month and 2 am towards the end.

Bright stars in the Milky Way Starting from the West after sunset is Betlegeuse, then in zig-zag to the North is Procyon, the Little Dog alpha star. Zig-zaging again and is Sirius, and Adhara, in the Big Dog, and Suhail al Muhlif and Avior in Vela, the beautiful stars of the Southern Cross, the two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri then later on in the night after the centre of the Milky Way rises, is Antares and Shaula in Scorpius, Nunki in Sagittarius and last but not least, after midnight, Altair and last but not least, Vega grazing the northern horizon.

Orion and Scorpius. Orion is very close to Taurus and it will sink further towards the horizon as the month progresses. Enjoy it while it lasts, for the rest of this month.

Bright stars on the ecliptic Then Regulus in Leo (which is extremely close to the ecliptic) then Spica, the blue giant in Virgo, Zubenelgenubi, another star grazing the ecliptic and Zubeneschamali just beneath it. Zubenelgenubi means the northern claw and Zubeneschamali the southern claw, alluding to these two stars that have been the claws of Scorpius before they were chopped off and turned into the current constellation of Libra. They are followed by Antares which is the last very bright star visible on the ecliptic before sunrise.

Circumpolar Objects to New Zealand The beautiful Southern Cross and the pointers are high in the sky. Gacrux and Acrux are crossing the meridian around 10 PM at the beginning of the month and just after 8PM at the end of it. Omega Centauri is in a great position to observe, as well as Musca, Vela, Carina and their Diamond Cross, and False Cross and the Large Magellanic Cloud and its Tarantula Nebula

Binocular Objects in May Lower down, Omega Centauri, is a globular cluster in Centaurus and in Scorpius, there are the Butterfly Cluster, M7 open cluster and NGC6231 open cluster.

Telescope Objects in May A fantastic night in central wellington where the large magellanic cloud is only visible with averted vision, still, not bad for a capital city. We looked at the Southern Beehive NGC 2516, Gem Cluster NGC 3293, Southern Pleiades IC 2602, Wishing Well NGC 3532, Jewel Box NGC 4755, Omicron Velorum IC 2391, Omega Centauri NGC 5139, Alpha Centauri and Acrux, Tarantula NGC 2070.

Planets Jupiter is in the sky just after 7:30 followed by Saturn two hours later and Venus is in the morning sky.

Clear skies from New Zealand.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during July 2019 .

The Planets Jupiter , shining initially at magnitude -2.6 and falling to -2.4, reached opposition on June 10th and is thus visible towards the south as darkness falls. Its angular size drops slightly from 45.5 to 43 arc seconds as the month progresses. Jupiter, in the southern part of Ophiuchus, is moving westwards in retrograde motion so moving towards Antares in Scorpius and will lie some 7 degrees up and to its left by month's end. A highlight gives the times when the Great Red Spot faces the Earth. Sadly it is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic so, as it crosses the meridian, it will only have an elevation of ~14 degrees (From central UK). Atmospheric dispersion will thus take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn comes into oppositions on July 9th shining at magnitude +0.1 during the month so crosses the meridian around 1 am BST. Its disk is ~18 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning some 42 arc seconds across. Sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the southern side of the milky way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury might just be seen low in the west-northwest after sunset in the first few days of the month with a magnitude of 1.1 and an angular size of 9.4 arc seconds. To spot it, one will need a very low horizon and binoculars could well be needed to reduce the Sun's background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars remains at magnitude +1.8 all month and is still just visible low in the west-northwest after sunset. Mars crosses Cancer during the month and passes into Leo on the 29th. Mars sets some one hour after the Sun at the start of July (with an elevation at sunset of ~9 degrees) but less than half an hour by month's end - when it will be very difficult to spot. Its angular size falls from 3.7 to 3.5 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface. Binoculars could well be needed to reduce the Sun's background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Venus with a magnitude of -3.9 rises less than one hour before the Sun at the start of the month with an angular size of 9.7 arc seconds but will be lost from our view around the 18th. Its elevation is only ~4 degrees at sunrise so a very low horizon just north of east is required and binoculars may well be needed to spot it through the Sun's glare - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Highlights Early July: A very good time to spot Noctilucent Clouds! Noctilucent clouds, also known as polar mesospheric clouds, are most commonly seen in the deep twilight towards the north from our latitude. They are the highest clouds in the atmosphere at heights of around 80 km or 50 miles. Normally too faint to be seen, they are visible when illuminated by sunlight from below the northern horizon whilst the lower parts of the atmosphere are in shadow. They are not fully understood and are increasing in frequency, brightness and extent; some think that this might be due to climate change! So on a clear dark night as light is draining from the north western sky long after sunset take a look towards the north and you might just spot them!

July - Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. There are two very nice objects to spot with binoculars in the south-eastern sky well after dark this month. Two thirds of the way up the right hand side of the 4 stars that make up the "keystone" in the constellation Hercules is M13, the best globular cluster visible in the northern sky. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!

July 1st - before dawn: Venus and a crescent Moon. Given a very low horizon looking towards the northeast before dawn one should, if clear, be able to spot Venus lying over to the left of a very thin waning crescent Moon.

July 13th - late evening: Jupiter near the Moon. In the late evening towards the south, Jupiter will be seen down to the lower right of the Moon, two days before full.

July 15th - around midnight: Saturn and the Moon. Looking south around midnight, Saturn will be seen over to the left of the Moon one day before full.

July 16th - after sunset: a partial eclipse of the Moon. Looking low in the southeast after sunset we might, if clear, be able to observe a partially eclipsed Moon. The partial eclipse will end around midnight BST.

July 28th - before dawn: a crescent waning Moon and the Hyades Cluster. Before dawn on the 28th, a very thin crescent Moon will be seen to the left of the Hyades Cluster.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during July 2019.

A bit about July
Welcome to our Latin section, which I am a big fan of as it's about the only thing that I can pronounce properly and without having to twist my tongue.

July was the month when the Roman general and leader Julius Caesar was born and after he died the Roman Senate renamed Quintilis, the fifth month of the 10-month calendar into what today is July but of course it was not pronounced July but Iulius.

July is the second month of winter in the Southern Hemisphere and obviously the second month of summer in the Northern Hemisphere. It's also the month where traditionally the government's financial year starts here in New Zealand. Not just the government experiences new beginnings but also we must add that end of June or July is when we observe the Maori New Year - Matariki.

This is observed according to a lunar calendar, called Maramataka during the last quarter of the Moon that occurs after the solstice. We have a special guest today, Katie Paul from Rotorua who is a great friend of ours for all celestial events happening in Rotorua as well as for astrobiology. Katie is going to tell us a little bit about what Matariki as a New Year observance means for her and her people.

We also get fireworks here in Wellington during Matariki. We wrote more in depth about when is Matariki or where to find Matariki/the Pleiades in the sky during this time of the year so check out our other posts. This time of the year is significant both in the evening/night and in the morning - usually we only discuss the evening or night sky.
What's the Sun up to?
The Sun rises around 7:50AM at the beginning of the month and 7:30AM at the end and sets from around 5:00PM at the beginning of the month to 5:20PM towards the end of it. The beautiful and long nights continue to enthrall us in July and the view to the Milky Way is the best. In July, the Sun transits the zodiacal constellations of the Gemini, switching to Cancer on the 22nd of July.
The Milky Way
This must be the best month of the year here in New Zealand in terms of stargazing as we can see the centre of our galaxy, all night long. Starting from the evening, when is rising in the south-east, the core of the Milky Way reaches meridian around 10PM and then sets in the west just before sunrise. With the centre of the galaxy come more stars, as we are looking towards the rotational centre of the Milky Way. The centre of our galaxy is in the direction of Sagittarius, Ophiuchus and Scorpius and lies at about 26,500 light years away from us. It is spectacular to think that we are actually looking in the direction of the radios ource Sagittarius A, which is in lay words the name for the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. At 4 million times more massive than our Sun, Sagittarius A is not visible to the naked eye and what we know about it comes from observations in gamma rays, infrared and radio wavelengths.

In fact, most of the centre of the galaxy line of sight is covered in dust which is visible in the form of dark bands - they show up best in wide field photographs of the Milky Way. There's one tiny opening through this dust, of about one degree, which is known as Baade's Window, named after astronomer Walter Baade who observed it in the 1940s from Mount Wilson taking advantage of the city blackout during the war.

The dust makes interesting shapes against the light that comes from the stars in the disk of the Milky Way and people around the world and throughout times imagined many creatures that inhabit our galaxy. A great example is the Emu that our neighbours, the Aboriginal Australians placed across the Milky Way, that is as big as the galaxy.

Another example of dark creatures in the sky but on a smaller scale is the famous Prancing Horse nebula, which observed from the Northern Hemisphere does look like a horse. It also looks like a pipe or a donkey and of course, taking a huge leap all the way to the Southern Hemisphere, where everything in the sky looks upside down to what we see in the northern hemisphere, we have here a kiwi bird checking out the centre of the Galaxy.

Kiwis are nocturnal birds, endemic to New Zealand, they feed with insects in the forest and they are an endangered species. The closest relative of the Kiwibird is the elephant bird from Madagascar. Warm blooded mammals such as cats, dogs, possums, all that was introduced in New Zealand are main predators for the kiwibird but they can also die from the loss of the habitat and worse of all, you're not going to like this, humans were the worst threat. I'm saying 'were' because there are now continuous efforts from the department of conservation to bring back the numbers. But one thing is certain, the kiwibird is one of the symbols of New Zealand and is the most loved bird here. And how amazing that is even embedded in the night sky - this bird that can only be seen active at night, how fitting that there's a kiwi bird at the centre of our galaxy.

The Milky Way Kiwi

A matter of perspective and of course coincidences, as you have to know what a kiwi bird is, led to the realisation that if you turn the horse upside-down you get a kiwibird. Ian Cooper, one of the first New Zealand's film astrophotographers told us how twenty five years ago, someone came up with the name. "It was during the height of film in astrophotography and before the rise of the internet, so it was a 'slow burner' as they say. It is thought that some 'independently' discovered the little bird more recently and got all excited understandably. It is a pity that we don't know who first coined the name "Milky Way Kiwi," but that is how it was in the olden days when I was young."

Milky Way Kiwi is useful for when explaining where is Sagittarius A, as it's visually somehow on top of its head, just like a diamond on a crown.

Other birds in July

The birds in the sky this month are: The Milky Way Kiwi obviously, but also some proper constellations such as Corvus, Cygnus the swan also known as the Northern Cross, in the sky around midnight. Another northern flying bird is Aquila the eagle, rising just after 8PM . On the southern horizon is the Dove, Columba inbetween the Dog star, Sirius and the Cat star, Canopus. Delicate and rich in optical double stars that we can see with the naked eye, Grus the Crane, is another bird-constellation laying now on the South Eastern Horizon. And as much as I don't like them, Musca, the Fly also qualifies for a flying constellation. Near the southern cross, Musca looks like a small polygon. Near Musca, Apus, the bird of paradise's name literally means "no feet" in Greek, as it was once wrongly believed that the birds of paradise lack feet. Apus is pointing straight at Pavo the peacock, that is flaunting its feathers all over the south celestial circle. Next to Pavo, is Toucana, near the Small Magellanic Cloud (NGC 292). Toucana is neighbouring Grus on one side and the Phoenix, on the other side. Since Herodotus, the Greek historian, the bird of Phoenix was associated with the Sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor and it can live for 1400 years at the time. And there is also a flying fish: Volans. It's tail is pointing at the Large Magellanic Cloud and it's head is half way through between Miaplacidus and Avior in Carina. And last but not least, I don't know for sure if Unicorns can fly but I'm mentioning here just in case: the elusive Monoceros, the unicorn, just in case. It is between Sirius and Orion and its stars are so faint that I have always just barely made the shape of it. Monoceros is visible on the morning sky.
Bright stars in the Milky Way
Starting from the West and looking south after sunset is Sirius very low on the horizon then Canopus (which is not really in the Milky Way but is not far from it either) then following the Milky Way to the south are Suhail al Muhlif and Avior in Vela. High in the sky is the Southern Cross, which around mid-July and after sunset is at its highest position on the circumpolar zone. Alpha and Beta Centauri are to the left of the Southern Cross and on the south eastern horizon close to the centre of the Milky Way are Antares and Shaula in Scorpius, Nunki in Sagittarius and last but not least, after 10PM, Altair and Vega are just grazing the northern horizon.
Orion and Scorpius
Orion is both on the western horizon at sunset, the three stars of its belt plunging vertically into the ocean, Rigel to the left and Betelgeuse to the right touch down almost at the same time and Saiph is the last to sink. Then in the morning sky, will rise around 6AM, Rigel first, which here is known as Puanga or Puaka then the belt and last to appear is Betelgeuse. The heliacal rising of Puanga is the alternative to observing the Maori New Year as due to the mountain ridge to the east in the Taranaki region the Pleiades are too low in the sky.
Bright stars on the ecliptic
Nothing changed from last month, the same bright stars are on the ecliptic: Regulus from Leo (which is extremely close to the ecliptic) then Spica, the blue giant in Virgo, Zubenelgenubi, another star grazing the ecliptic and Zubeneschamali just beneath it. Zubenelgenubi means the northern claw and Zubeneschamali the southern claw, alluding to these two stars that have been the claws of Scorpius before they were chopped off and turned into the current constellation of Libra. They are followed by Antares in Scorpius which is both on the ecliptic and in the Milky Way, this is roughly where the planes of the two intersect.
Circumpolar Objects to New Zealand
The beautiful Southern Cross and the pointers are high in the sky. Gacrux and Acrux are crossing the meridian around 10 PM at the beginning of the month and just after 8PM at the end of it. Omega Centauri is in a great position to observe, as well as Musca, Vela, Carina and their Diamond Cross, and False Cross and the Large Magellanic Cloud and its Tarantula Nebula.
Deep Sky Objects in July
Close to the area south of the triangle that marks Leo's hips…M65, M66 and NGC 3628, which will be visible depending on the size of your binoculars they are also known as the "Leo Triplet". Also in Leo, M105 is an elliptical galaxy. Last but not least M96 another galaxy in Leo lies at about 35 million light years away.

Notable deep sky objects in Virgo include the bright galaxies Messier 49, Messier 58, Messier 59, Messier 60, and Messier 87, the Sombrero Galaxy (M104), the Eyes Galaxies, the Siamese Twins, and the quasar 3C 273.

Virgo has 11 Messier objects so you are in for a treat with this constellation. You can get a map and look for all these objects. Or, if everything else fails, simply take your binoculars and swipe the Milky Way from one edge to the other. You might not figure out exactly which objects you are looking at but you would definitely find amazing sights, especially in the region close to Carina. You will find there IC2602, NGC3114, NGC353, NGC2516 that are all open clusters then in Crux NGC4755 which is another open cluster, NGC2451 in Puppis and IC2391 in Vela.

Lower down, Omega Centauri, is a globular cluster in Centaurus. In Scorpius there are the Butterfly Cluster, M7 open cluster and NGC6231 open cluster.
Planets
Jupiter is in the sky just after sunset followed by Saturn two hours later and they are regal to watch so sharpen your telescopes.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during June 2019 .

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere’s night sky during June 2019.

The Planets Jupiter, shining at magnitude -2.6 throughout the month, reaches opposition on June 10th and is thus visible throughout the night. Its angular size is 46 arc seconds across. Jupiter lies in the south of Ophiuchus up and to the left of Antares in Scorpius. A highlight gives the times when the Great Red Spot faces the Earth. Sadly it is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic so, as it crosses the meridian, it will only have an elevation of ~14 degrees (Central UK). Atmospheric dispersion will thus take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn, shining with a magnitude increasing from +0.3 to +0.1 during the month, rises around 22:00 UT at the beginning of June so crosses the meridian in the early hours of the morning. By month's end it rises around 21:00 UT. It is moving towards opposition on July 9th. Its disk is ~18 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning some 40 arc seconds across. Sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the southern side of the milky way, is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, following its passage through superior conjunction (behind the Sun) on May 21st, is now visible, low in the north-west after sunset. As it moves towards greatest elongation east on June 23rd it rises higher in the sky after sunset, however though starting the month at magnitude -1.1, this falls to magnitude +0.1 by the 17th and falls to +0.9 by month's end. Its angular size increases from 5.5 to 9.2 arc seconds as the month progresses. To spot it, one will need a very low horizon and binoculars could well be needed to reduce the Sun's background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars, remains at magnitude +1.8 magnitude all month and is still visible in the south western sky after sunset. Initially in Gemini, it moves into Cancer on the 28th of the month. Mars sets some two hours after the Sun at the start of June (with an elevation as darkness falls of ~11 degrees) but by less than one hour by month's end. Its angular size falls from 3.9 arc seconds to 3.7 arc seconds by month’s end so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface. .

Venus, with a magnitude of -3.8 rises just one hour before the Sun this month with its angular size reducing from 10.5 to 9.9 arc seconds as it moves away from the Earth. However, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 94% to 98% - which is why the brightness remains constant at -3.8 magnitudes. Its elevation is only ~4 degrees at sunrise so a very low horizon just north of east is required and binoculars may well be needed to spot it through the Sun's glare - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Highlights June 5th - after sunset: Mars close to a very thin crescent Moon. Given a low horizon looking towards northwest after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars lying over to the left of a very thin crescent Moon.

June 8th - after sunset: The Moon in Leo. Looking west in the evening a waxing crescent Moon will be seen lying above Regulus in Leo.

June 15th - late evening: Jupiter near the Moon. Around Midnight, Jupiter will be seen over to the right of a Moon coming up to full.

June 19th - midnight: Saturn and the Moon. During the night of the 19th June Saturn will be seen up to the left of the Moon, just before full.

June 27th - after sunset: Mars and Mercury. After sunset given a low horizon in the northwest you may be able to spot Mars and Mercury together down to the left of Castor and Pollux in Gemini. Binoculars may well be needed but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

June: Look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter.

June 10th evening: Mons Piton and Cassini. Best seen after First Quarter, Mons Piton is an isolated lunar mountain located in the eastern part of Mare Imbrium, south-east of the crater Plato and west of the crater Cassini. It has a diameter of 25 km and a height of 2.3 km. Its height was determined by the length of the shadow it casts. Cassini is a 57km crater that has been flooded with lava. The crater floor has then been impacted many times and holds within its borders two significant craters, Cassini A, the larger and Cassini B. North of Mons Piton can be seen a rift through the Alpine Mountains (Montes Alpes). Around 166 km long it has a thin rille along its center. I have never seen it but have been able to image it as seen in the lunar section.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere’s night sky during June 2019.

Meteor Showers. Certain meteor showers take place in June. The Arietids takes place May 22 to July 2 each year, and peaks on June 7. The Beta Taurids June 5 to July 18. The issue with those is that the Sun is very close to the two constellations, Aries and Taurus and also you will have to wake up very early in the morning to watch them providing you have a good horizon. The June Bootids take place roughly between 26 June and 2 July each year. Bootes is grazing the northern horizon in Wellington.

What’s the Sun up to? The Sun rises from 7:30 to 7:50AM throughout the month and sets at about 5:00 PM throughout the month. Beautiful and long nights are here but so is cold weather. In the meantime we are basking in 32 degrees in the Sun in the Northern Hemisphere. In June, the Sun first transits the zodiacal constellations of Taurus switching to Gemeni on the 23rd of June.

The Milky Way We are now looking towards the centre of our galaxy, which rises in the South East just after sunset and reaches meridian around midnight in the middle of the month.

Bright stars in the Milky Way Starting from the West after sunset Betelgeuse is slowly sinking into the Sun and it will be gone from the evening sky towards the middle of the month. In zig-zag to the North is Procyon, the Little Dog alpha star. Zig-zagging again is Sirius, the big dog, and Adhara. Suhail al Muhlif is shining in Vela and Avior, Aspidiske and Miaplacidus are bright stars in Carina. The beautiful stars of the Southern Cross follow the two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri.Later on in the night after the centre of the Milky Way rises, is Antares and Shaula in Scorpius, Nunki in Sagittarius and last but not least, after midnight, Altair and Vega are grazing the northern horizon with their beauty.

Orion and Scorpius Orion is very close to Taurus and it will sink further towards the horizon as the month progresses. Enjoy it while it lasts, for the rest of this month it will disappear from our sight mid-June.

Bright stars on the ecliptic Regulus in Leo (which is extremely close to the ecliptic) and Spica, the blue giant in Virgo are great shiny stars, also Zubenelgenubi, another star grazing the ecliptic and Zubeneschamali just beneath it. Zubenelgenubi means the northern claw and Zubeneschamali the southern claw, alluding to these two stars that have been the claws of Scorpius before they were chopped off and turned into the current constellation of Libra. They are followed by Antares which is the last very bright star visible on the ecliptic before sunrise.

Circumpolar Objects to New Zealand The beautiful Southern Cross and the pointers are high in the sky at sunset. Gacrux and Acrux are crossing the meridian around around 7 PM in the middle of the month. Omega Centauri is in a great position to observe, as well as Musca, Vela, Carina and their Diamond Cross, and False Cross and the Large Magellanic Cloud and its Tarantula Nebula.

Binocular Objects in June Binoculars come in many shapes and forms, a great size for stargazing is 7 x 50 or 10 x 50. The first number is a measure of power, it means how much these binoculars magnify, in this case the 7 and the 10. The second number is the diameter of the objective (the big lenses at the front) in millimetres, in this case the 50. We really like binoculars because they are light, you can take them easily with you on trips, they don’t really require assembly and disassembly, no polar alignment, and visually are better than telescopes! With a tripod attached they are truly magnificent. Comets and some open star clusters are sometimes better observed with binoculars. We have two eyes, so binocular views are more spectacular in many regards than telescopic, because our brains interpret what we see, binoculars give depth of view as they engage both eyes in the process. There are a few great objects that you could admire in binoculars. You can get a map and look for all these objects. Or, if everything else fails, simply take your binoculars and swipe the Milky Way from one edge to the other. You might not figure out exactly which objects you are looking at but you would definitely find amazing sights, especially in the region close to Carina. You will find there IC2602, NGC3114, NGC353, NGC2516 that are all open clusters then in Crux NGC4755 which is another open cluster, NGC2451 in Puppis, and IC2391 in Vela. Lower down, Omega Centauri, is a globular cluster in Centaurus and in Scorpius, there are the Butterfly Cluster, M7 open cluster and NGC6231 open cluster.

Telescope Objects in June A fantastic night in central Wellington where the Large Magellanic Cloud is only visible with averted vision, still, not bad for a capital city. We looked at the Southern Beehive NGC 2516, Gem Cluster NGC 3293, Southern Pleiades IC 2602, Wishing Well NGC 3532, Jewel Box NGC 4755, Omicron Velorum IC 2391, Omega Centauri NGC 5139, Alpha Centauri and Acrux, Tarantula NGC 2070.

Planets From the start of the month Jupiter's position just keeps getting better and better. At the start of the month it rises about 5:30 in the very early evening and by the end of the month it’s already a third of the way up the sky by that time. The best thing is that you won’t have to stay up too late to get the best views of Jupiter at the end of the month because the planet will be nearly straight up from around 10:30pm. With the minimum amount of atmosphere to look through you should see some fantastic detail on the planet and those who are into imaging the gas giant may be able to capture some of the activity that is going on with the Great Red Spot at the moment - which may have to change it’s name to the Mediocre Red Spot. The Moon and Pluto have a visually close encounter at 10pm also on the 19th June. Good luck seeing it though given the huge difference in brightness of the two celestial objects.

Clear skies from wherever you are in this world! .

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during May 2019 .

The Planets Jupiter, starts the month shining at magnitude -2.5 which increases to to -2.6 as the month progresses. At the same time, its angular size increases from 43 to 46 arc seconds. As May begins it rises by midnight UT so will be due south around 3 am UT whilst at month's end it rises at ~9:30 pm UT so due south at ~01:30 UT. See the highlights fro when the Great Red Spot faces the Earth. Sadly it is heading towards the southernmost part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius so, as it crosses the meridian, it will only have an elevation of ~ 14 degrees. It lies just above the centre of the Milky Way. Atmospheric dispersion will thus take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn, shining with a magnitude increasing from +0.5 to +0.3 during the month, rises around midnight during the month so crosses the meridian just before dawn. Its disk is ~18 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still nicely tilted from the line of sight - spanning 40 arc seconds across. Morning twilight is the best time to observe it but, sadly, now in Sagittarius and lying on the southern side of the milky way, it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~10 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view.

Mercury, passes through superior conjunction (behind the Sun) on May 21st and will only be visible, low in the west-northwest, on the last few days of the month. One will need a very low horizon and binoculars could well be needed to reduce the Sun's background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Mars, though fading from +1.6 to +1.8 magnitudes during the month, is still visible in Taurus in the south western sky after sunset lying half way between Betelgeuse, in Orion, and Capella, in Auriga. Mars sets some three hours after the Sun at the start of May (with an elevation as darkness falls of ~20 degrees) but less than two and a half hours by month's end. Its angular size falls from 4.2 arc seconds to less than 4 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus, has a magnitude of -3.8 in May with its angular size reducing from 11.5 to 10.8 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth. However, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 88% to 92% - which is why the brightness remains constant at 3.8 magnitudes. It rises about an hour before the Sunbut its elevation is only ~4 degrees at sunrise so a very low horizon in the East is required and binoculars may well be needed to spot it through the Sun's glare - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Highlights May 7th - after sunset: Mars lies above a thin crescent Moon. Given a low horizon looking towards the west after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars lying halfway between Betelgeuse and Capella above a very thin crescent Moon.

April 12th - evening: The Moon in Leo Looking southwest in the evening a first quarter Moon will be seen lying close to Regulus in Leo.

May 19th - early evening: Mars above M35 in Gemini. Looking west in early evening if clear, and using binoculars or a small telescope one could see Mars lying just above the open cluster, M35, in Gemini. Perhaps a last chance to see Mars at the very end of its apparition.

May20th - midnight: Jupiter and the Moon. During the night of the 20 May, Jupiter will lie over to the right of the waning gibbous Moon.

May 23rd - early morning: Saturn and the Moon. In the early Morning of the 23rd of May, Saturn will lie up to the right of the waning gibbous Moon.

May 28th - around midnight: spot asteroid 1, Ceres. On the 28th May, Ceres is at its closest approach to Earth lying over to the right of Jupiter. It will have a magnitude of 7 so binoculars should enable you to spot it and the chart will help you find it. A planetarium program such as Stellarium will show you its position in the days before and after its closest approach. Ceres is the largest of the minor planets and is now classified as a 'Dwarf Planet'.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speak about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during May 2019.

The rise of the Galaxy Kia Ora from New Zealand, we are here at Space Place at Carter Observatory holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan, our Wellingtonian star composer. This month we have a very special guest, one of our own Milky Way Kiwi - from far across the Cook Strait and The Southern Alps, from Lake Tekapo - Holly. We have again instructions for looking up, we talk a little bit about the month of May, we look at what the Sun is up to, the Milky Way, Orion and Scorpius, we talk about the brightest stars visible and finally some favourite binocular and telescope objects, circumpolar objects and planets.

A bit about May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian Calendars a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. It is named after the Greek goddess, Maia or Roman goddess of fertility, Bona Dea. Old English - Maius, Latin name - Maius mensis - Month of Maia, Old French - Mai. Maia was one of the Pleiades and the mother of Hermes. Maia is the daughter of Atlas and Pleione the Oceanid and is the oldest of the seven Pleiades. Because they were daughters of Atlas, they were also called the Atlantides. For the Romans, it embodied the concept of growth and as her name was thought to be related to the comparative adjective maius, maior "larger, greater". Convallaria majalis, the Lily of the Valley, one of my favourite flowers - is named after it and it is the flower of May in Europe.

What's the Sun up to? The Sun rises from 7 to 7:30AM throughout the month and sets from around 5:30 to 5:00 PM. Beautiful and long nights are here.In May, the Sun transits first the zodiacal constellations of the Ram (Aries) and after 14th of May is in Taurus. This means that Scorpius is on the other side of the zodiacal wheel and visible starting after sunset.

The Milky Way We are now looking towards the centre of our galaxy, which rises in the South East just after sunset and reaches meridian after 3 AM at the beginning of the month and 2 am towards the end.

Bright stars in the Milky Way Starting from the West after sunset is Betelegeuse, then in zig-zag to the North is Procyon, the Little Dog alpha star. Zig-zagging again is Sirius, and Adhara, in the Big Dog, and Suhail al Muhlif and Avior in Vela, the beautiful stars of the Southern Cross, the two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri then later on in the night after the centre of the Milky Way rises, is Antares and Shaula in Scorpius, Nunki in Sagittarius and last but not least, after midnight, Altair and last but not least, Vega grazing the northern horizon.

Orion and Scorpius Orion is very close to Taurus and it will sink further towards the horizon as the month progresses. Enjoy it while it lasts, for the rest of this month.

Bright stars on the ecliptic Then Regulus in Leo (which is extremely close to the ecliptic) then Spica, the blue giant in Virgo, Zubenelgenubi, another star grazing the ecliptic and Zubeneschamali just beneath it. Zubenelgenubi means the northern claw and Zubeneschamali the southern claw, alluding to these two stars that have been the claws of Scorpius before they were chopped off and turned into the current constellation of Libra. They are followed by Antares which is the last very bright star visible on the ecliptic before sunrise.

Circumpolar Objects to New Zealand The beautiful Southern Cross and the pointers are high in the sky. Gacrux and Acrux are crossing the meridian around 10 PM at the beginning of the month and just after 8PM at the end of it. Omega Centauri is in a great position to observe, as well as Musca, Vela, Carina and their Diamond Cross, and False Cross and the Large Magellanic Cloud and its Tarantula Nebula.

Binocular Objects in May Binoculars come in many shapes and forms, a great size for stargazing is 7 x 50 or 10 x 50. The first number is a measure of power, it means how much these binoculars magnify, in this case the 7 and the 10. The second number is the diameter of the objective (the big lenses at the front) in millimetres, in this case the 50. I really like binoculars, they are my favourite aids to observing the night sky because they are light, you can take them easily with you on trips, they don't really require assembly and disassembly, no polar alignment, and visually are better than telescopes! With a tripod attached they are truly magnificent. Comets and some open star clusters are sometimes better observed with binoculars. We have two eyes, so binocular views are more spectacular in many regards than telescopic, because our brains interpret what we see, binoculars give depth of view as they engage both eyes in the process.
There are a few great objects that you could admire in binoculars. On the ecliptic, M44 (the Praesepe) is an open cluster in Cancer. Known as the beehive, the open cluster swarms with stars. It's really fuzzy when you look at it with the naked eye and binoculars reveal a beautiful lace of stars. Praesepes are as far as 577 light years and estimated to be about 730 million years old with an average magnitude of 3.5. Also in Cancer, M37, is another open cluster, one of the oldest known, almost 3.2 billion years.
You can get a map and look for all these objects. Or, if everything else fails, simply take your binoculars and swipe the Milky Way from one edge to the other. You might not figure out exactly which objects you are looking at but you would definitely find amazing sights, especially in the region close to Carina. You will find there IC2602, NGC3114, NGC353, NGC2516 that are all open clusters then in Crux NGC4755 which is another open cluster, NGC2451 in Puppis, and IC2391 in Vela. Lower down, Omega Centauri, is a globular cluster in Centaurus and in Scorpius, there are the Butterfly Cluster, M7 open cluster and NGC6231 open cluster.

Telescope Objects in May A fantastic night in central Wellington where the Large Magellanic Cloud is only visible with averted vision, still, not bad for a capital city. We looked at the Southern Beehive NGC 2516, Gem Cluster NGC 3293, Southern Pleiades IC 2602, Wishing Well NGC 3532, Jewel Box NGC 4755, Omicron Velorum IC 2391, Omega Centauri NGC 5139, Alpha Centauri and Acrux, Tarantula NGC 2070.

Planets Jupiter is in the sky just after 7:30 followed by Saturn two hours later and Venus is in the morning sky.

Clear skies from New Zealand.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during April 2019 .

The Planets Jupiter starts the month rising around 1 a.m. and brightens from magnitude -2.3 to -2.5 as the month progresses, whilst its angular size increases slightly from 40 to 43 arc seconds. By month's end it rises by ~11 pm so will be due south around 3 am. Sadly it is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius so, as it crosses the meridian, it will only have an elevation of ~ 14 degrees. Atmospheric dispersion will thus take its toll and an atmospheric dispersion corrector would greatly help to improve our views of the giant planet.

Saturn, shining with a magnitude increasing from +0.6 to +0.5 during the month, rises around 3 am on April 1st but around 1 am by month's end. Its disk is ~17 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still nicely tilted from the line of sight spanning 36 arc seconds across. By the end of April, Saturn will near the meridian just before sunrise so morning twilight is the best time to observe it but, sadly, now in Sagittarius it is at the lowest point of the ecliptic and will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees. As with Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help improve our view

Mercury passed through inferior conjunction (between us and the Sun) on March 15th and, at the start of the month rises low in the east-southeast about 30 minutes before the Sun but, shining at a magnitude of +0.9 only reaching an elevation of ~4 degrees. Mercury reaches greatest elongation west, some 28 degrees from the Sun, on April 11th. It lies down to the left of Venus as the two inferior planets approach each other as the month progresses. On April 1st, they lie 10 degrees apart and are closest, just over 4 degrees apart on the 16th - the closest for 3 years. One will need a very low horizon and binoculars could well be used to reduce the background glare, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Mars, though fading from +1.5 to +1.6 magnitudes during the month, remains prominent in the south western sky after sunset setting some four hours after the Sun at the start of April but less than 3 and a half hours by month's end. At an elevation of ~34 degrees after sunset it is moving through Taurus passing between the Pleaides and Hyades clusters on the 4th/5th. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) On the 16th, it passes 7 degrees north of Aldebaran, the red giant star that lies between us and the Hyades cluster. Its angular size falls from 4.6 arc seconds to 4.2 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus begins April with a magnitude of -3.9 with its angular size reducing from 13.1 to 11.6 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth. However, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 81% to 86% - which is why the brightness remains constant at 3.9 magnitudes. On the first of April it rises about 5 am - only 30 minutes before the Sun so binoculars may well be needed to spot it through the Sun's glare. A very low horizon just south of east will be needed and binoculars could well be required to cut through the Sun's glare - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Highlights April 5th - early evening: Mars lies between the Hyades and Pleiades. In the early evening looking towards the southwest one should, if clear, be easily able to spot Mars lying halfway between the Hyades and Pleiades open clusters.

April 6th - evening: three open clusters. Looking northwest in the evening at an elevation of ~35 degrees should be seen the 'W' shapes constellation of Cassiopeia. Up to its left lies Perseus with its bright star Mirphak. This lies at the heart of the Alpha Persei Cluster - widely spread across the sky and about 600 light years distant having an age of ~60 million years. Between Cassiopeia and Perseus can be seen with binoculars or a small telescope the Perseus Double Cluster - the common name for the two clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884. These are quite young with an age of ~13 million years and lie at a distance of 7,500 light years. There are more than 300 blue-white supergiant stars in each cluster.

April 9th - early evening: Mars and a crescent Moon in Taurus. Looking southwest in early evening if clear, Mars and a thin crescent Moon will be seen lying above the Hyades and Pleaides clusters in Taurus.

April 10th - evening: Spot Asteroid 2, Pallas. In the evening after dark, the bright star Arcturus will be seen rising in the east. Up to its right is the star Muphrid. Exactly on the line between them and just to the lower left of Muphrid one should spot Pallas, the second asteroid to be discovered, shining at magnitude 8. Binoculars or a small telescope will be needed.

April 15th - evening: the Moon below Leo. If clear in the evening and looking south, the waxing Moon just after first quarter will be seen lying below the constellation Leo. Up to the left of Leo lies the Coma Star Cluster - well seen in binoculars.

April 24th - before dawn: Jupiter, Saturn and a waxing gibbous Moon. If clear before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the south, one should easily see Jupiter and Saturn lying on either side of the waxing Gibbous Moon.

April 14th/26th: Two Great Lunar Craters. These are two great nights to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnants of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon - seen in the image below - the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during April 2019.
Global Astronomy Month First of all, April is the Global Astronomy Month (GAM). But wait, it gets even better than that! From Sunday, March 31 to Sunday, April 7 is the 2019 International Dark Sky Week! It was created in 2003 by high-school student Jennifer Barlow. International Dark Sky Week has grown to become a worldwide event and a key component of Global Astronomy Month. Each year it is held in April around Astronomy Day. Brights stars adorn the evening sky, Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri are visible in one go and the Galactic Centre starts making a reappearance in the Southern Sky, rising about 10:30pm by the end of the month. The Milky Way looks fantastic in April as it stretches almost horizon to horizon and as the dense star fields and dust lanes of the Galactic Centre become more visible, our galaxy creates quite a spectacle throughout the month. Those of you with a keen eye will be able to spot the Milky Way Kiwi rising in the early morning at the start of the month.

A bit about April - Here is autumn again, the grapes have been harvested and awaiting to be transmuted into wine and while we wait, we prepare for the long beautiful nights in which the galactic centre climbs to the Zenith. April is a Latin name, Aprilis, or maybe the mispronounced name of Greek goddess Aphrodite, since the first of April was dedicated to Venus, the ancient Romans were celebrating Veneralia. Maybe it has a common root with aperire, (Latin to open, as in opening buds and blossoms) since in Europe is the month of the first blossoms on the trees. Whereas here we also get the first taste of Winter as the odd southerly front roars up from the Southern Ocean to remind everyone what's on the way. Those closer to the tropics start seeing a bit less humidity as the dry season starts. The roaring southerly fronts also remind us of the super clear, cool and stable air that often sits behind those fronts and makes for cool evenings of amazing seeing.

What's the Sun up to? The Sun rises from 7:00 to 7:40AM throughout the month and sets the morning and sets from around quarter past seven in the evening to half past five. Yes that is correct - April is also the month when we get rid of daylight saving. So towards the end of the month we would be enjoying a beautiful and long night - that is if the sky will stay clear.

April is more or less the month of the zodiacal constellation of the fish, Pisces, with the Sun moving into the Ram (Aries) only the 20th of April. That means the Sun is transiting both the constellations of Pisces and Aries and so we cannot see them because of two reasons: (1) the stars that make them are well behind the Sun and (2) it's dangerous to look into the Sun. Of course, if you have solar telescope, that is well maintained and is designed for looking at the sun, then you can look at the Sun.

However, because the Sun is in Aries, it means that 180 degrees on the other side of the zodiacal band, is Scorpius. This means, Scorpius is opposite the Sun and it will be visible in the night sky. Scorpius's is quite high in the late evening by the end of the month - meaning that Sagittarius and the galactic centre will also be not far behind.

The Milky Way - the most spectacular feature of the Southern Hemisphere's sky... and to say this is such an understatement. The Milky Way is so striking here in New Zealand, that in the absence of a polar star, people could and should orient themselves by it. For two reasons: one is because we think it is so amazing, and also because when it's at its highest, the Milky Way stretches here from North to South through the zenith. What else is better than that? Plus it might remind people to be more sensible about lighting so we can preserve dark skies.

Back in 2011 was the first time ever when I really saw the Milky Way. Not that I thought I didn't see it before. I thought I did. But no... it was in the Wairarapa back in 2011 and it is a sight I will never forget. I like to call the Milky Way my City of Stars. Or the leg of the Octopus, since its centre is almost on the horizon at sunset. From the rising core, all the way to its setting edge - from Scorpius to Taurus is one glorious panorama. The City of Stars stretches through the night sky southeast to northwest. Here in Aotearoa, the Māori have three names for the same asterisms (groupings of stars) at different times of the year. What we know as Scorpius is, at this time of the year, called Manaia Ki Te Rangi, the guardian of the skies.

It is a great time of the year to get the telescope out in the early evening, now that daylight saving has finished, and just browse the star fields, catching glimpses of nebulae and star clusters.

So what can we see? - Ropes of Stars. Imagine two arches, one smaller running though the Northern part of the sky, that is the ecliptic, the other one larger, running through the zenith - that is the Galaxy.

Bright stars on the Ecliptic - the smaller arch. Through the northeastern sky runs the ecliptic, in a lower arch, which marks the plane of our solar system, bearing the zodiacal constellations. They intersect the Milky Way right on the horizon at the start of the month in the late evening. To see things on the ecliptic one should simply turn towards that part of the sky that carries the memory of the path of the Sun or of the Moon, for that matter. Let's swipe them from west to east:

Setting first in the evening at visually towards the outskirts of the galaxy, as we can see it from Earth, and at about 65 light years away, is the red giant Aldebaran, very low on the horizon and setting at about 8:30pm by the middle of the month, in Taurus at 0.86 magnitudes. Then hot white Castor and orange Pollux - in Gemini at 1.93 and 1.14 mag, followed by blue-white Regulus at 1.36 in Leo - almost due North, and blue-white Spica at magnitude 0.98 in Virgo, in the North East. Just rising near the centre of the Galaxy, is another red giant, Antares, at mag 1.06 and at 604 light years from us.

Other bright stars throughout the Galaxy - the larger arch. Outside of the ecliptic are a bunch of other bright stars including the famous Betelgeuse, a red giant at 0.42 mag and Rigel, a blue giant at mag 0.13, both in Orion. Then the Dogs of the Celestial River, because they are guarding it each from one side of it, are yellowish-white Procyon - in the Small Dog at 0.34 and Sirius - in the Big Dog, at mag -1.46. Sirius, a blue giant, is the brightest star in the sky. The big dog constellation finally looks the right way up heading also to the western horizon too. From it, turn your gaze left.

Nearby comes Canopus -0.72, the second brightest star in the sky. Canopus is not in the white band of the Milky Way. Standing tall, Canopus is high in the sky as it likes to be at this time of the year after sunset. Canopus is a circumpolar star from Wellington. This means that it goes around in circles in 23 hours and 56 minutes, riding something that is like a celestial Ferris Wheel of the Southern Skies, a giant wheel that never stops, with the South Celestial Pole at the centre and a bunch of other stars that look like a circle.

Crux, the Southern Cross, is no stranger to the northern hemisphere and it was entirely visible as far north as Britain in the fourth millennium BC. The Greeks could see it too but since then, the precession of the equinoxes, the wobble of Earth, its gyroscopic dance on the orbit has changed the skies a lot so that now Crux is only visible in the Northern Hemisphere from as far south as 25 degrees latitude north. Florida Keys, Puerto Rico, the islands of the Caribbean, as well as Hawaii are its northern limit of visibility. Near the Southern Cross, there is a dark patch of dust that masks the light that comes from the stars behind it and that is known as the coalsack. Inside the coalsack, the Jewel Box is one of my favourite sights that I visit over and over with the telescope.

Lower down on the path of the Milky Way the two pointers look now as if they are hanging from the Southern Cross. First comes Beta Centauri (the genitive for Centaurus, the name of the constellation) then the famous Alpha Centauri.

Binocular objects in April M44 - the beehive cluster and the surroundings in Cancer

M42 - in Orion

Tarantula Nebula

Eta Carinae

Omega Centauri - these are all really high around the South Celestial Circle

Southern Pleiades

Jewel Box

Centaurus A

Alpha Centauri.

Telescope Objects in April M83 - southern Pinwheel

Sombrero Galaxy - M 104

M68 (a lovely globular cluster)

Leo Triplet

M80, M4, M7 in Scorpius

Planets. The good news for April is that the planets are coming back, not all of them, and nothing like last year but still in their spectacular glory that we've become used to. For those who live on mountain tops with a nice clear view of the South Eastern horizon, you will see Jupiter rise just before 11pm at the start of the month and by the end of the month Jupiter will be starting to appear around 8pm. Of course to actually get a reasonable view of Jupiter you need to wait a couple of hours after it rises which is still a quite reasonable time by the end of the month. Jupiter is exceptionally easy to find because it's right there in the middle of the Milky Way Kiwi, quite close to the galactic centre just between Scorpius and Sagittarius.

Jupiter is huge and bright with a magnitude of -2.2, this is because it really is huge with a diameter of 142,984 kilometres, just over 11 Earth diameters. Its huge distance from us of around 750 million kilometres means that even this massive planet won't out shine Venus at -4 magnitude. Jupiter is a great sight in binoculars as the Galilean Moons are clearly visible, depending on their positions.

Saturn is about 2 hours behind Jupiter in the march along the ecliptic, so it's very much an early morning planet for most of the month before being visible at a good altitude by midnight at the end of the month. Saturn is a bit further away from the Milky Way between Sagittarius and Capricornus. Of course, by a bit further away we mean the angular distance. In distance terms it is 1.449 billion kilometres away with an angular dimension of 17.1 arcseconds in diameter. The distance doesn't change much during the month, only about 70 million kilometres.

Saturn's crowning jewel is its rings, which look fantastic. I think every astronomer I have ever spoken to can remember the first time they saw Saturn. To see the rings of Saturn you need to have a telescope or be about 1.1 billion kilometres closer to the gas giant. Clearly it's not that easy to be 1.1 billion kilometres closer so let's think about why we can't see them with the naked eye. The human eye has a range of angular resolution of between 1 and 4 arcminutes, depending on the eye and atmospheric conditions. The size of Saturn's rings are about 46 arcseconds when they are at their biggest, so significantly smaller than what the best human eye in the best conditions can resolve. The best you can see of Saturn with the naked eye is its beautiful golden colour.

Mars - unfortunately Mars doesn't do much during the month other than skirt along across Taurus to Gemini, and given it's now about 344 million kilometres away and only 4.1 arcseconds in diameter, it's not going to be much to look at anyway. In New Zealand we also miss out on the conjunction of Venus and Neptune on 10 Apr when the two planets get to within 18 arcminutes of each other. At the same time Venus and Mercury get very close as well at about 5 degrees apart. Northern hemisphere observers will have to get up early and have a good view of the horizon to see it, maybe you could send us a picture?

The Moon is new on the 5 Apr and full on 19 Apr. It's still quite close to the Earth during the Full Moon at about 368,000 kilometres, not quite the over-hyped super moon that gets people excited but not far off it.

So Clear and dark skies from Space Place at Carter Observatory here in the southern hemisphere. Special Thanks go to the amazing Rhian Sheehan, Space Place at Carter Observatory.

Northern Hemisphere The Night Sky

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere's night sky during March 2019.

The Early Evening March Sky The brilliant constellation of Orion is seen in the south. Moving up and to the right - following the line of the three stars of Orion's belt - brings one to Taurus; the head of the bull being outlined by the V-shaped cluster called the Hyades with its eye delineated by the orange red star Aldebaran. Further up to the right lies the Pleaides Cluster. Towards the zenith from Taurus lies the constellation Auriga, whose brightest star Capella will be nearly overhead. To the upper left of Orion lie the heavenly twins, or Gemini, their heads indicated by the two bright stars Castor and Pollux. Down to the lower left of Orion lies the brightest star in the northern sky, Sirius, in the constellation Canis Major. Up and to the left of Sirius is Procyon in Canis Minor. Rising in the East is the constellation of Leo, the Lion, with the planet Saturn up and to the right of Regulus its brightest star. Continuing in this direction towards Gemini is the faint constellation of Cancer with its open cluster Praesepe (also called the Beehive Cluster), the 44th object in Messier's catalogue. On a dark night it is a nice object to observe with binoculars.

The Late Evening March Sky The constellation Gemini is now setting towards the south-west and Leo holds pride (sic) of place in the south with its bright star Regulus. Between Gemini and Leo lies Cancer. It is well worth observing with binoculars to see the Beehive Cluster at its heart. Below Gemini is the tiny constellation Canis Minor whose only bright star is Procyon. Rising in the south-east is the constellation Virgo whose brightest star is Spica. Though Virgo has few bright stars it is in the direction of a great cluster of galaxies - the Virgo Cluster - which lies at the centre of the supercluster of which our local group of galaxies is an outlying member.

Gemini - The Twins - lies up and to the left of Orion and is in the south-west during early evenings this month. It contains two bright stars Castor and Pollux of 1.9 and 1.1 magnitudes respectively. Castor is a close double having a separation of ~ 3.6 arc seconds making it a fine test of the quality of a small telescope - providing the atmospheric seeing is good! In fact the Castor system has 6 stars - each of the two seen in the telescope is a double star, and there is a third, 9th magnitude, companion star 73 arcseconds away which is also a double star! Pollux is a red giant star of spectral class K0. The planet Pluto was discovered close to delta Geminorum by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. The variable star shown to the lower right of delta Geminorum is a Cepheid variable, changing its brightness from 3.6 to 4.2 magnitudes with a period of 10.15 days.

Leo The constellation Leo is now in the south-eastern sky in the evening. One of the few constellations that genuinely resembles its name, it looks likes one of the Lions in Trafalgar Square, with its main and head forming an arc (called the Sickle) to the upper right, with Regulus in the position of its right knee. Regulus is a blue-white star, five times bigger than the sun at a distance of 90 light years. It shines at magnitude 1.4. Algieba, which forms the base of the neck, is the second brightest star in Leo at magnitude 1.9. With a telescope it resolves into one of the most magnificent double stars in the sky - a pair of golden yellow stars! They orbit their common centre of gravity every 600 years. This lovely pair of orange giants are 170 light years away.

Ursa Major The stars of the Plough, shown linked by the thicker lines in the chart above, form one of the most recognized star patterns in the sky. Also called the Big Dipper, after the soup ladles used by farmer's wives in America to serve soup to the farm workers at lunchtime, it forms part of the Great Bear constellation - not quite so easy to make out! The stars Merak and Dubhe form the pointers which will lead you to the Pole Star, and hence find North. The stars Alcor and Mizar form a naked eye double which repays observation in a small telescope as Mizar is then shown to be an easily resolved double star. A fainter reddish star forms a triangle with Alcor and Mizar.

The Planets Jupiter, starts the month rising around 2 a.m. and brightens from magnitude -2.0 to -2.3 as the month progresses whilst its angular size increases slightly from 36.2 to 39.7 arc seconds. By month's end it rises by ~1 am BST so will be higher in the sky before dawn. Sadly it is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius. By the end of March, it will lie almost due south as the Sun rises but will only have an elevation of ~14 degrees so atmospheric dispersion will blur its image somewhat. The use of an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help to give sharper images.

Saturn, shining with a magnitude of +0.6, rises two and a half hours before the Sun at the start of the month some 2 hours after Jupiter. Its disk is ~16 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still 24 degrees from the line of sight - spanning 35 arc seconds across. Sadly, Saturn now to the left of the 'teapot' in Sagittarius is now at the lowest point on the ecliptic and so will only have an elevation of ~10 degrees when due south before dawn in a month's time. So, like Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector could help.

Mercury, with an angular size of 7.7 arc seconds at the start of March, reached its greatest elongation east on the 26th of February, then 18 degrees away from the Sun. On the first of March, it sets some one and a half hours after the Sun shining at magnitude +0.1. During the month, its angular size increases to 10.9 arc seconds but its brightness rapidly reduces and by March 6th, at magnitude 2, will become very difficult to spot in the twilight. Binoculars could well be needed to reduce the background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. Mercury passes between us and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on the 15th.

Mars, though fading from +1.2 to +1.4 magnitudes during the month, remains prominent in the south western sky after sunset at an elevation of ~37 degrees. Mars is moving north-eastwards through Aries and passes into Taurus on the 23rd/24th of the month. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) Its angular size falls from 5.3 arc seconds to 4.7 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.

Mars, begins March at a magnitude of -4.1. with its angular size reducing from 16 to 13 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth. However, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 72% to 81% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.1 to -3.9 magnitudes. Venus rises abour 2 hours before the Sun at the beginning of the month with an elevation of ~7 degrees before dawn, but both reduce as the month progresses. We have nearly come to the end of its morning apparition as it moves towards superior conjunction (behind the Sun) in August. It will not then be visible, low in our south-western sky, until late November.

Highlights March 2nd - before dawn: Venus, Saturn and a thin crescent Moon. Looking southeast before dawn and if clear, a thin crescent Moon will be seen lying between Venus and Saturn.

March 12th - evening: a waxing Moon approaches the Pleiades and Hyades clusters. Looking high in the southwest during the early evening one will, if clear, spot the Moon lying below the Pleaides and Hyades open clusters in Taurus.

March 16th - just before dawn: Jupiter and Saturn above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon just east of south, one should be able to see Jupiter lying up to the right of Saturn above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius.

March - Evenings of the 14th and 28th: The Straight Wall on the Moon. The Straight Wall, or Rupes Recta, is best observed either 1 or 2 days after First Quarter or a day or so before Third Quarter. To honest, it is not really a wall but a gentle scarp - as Sir Patrick has said "Neither is it a wall nor is it straight!".

Maps, images and more details on http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky

Southern Hemisphere

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere's night sky during March 2019.

Highlights The planets are almost gone from the evening sky, but look up in the early hours of the morning and you will see Jupiter, and later on, Saturn and Venus. Te Tawhiti - the Pleiades are preparing for their journey to the underworld, leaving behind a doppelganger, the Southern Pleiades. We will see M45 again at the end of June when they will reappear in the morning sky as Matariki. The Milky Way arches across the sky reaching zenith in the evening hours. There are some amazing binocular objects there, stay with us for our Southern Hemisphere Night Sky in March with Hari and Sam from the Middle of the Middle Earth, here in New Zealand.

The Season of Harvest.

Kia Ora from New Zealand, Hi everyone, Once again we are at Space Place at Carter Observatory holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan in the background, our Wellingtonian star composer.

I'm Haritina Mogosanu, and I'm Samuel Leske.

Just look up after sunset - pray that there is clear skies and you will see one of the most amazing night skies in the world. We've also been to a few star parties lately and had the opportunity to observe all night long these amazing features that set the sky of the Southern Hemisphere in a special place in our heart. Right now, the galactic centre is slowly coming back into the picture but there are still amazing views in the Carina-Southern Cross region and the Large Magellanic Cloud. So to get your own star party going, We prepared some instructions for looking up in March.

Planets. There are no decent planets in sight in the evening sky, just Mars and that is so close to the horizon that you can hardly distinguish it from the stars and by 10 AM it's sunk into the underworld. So if you really want to see planets you will have to stay up late. The brightest stars in the night sky are there in March, so if you'd like to know what those lights are, we will tell you all about it. March is the month when the day is equal to the night, as we are observing the March Equinox on Thursday, 21 of March.

Equinox. Oh yes it is indeed autumn here in Wellington and the days will become shorter than the nights after the equinox. At the beginning of the month, the Sun sets around 8:30 PM and earlier and earlier every day as we are heading towards the end of the month when it will set around 7:40 PM.

At nightfall, half of our galaxy, the Milky Way, arches across the night sky from North to South, like the arm of the octopus. Wellington and New Zealand have a legendary octopus they talk about, Te Wheke o Muturangi. This octopus stole the bait and the fishooks of Kupe, who lived in Hawaiki; a chase across the Pacific Ocean followed and New Zealand was re-discovered again, as it was first found by Maui according to the Polynesians. Kupe's wife, Hine-te-Aparangi saw a long cloud in the distance, a sign that land was near and she named it Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud. And cloudy it can get sometimes!

Stars. And talking about Maori star lore, at the fringe of our milky city of stars, Milky Way, on the north-western horizon, the Pleiades, the Shining Ones (Te Tawhiti) are preparing for the journey to the underworld. They are to disappear shortly behind the Sun and will stay there for a while. They will reappear in the morning sky in June after the longest night as Matariki, the eye of the Ariki, star cluster that marks the Maori New Year. Maori have different names for the same stars at different times throughout the year, and the Pleiades get to have three names throughout the year, in different seasons.

Also shining, Sirius and Canopus reach the meridian almost in the same time, at the beginning of the month around 9:30 PM, by the middle of the month, the same stars reach meridian around 8:30 PM, and 7:30 at the end of the month. It is really impressive how fast they shift in the sky, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, and we can see this movement, in just one month. To see them in the same spot, we need to look two hours earlier at the end of the month compared to the beginning of the month.

One is North of Zenith (overhead) and the other one south of Zenith. In the meantime the Southern Cross will be at the nine o'clock position on the South Celestial Circle. The Southern Cross is a circumpolar asterism, it never sets, nor rises from this latitude, only gets washed away by the light from the Sun. High in the sky, Canopus marks the midpoint between the center of our galaxy and its edge.

The brightest stars in the night sky are featuring from North To South - Aldebaran from Taurus, Castor and Pollux in Gemini, Canis Minor, Orion's stars, Canis Major, these are north of overhead then south of overhead Canopus, Carinae stars: The False Cross, the Diamond Cross and the Southern Cross, and last but not least, Alpha and Beta Centauri, the pointer stars.

Staying on the southwest part of the sky and halfway through from the horizon is Achernar. Fomalhaut is now gone, grazing the southern horizon. And on it's way to the Northern Hemisphere, the Large Magellanic Cloud is high.

Some binocular objects. From the horizon and travelling up the Milky Way, well sort of, first we come to M83, the Southern pinwheel, a large face-on spiral at magnitude 7.09, nearby is the Sombrero Galaxy at 8.12 mag, then closer to the Southern Cross is Centaurus A at 6.64 mag, very close to Centaurus A is the huge globular cluster Omega centauri and we can't look at Omega Centauri without also taking in the beautiful 47 Tucanae just by the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Magellanic Clouds are exceptional binocular objects.

The Magellanic clouds are our neighbouring galaxies, circumpolar here in Wellington and always a little elusive to direct sight. The Magellanic clouds are the best training objects for averted vision, always try to see them with the edge of the field of view of your eye while pretending you're looking at something else.

The Beehive Cluster in Cancer is another amazing object, very bright, and we are lucky to share that with the Northern Hemisphere. Then there is of course, M42 in Orion, which we also share with the Northern Hemispherians.

Also reasonably high in the sky, well high enough to see ok is 'The Leo Triplet', made up of M65, M66 and NGC 3628 galaxies. The majestic globular cluster of M3 is at 20 degrees above the horizon in the Northern part of the sky. Also down in the lower part of the sky is the stunning Black Eye galaxy at 23 degrees above the horizon. Unfortunately the Virgo cluster is only 15 degrees above the horizon, so not really clearly visible.

The bottom star of the big dipper, Alkaid grazes the northern horizon early in the morning just before sunrise, precisely marking north. If we could only see it..., but there's no chance, yet we know it's there. And same goes for the Whirlpool galaxy - that gets nearly two degrees above the horizon.

The morning sky is however popular with the planets, as Jupiter rises around 1AM on the beginning of the month, (and at 11PM at the end of the month) followed by Saturn two hours later at 3AM and Venus at 4:00AM. Jupiter and Saturn are flanking the center of the Milky Way this time of the year.

If the Galaxy stretches almost from North to South in the evening sky, in the morning, it would almost have rotated to appear as if it's lined up from East to West, with Jupiter and Saturn at the Eastern end and Sirius setting in the West.

As they prepare for their journey to the underworld at the fringe of our milky city of stars, on the north-western horizon, the Pleiades, the Shining Ones (Te Tawhiti) leave behind a doppelganger here in the Southern Hemisphere, the look alike, fake twin that never leaves the sky. Higher up than the Southern Cross, the Diamond Cross carries this mirror image of the Pleiades called unsurprisingly the Southern Pleiades.

Circumpolar to Wellington, the Diamond Cross can also be found by climbing up the milky river, two thirds from the side and one third from the center this is where you will find the optical asterism (pattern of stars) of the diamond cross. At the eastern end of it, a pair of binoculars will reveal 'the Southern Pleiades', which at first sight look like the letter M to me.

Theta Carinae cluster, also called the 'Southern Pleiades' has an astronomical resemblance to the famed northern star cluster M45 in Taurus. Even though the cluster is NOT dipper-shaped like the Pleiades, is also easily visible with the naked eye, (but best in binoculars), quite young about 30 million years old and at almost the same distance from Earth (500 light years away). And just like M45, the Southern Pleiades is 15 light years across.

There's a smorgasbord of amazing objects that you can in the Southern Sky, we are lucky here in Wellington to be able to share many of the objects that are famous in the Northern Hemisphere as well, the benefit of not being too far South. We hope you get a chance to get out there and enjoy feasting the sights of the night sky. If you're in Wellington come up to Space Place, we'd love to show you around.

So Clear and dark skies from Space Place at Carter Observatory here in the southern hemisphere.

Special Thanks go to the amazing Rhian Sheehan, Space Place at Carter Observatory.

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere's night sky during February 2019.

The Planets Jupiter, starts the month rising around 3:30 a.m. and brightens from magnitude -1.9 to -2.0 as the month progresses whilst its angular size increases slightly from 33.6 to 36.1 arc seconds. By month's end it rises by ~2 am so will be higher in the sky before dawn. Sadly it is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius.

Saturn, shining with a magnitude of +0.6, rises one and a half hours before the Sun at the start of the month some 85 minutes after Venus. Its disk is ~16 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still 24 degrees from the line of sight - spanning 35 arc seconds across.

Mercury, passed through Superior conjunction (behind the Sun) at the end of January and will not become visible in the evening twilight until around the 12th of the month having a magnitude of -1.2. During March's second half it dims to magnitude -0.2 but, by its end, sets some one and a half hours after the Sun. Mercury, with an angular size of 7 arc seconds, reaches its greatest elongation east on the 26th of the month, then 18 degrees away from the Sun and with an elevation of ~9 degrees 45 minutes after the Sun has set. Binoculars could well be needed to reduce the background glare, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Mars, though fading from +0.9 to +1.2 magnitudes during the month, remains prominent in the south western sky after sunset at an elevation of ~38 degrees after sunset as it moves north-eastwards from the constellation of Pisces into Aries on the 12th of the month. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) Its angular size falls from 6 arc seconds to less than 5 and a half arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus, begins February with a magnitude of -4.3. as it Its angular size reduces from 19 to 16 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 62% to 72% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.3 to -4.1 magnitudes. See the highlight above when it lies close to Saturn.

Highlights February 9th - before dawn: Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Looking southeast before dawn one should, if clear, be able to easily spot Jupiter lying up to the right of Venus and, just above the horizon, Saturn. A low horizon in this direction will be needed to see Saturn.

February 10th - evening: Mars above a waxing Moon. Looking southwest in the evening if clear, Mars will be seen lying above a waxing crescent Moon. Uranus lies to the upper left of Mars.

February 11-13th - evening: Mars skirts past Uranus. Looking southwest in these evenings if clear, Mars (magnitude 1) will be seen passing close by Uranus giving us an easy way of finding the magnitude 6 planet.

February 16th - just before dawn: Venus and Saturn close by. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the southeast, one should be able to see Venus lying just up to the right of Saturn. Jupiter shines to their upper right.

February 22nd - just after sunset: Mercury above the western horizon. If clear just after sunset, and given a low horizon towards the west, one should be able to spot Mercury. Binoculars might be needed to cut through the Sun's glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

February 28th - before dawn: three planets and a waning crescent Moon. If clear before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the south southeast, one should be able to observe what will be the best skyscape of the month with Venus, Saturn, a waning crescent Moon and Jupiter forming a line above the horizon.

February 13th and 25th: The Alpine Valley. These are two good nights to observe an interesting feature on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. As shown in the image is a thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe. The dark crater Plato will also be visible nearby. You may also see the shadow cast by the mountain Mons Piton lying not far away in Mare Imbrium. This is a very interesting region of the Moon!

Southern Hemisphere

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere's night sky during February 2019.

Kia Ora from New Zealand, hi everyone, we are here at Space Place at Carter Observatory in New Zealand holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, my favourite place to be, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan, our Wellingtonian star composer. I'm Haritina Mogosanu, and I'm Samuel Leske. At this time of the year we are looking towards the edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and Orion is just like last month, the main feature out there in the sky apart from the south celestial objects.

Sun Rise. Everybody talks about the evening night sky but I'd love to also mention the wonderful early riser.
What's an early riser? I think it is someone who wakes up around 4am and then commutes to work, or they are just a morning person. At that time of the morning, about 4am, the galactic centre rises as well, not just the people getting up early. And as they rise, Jupiter is out there in Ophiuchus about 30 degrees above horizon and above it is the red giant Antares. As each day goes past, Venus will seem to lower towards the Eastern horizon towards Saturn, which will also be visible in the early morning, around the 19 of February, when it will have a spectacular conjunction with Venus.

So a most interesting morning sky in February and let's just add that the Southern Cross will be high up in the sky at that early hour, crossing the meridian and pointing straight south so at least South is easy to find at 4AM in the morning if you misplaced your car keys or train pass.

Mars is still the only planet in the evening sky that is visible with the naked eye and the Sun sets around 8:30 and is in the constellation of Capricornus going into Aquarius from the 16h of February. The brightest, second brightest and third brightest stars are visible in one shot in the evening sky: Sirius, Canopus and Alpha Centauri.

Last month we talked about Orion and some of the objects from the Northern Hemisphere that sit below Orion in the Southern Sky, such as the fabulous Rosette Nebula and the elusive M74 and the Magellanic clouds. We also talked gastronomy, about the pot and the frying pan. This month, in February we will continue that conversation as we do some more star hopping.

Star Hopping. is an ancient stargazing technique that involves hopping from one star to the next and making patterns and paths on the way.

Let's get hopping.

I say we start at sunset, and here in Wellington Mars is very low in the sky on the Western horizon. All the other planets are in the morning sky as we mentioned, so if you are a morning person you're in for a treat.

Two ancient royal stars are flanking Mars. To the left of Mars is Fomalhaut, bright star, 19th brightest at a magnitude of 1.16. To the right of Mars almost at the same altitude maybe just a bit higher and roughly the same distance as Fomalhaut is the star cluster the Hyades and the bright star Aldebaran. This is another one of the four royal stars, which also include Regulus and Antares, visible in the morning sky. In between Aldebaran and Mars, at the same height as Mars is the Pleiades.

For Maori, they are now called Te Tawhiti, the Shining Ones. They are in the constellation Taurus which is just bordering the Milky Way. On the other side of the barely visible Milky Way, remember we are looking towards the edge of our galaxy, the celestial twins Castor and Pollux are the just grazing the horizon. Straight up from Pollux (which is the highest in the sky here) is Procyon, the mini-dog star or hot dog as we call it here at Space Place as the asterism is made of two stars so that's what we came up with. I know this one from Frank Andrews, the father of good planetarium presentations here in Wellington.

Gastronomy. So in the spirit of gastronomy - this one is from him as well, we will now point out The Pot. Higher up in the sky from Procyon is Orion, upside down here to what is known in the Northern hemisphere. So the red giant Betelgeuse is lower and then comes Orion's belt, the sword and then Rigel, the blue giant is up the top. Now when you look towards Orion, you're looking towards The Pot. Its handle is made up of Orion's sword and the bottom is Orion's belt. Holding the shape of the pot is Eta Orionis, a variable blue white main sequence double star in Orion between 3.4 and 4.9 magnitude.

We are very practical people here in New Zealand, and it is summertime and when you think of all that seafood that we will point out later, it is very nice to be here, there's just the little issue that the nights are too short at this time of the year.

Are you Sirius? Yes very much so, Sirius is to the right of Orion and in a straight line up from Procyon, if you look northeast. And if you draw a line from Procyon to Sirius around 9PM in the middle of the month it will point to Zenith the point straight overhead.

To the right of the Zenith and almost as high, is my favourite Cat Star, Canopus, also I've heard of this from Frank, he explained to me that any serious astronomer in New Zealand has a ginger cat called Canopus. This is the tradition about the Cat star. Canopus is part of Carina, a spectacular zone in the sky.

We cover more in detail the part of the sky between Sirius and Canopus in our How to Find series, Navigating the Night Sky on Milky Way Kiwi, Part 3.

Also in Carina is Eta Carinae the famous fabulous hypergiant and another variable double star. Eta Carinae was the competition for Canopus, because due to a great outburst, in the 1840's it became the second brightest star in the sky. Eta Carinae is one telescope field to the left of the Southern Pleiades cluster, which is at the bottom of the Diamond Cross and almost halfway in between the Southern Cross and the False Cross. Again we cover a lot of detail in our Navigating the Night Sky, Part 4, where we have precise instructions for Southern Pleiades, Eta Carinae nebula, Pearl Cluster, NGC 3532 and the Jewel Box Cluster. And you will only need binoculars for these ones.

So all we had to do was to follow the Milky Way to south - or for those of us who cannot see the Milky Way all the time due to light pollution, we have followed the brightest stars and objects in the sky, hopping from Mars to the Pleiades and the Hyades, Procyon, Orion, Sirius, Canopus and now we arrive at the south celestial circle of stars. If you do see the Milky Way (lucky you) then as it lowers towards the southern horizon you can see the False Cross, then lower down, the Diamond Cross and then the famous Southern Cross. Both the Southern Cross and the two pointer stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri are in the Milky Way, roughly in the direction of south. All of these crosses are made up of circumpolar stars and turn around what we call South Celestial Circle so you will find them at different hours being at different heights in the sky.

Asterisms and fish. The stars from Centaurus, Alpha and Beta Centauri (Hadar) together with Birdun, Muhlifain and Delta Centauri make the South Celestial Frying Pan. This is a season -based asterism visible probably best in January and February. Southern Cross and the Coalsack are respectively the Fish and the Flounder (the latter is the Maori name for the Coalsack) in the frying pan.

If you imagine that the Southern Cross is a big arrowhead, on the other side of the 60 degrees declination South circle is Achernar the end of the river Eridanus. These are the most prominent stars of the early evening sky, if we can call that evening, as we can only start seeing them after 8:30 when the Sun sets here this month.

And is really awesome to see as the Sun goes down, Fomalhaut is the bright star right above it. I used to watch that one from the Northern hemisphere dreaming of the southern sky. And one of the first things I've learned about the sky in the Northern Hemisphere is that Fomalhaut shows the secret passage way to south to the initiate. I kept wondering why that is until I came here to Wellington and you can see further to the left of Fomalhaut, maybe just slightly higher in the sky is Alpha Centauri triple star system, our closest neighbour, the third brightest star in the sky.

cross / arrowhead that points at Achernar, the end of the river Eridanus, about 50 degrees high in the sky.

And so the story goes if you put one hand on the southern cross and one hand on Achernar, and clap, that's very near the south celestial pole - the extension of the south pole in the sky and then drop down to the horizon and you've found south.

Canopus. It's an amazing sky this month, even though we don't see much of the Milky Way, we have brilliant stars in the sky. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, Canopus is the second brightest and Alpha Centauri is the third brightest star at about 4 and a quarter light years away. Sirius, a double star is also very close to us, about 8.60 light years, whereas Canopus, also known as Alpha Carinae is about 309 light years away. And perhaps not too many people know but Canopus is also a double star.

I really love this star, my favourite thing about it is that it's used by interplanetary spacecraft as a reference point since it lies away from the plane of our solar system where the bright planets are found. And also in my favourite book, Dune the planet Arrakis is the third planet orbiting Canopus.

We don't know if there's any spice orbiting around Canopus but we can tell it's a great star anyway. Even though it appears half the brightness of Sirius, Canopus is a rare F0 class supergiant star. These stars are rare and poorly understood, they can be either evolving to or from a red giant. And that made it difficult to understand the absolute brightness of Canopus, which help us get some idea of the distance to it.

Only with the launch of the Hipparcos satellite were we able to tell it's about 310 light years from Earth, as estimates before that gave anything between 96 to 1200 light years. So at 310 light years away Canopus is about 15, 000 times brighter than our Sun. It's so big that compared to our Sun it stretches about three quarters of the way across Mercury's orbit. Canopus is post main sequence as it has ceased fusing hydrogen in its core.

Eta Carinae. If Canopus is a supergiant, which we all thought that was awesome, well, Eta Carinae is a hypergiant. Eta Carinae has the highest confirmed mass and luminosity of any star that has been studied in detail, and is a candidate to become a supernova or even a hypernova - so it will be seen by our neighbours in others galaxies when it goes off. Eta Carinae is 7,500 light years away .

We will end here next to the biggest star known, Eta Carinae pondering about how big is big.

In the meantime, we look forward to seeing you at Space Place.

Space Place and Telescopes. Space Place is one of the historical icons of New Zealand in terms of astronomy, located at the heart of our capital city. We have amazing historical telescopes, a 23 cm Cooke built in 1867 that we use for public viewing and we also have a retro Boller and Chivens 16 - I noticed that's the word used now when people talk about stuff made in the 60's.

The Cooke has quite a story behind it and how it got to New Zealand and eventually how it ended up in Wellington. It has been a very important telescope for research including being used to photograph Halley's Comet in 1910. Also on display is a James Short telescope. We only look at this one - and not through, it's locked in the displays, it's a very important telescope we believe came here with Captain Cook and it was donated by Adam Read, he is the son of Peter Read who was the creator and presenter of the New Zealand's Night Sky TV show in 1960's.

We also have a beautiful planetarium where I spend a lot of my time.

If you ever wish to find us, Space Place is at the top of the botanic gardens looking out to the harbour, and surrounded by flowers and New Zealand birds that are amazing and especially now in the summertime it is a poetry for the senses.

I am Haritina Mogosanu and I am Samuel Leske, and we are Milky Way Kiwi at Space Place at Carter Observatory in New Zealand, Southern Hemisphere, with the February podcast, the Southern Hemisphere section for the Jodcast.

Thank you and Clear skies from Wellington!

Northern Hemisphere
The Night Sky

Northern Hemisphere

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere's night sky during January 2019.

Note the Total Eclipse of the Moon on the morning of January 21st The Planets Jupiter. Jupiter starts the month rising around 5 a.m., and brightens from magnitude -1.9 to -1.9 as the month progresses whilst its angular size increases slightly from 31.8 to 33.6 arc seconds. The highlights show how it combines with Venus to give us some wonderful views in the East before dawn.

Saturn. Saturn passes behind the Sun on the 2nd of January so will not be visible in the pre-dawn eastern sky until around the third week of the month shining with a magnitude of +0.6. With a disk of ~15 arc seconds across and with rings spanning over twice this, it will rise one and a half hours before the Sun by month's end.

Mercury. Mercury might just be glimpsed in the first few days of the month very low in the southeast just before sunrise shining at magnitude -0.4. Binoculars could well be needed as this reduces the background glare, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

Mars. Mars, though fading from +0.5 to +0.9 magnitudes during the month remains prominent in the southern sky after sunset at an elevation of ~36 degrees, increasing to 41 degrees during January as it moves north-eastwards across the constellation of Pisces. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) Its angular size falls from 7.5 arc seconds to 6 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus. Venus reaches greatest elongation west some 47 degrees away from the Sun on January 6th so dominates the eastern sky rising some 3 hours before the Sun. It begins January with a dazzling magnitude of -4.6. Its angular size reduces from 26.3 to 19.4 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 47% to 62% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.6 to -4.3 magnitudes. See the highlight above when it lies close to Jupiter.

Highlights January 3rd - before dawn: Jupiter below a very thin crescent Moon. Around the 6th of January (with no Moon in the sky): find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. Around new Moon (6th Jan) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

January12th - evening: Mars above a waxing Moon. Looking south in the evening if clear, Mars will be seen lying above a waxing crescent Moon.

January 21st - a Total Eclipse of the Moon. If clear in the hours before dawn, we should be able to see a Total Eclipse of the Moon as it moves through the Earth's shadow at times indicated on the chart. It will be fully eclipsed from 04:41 to 05:43. A nice photo opportunity.

January 31st - just before dawn: a thin crescent Moon lies between Jupiter and Venus. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the southeast, one should be able to see a thin waning crescent Moon lying between Jupiter (on its right) and Venus shining brightly to its left. A nice photo opportunity.

January 13th and 26th evening: The Hyginus Rille.

Southern Hemisphere

Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske tell us what we can see in the southern hemisphere's night sky during January 2019.

The Shining Ones. Kia Ora from New Zealand. Hi everyone, We are here at Space Place at Carter Observatory holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, my favourite place to be, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan, our Wellingtonian star composer, and we are Haritina Mogoșanu and Samuel Leske. Space Place is our historical astronomy icon here in New Zealand and we are located right at the heart of our capital city. And we are so lucky to be among the capital cities in the world from where you can still see the Milky Way.

Summary. As for deep sky objects, the month is perfect for observing Orion and some of the objects from the Northern Hemisphere that sit below Orion in the Southern Sky, such as the fabulous Rosette Nebula and the elusive M74. Back to the south celestial region, we can still see the Magellanic Clouds and some awesome circumpolar objects, check out our videos on how to find them on Milky-Way. And did you know that this time of the year you can see the brightest, second brightest and third brightest star in the sky from here from Wellington? If you have a solar telescope you can admire a very quiet Sun. Almost no spots adorn the Sun but we will be watching it closely to see if any appear. (Do NOT look at the sun with a telescope, binoculars or even the naked eye without protection!) Watch for the Moon, it new on the first Sunday of the month, which means that's a good week for deep sky observations, and full on the third week, the 21st of January.

You must wake up very early in the morning to see the other planets, which are mostly in the morning sky, so if you're a morning person then you're in for a show. Venus, Jupiter and Mercury are all visible in the morning sky, as well as the Moon in the first week of the Month and Saturn at the end of the month. You can wake up as early as 3:30 for Venus, and Jupiter is rising up every morning earlier so it catches up with Venus around the 22nd when they will rise together and then Jupiter will move higher than Venus. Saturn will be rising around 4:30 in the morning at the end of the month. So who said the sky is only for the night owls? But what is there left for the night owls if everything is in the morning sky?

Planets. Mars is still in the evening sky although we will need to wait until 9 PM when the Sun sets and then look northwest. Mars is still bright so it should be easy to spot. Unseen to the naked eye, to the left of Mars is Neptune and to the right is Uranus. Uranus is 19 AU from the Sun, which is 162 light minutes away. Although you can see Uranus, which has a visual magnitude of 5.8 with the naked eye from a very dark place, for Neptune you will definitely need a telescope. Both are beautiful with a bluish tint.

Bright Stars. So because this time of the year there are many distinctive bright stars in the night sky, I call it the season of the shining ones.

Constellations. So not only there are pans and pots in the Southern Sky but there are also crosses. There's the Southern Cross, the Diamond Cross and the False Cross, and these are like official asterisms. That is if you ignore the fact that every combination of four stars can look like a cross. The great thing about them is that they are teeming with amazing deep sky objects. Such is the very famous Jewel Box open cluster near the Southern Cross. Two favourites of ours are the star clusters Omicron Velorum and NGC 2516 in the False Cross region, NGC 2516 is next Avior and Omicron Velorum is next to the star Delta Velorum.

Clusters. And also remember that it doesn't really matter what you call the stars as long as you can remember where they are.

May you enjoy the beginning of another happy rotation around the sun! Thank you and Clear skies from Wellington!

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during December 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter passed behind the Sun on November 26th and will appear low in the eastern pre-dawn sky around the 12th of the month. It will have a magnitude of ~-1.8 and a disk ~32 arc seconds across. It is not a good month to observe Jupiter due to its low elevation, but do see the 'highlight' above.

Saturn - Saturn might just be glimpsed in the first few days of December very low in the southwest around 16:45 but soon disappears into the Sun's glare as it moves towards superior conjunction on January 2nd. It will have a disk of ~15 arc seconds and a magnitude of +0.5.

Mercury - Mercury passed between us and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on the 27th of November but appears in the pre-dawn sky around the 6th of the month. It will then have a magnitude of +0.5 which increases to magnitude 0 by the 8th. Mercury reaches its greatest elongation (west) of the Sun on the 16th, when 21 degrees away and rising over an hour and a half before it when it is ~60% lit. As the morning ecliptic is at a steep angle to the horizon at this time of the year, this is an excellent apparition. Do not miss (when hopefully clear) its conjunction with Jupiter as described above.

Mars - Mars, though fading from magnitude -0.0 to +0.4 during the month remains prominent in the southern sky as it starts the month at an elevation of 27 degrees in Aquarius. It will lie due south around 6 pm. As the month progresses, it moves eastwards into Pisces on the 21st; slightly higher in elevation at ~32 degrees when due south around 5:30 pm. Its angular size falls from 9.3 arc seconds to 7.5 arc seconds during the month so it will become harder to spot any details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus - Venus begins December at an elevation of ~32 degrees and with a dazzling magnitude of -4.9. Its angular size reduces from 40.7 to 26.6 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 26% to 47% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.9 to -4.6 magnitudes. It will reach greatest elongation from the Sun on January 6th.

Highlights Comet46P/Wirtanen rises high in the sky and may be visible to the unaided eye. This month we have a chance of seeing a comet with our unaided eyes as it could reach magnitude +3. The chart shows its position during the month as it rises above the southern horizon through Taurus and Auriga. On the night of the 16/17th December it will pass between the Pleaides and Hyades clusters in Taurus - making a wonderful imaging opportunity if clear. Then, on the night of the 24th, it will lie very close to Capella in Auriga (but sadly, the Moon will then be full).

At closest approach on the night of December 16th it will be only 30 times further than the Moon. Then its coma should be about 1 km in size and span one degree across. The waxing gibbous Moon will hinder our view early on that night but will set at 1 am, so it is worth staying up late if it is clear!

December 3rd - before dawn: Venus below a very thin crescent Moon. Looking southeast before dawn one should, if clear, be able to easily spot brilliant Venus lying below a very thin crescent Moon. Spica is over to the right of Venus making a nice photo opportunity.

December 7th - 1 hour after sunset: A very close conjunction of Mars and Neptune. Looking south after sunset one should, if clear, be easily able to spot Mars. But when it gets fully dark, with binoculars or a small telescope, Neptune should appear just down to its lower right. A great opportunity to find Neptune - let's hope it is clear!

December 14th - after sunset: Mars will lie 4 degrees above the First Quarter Moon. Looking south after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars lying about 4 degrees above the First Quarter Moon making a nice photo opportunity.

December 14th and 15th after midnight: the Geminid Meteor Shower. The early mornings of December 14th and 15th will give us the chance, if clear, of observing the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. The Moon is at First Quarter and will set around 11 pm so, when Gemini is highest in the sky, its light will not hinder our view. The Geminids can often produce near-fireballs and so the shower is well worth observing if it is clear. An observing location well away from towns or cities will pay dividends. The relatively slow moving meteors arise from debris released from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This is unusual, as most meteor showers come from comets. The radiant - where the meteors appear to come from - is close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini as shown on the chart. If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you.

December 21st - just before dawn: Jupiter and Mercury together with Venus above. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the east, one should be able to see Mercury lying a little above Jupiter making it appearance in a new apparition. Venus will be shining brightly up to their right. A nice photo opportunity.

December 22nd/23rd - late evenings: the Ursid Meteor Shower. The late evenings of the 22nd and 23rd of December are when the Ursid meteor shower will be at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great. Sadly, this year Full Moon is on the 21st, so its light will greatly hinder our view. The radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation. Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so it is worth having a look should it be clear.

December 16th (late night) and 17th: Two Great Lunar Craters. This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon - seen in the image below - the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a clasic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.

Haritina Mogosanu from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during December 2018.

Introduction - Kia Ora from New Zealand, here at Space Place at Carter Observatory in the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, Haritina Mogosanu and Samuel Leske are your hosts for December 2018.

Space Place - Space Place is one of the historical icons of New Zealand in terms of astronomy, located at the heart of our capital city. There's not many capital cities where the Milky Way is visible on a dark night so we're very lucky in Wellington to have a city not totally given over to light pollution.

We have amazing historical telescopes, a 23 cm Cooke built in 1867 that we use for public viewing and we also have a retro Boller and Chivens 16". The Cooke has quite a story behind it and how it got to New Zealand and eventually how it ended up in Wellington. It has been a very important telescope for research including being used to photograph Halley's Comet in 1910.

Also on display is a James Short telescope. We only look at this one - and not through, it's locked in the displays. It's a very important telescope that we believe came here with Captain Cook and it was donated by Adam Read; he is the son of Peter Read, the creator and presenter of the New Zealand's Night Sky TV show in the 1960s.

We also have a beautiful planetarium where I spend a lot of my time.

If you ever wish to find us, Space Place is at the top of the botanical gardens looking out to the harbour, and surrounded by flowers and New Zealand birds that are amazing so you can imagine the views, and the sound, both day and night. We actually have a bunch of New Zealand owls in a tree right in the front of us, they are called morepork and we can always hear them when we look through the telescopes.

Observing in December - We have some instructions for you as to what to do with the December night sky. For those of us who don't read the instructions, we just have some amazing stuff that we wish to share and those who do neither instructions nor stories, here's the gossip.

Did you know there's going to be a comet in the December night sky? How about a Meteor Shower? And a Full Moon? And the Summer Solstice?

And did you know that this Christmas we celebrate 50 years since we went around the Moon? Also in December, the Americans are aiming to land a probe on an asteroid to get a sample and, - my favourite - someone calculated all the starlight that adds up in the Universe, so starting this month we will be fully informed about how many photons are reaching Earth, since the dawn of time, or so they say.

Here is what you need to do. Look for the comet around the 16th of December. It should appear on the Eastern horizon just in between the Pleiades and the Hyades. Perhaps take a picture of it too, just because you can, it's going to be really bright. Keep an eye on our site for instructions for how to do that if you need help.

Look for the meteor shower anytime between 7 and 17 of December (that is, yes you're right almost in the same time as the comet.) It's the Geminids so the radiant (the point in the sky that seems to "rain stars") is in the constellation Gemini.

Moon - With the full Moon, - now depends if you are into moonlight or not. I'm not, it casts too much light and I cannot see the stars properly, so I'm trying to avoid it as much as I can. The good news is that the first two weeks are good for observing, since the New Moon will be on the 7th of December. The awesome thing is that this month's full Moon will coincide with the Apollo 8's 50 years around the Moon celebration.

Shortest Night - Just a few days before that, at 11:23 AM on Saturday 22 December, Earth will be at its maximum tilt towards the Sun. What does it mean for us? Well, it will be the shortest night and with the Moon almost full, best thing we can do is just celebrate light. Speaking of which, our Sun went stealth, it's in a minimum of a minimum but just because we can't see any spots it doesn't mean there's nothing to learn about it. The Parker solar probe has now joined the rest of the successful missions out there and we are looking forward to some good data from it.

Comet Party - Since December is the month of major celebrations, we think a star party might be in order. If you have never been to one, here's a great opportunity. It could be a Moon party if it's around Christmas or else a star party could work around the 7th of December more or less a few days.

Now the trick is the night is extremely short - we wanted to photograph 47 Tucanae the other day and had to wait until 9:22 pm and even then there wasn't good enough for proper imaging, only for lining up. So your efforts might be best conserved to try and find the comet, here's a comet party, we don't get these too often and I do remember a few years ago a comet appeared in the New Zealand Sky around this time. It was fun and it wasn't as bright as this one, we needed telescopes then to see it. This one is a naked eye comet.

So a comet-party seems like a good idea. The best time to look at it is just after sunset and on the 16th of December will have the magnitude of approximately 3. What does that mean? It means we can see it with the naked eye.

Have you ever tried to pronounce a comet's name? 46/P Wirtanen (go pronounce that in one word!) P stands for periodic and 46 is that it's the 46th to be discovered (in case you were wondering, the first ever was Halley's comet). Wirtanen will arrive from the direction of Cetus / Eridani and is very tiny. Only 1.2 km in diameter, Wirtanen has a short period too, 5.4 years.

What's cool is that this comet was the original target for ESA's Rosetta spacecraft but the launch window was missed so they sent the probe to another comet with an even better name (just because is longer and harder to pronounce) 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

What's a magnitude 3? If you ever managed to spot the famous galaxy Andromeda, then you have the answer. Something that looks like Andromeda (3.4).

Now that you know where to look, and what you might find, the comet can be your centrepiece for the comet-party. But nothing says that you should not look at the stars and deep sky objects.

Star Party (and Deep Sky Objects) - New Zealand is in a great spot for observing the night sky, and we, of course, get the whole Southern Sky but also a reasonable chunk of the Northern Sky as well. We can't see the stalwarts of the Northern Sky such as the Big Dipper and there's no taking in the beautiful face on spirals of M51, the Whirlpool Galaxy, or M101 the Pinwheel Galaxy.

At this time of the year the nights are getting shorter and shorter and the telescopes of the early evening are being swapped with BBQs and the smell of lithium grease is replaced with the smell of burnt sausages. But while some of our fellow Wellingtonians are going to bed or spinning embellished stories around the embers of their BBQ we are cracking open the Space Place Domes and collecting some ancient photons.

Some favorites of mine are visible in the night sky and the early part of the month will be ideal to try and see them given the Moon will be well hidden. The first of these is M74 and unfortunately, despite all of the aperture we have available at Space Place, we are not going to see this one visually because of it's very low surface brightness. We'll have to borrow the van and take the portable Meade over the hill to the very dark skies of the Wairarapa to see this beautiful face on spiral. Luckily it's not all bad for galaxy hunting in December as not too far from M74 is the bright galaxy of M77 - also known as Cetus A. This one is easy to spot even from central Wellington. We won't see the faint outer regions of the spiral arms but the bright active core is very visible and at 33 Million light years distant the photons from this object have spent a long time making their way to Wellington.

Despite not having M51 and M101 to look at, we do have some very impressive galaxies in the Southern Sky. One of these is NGC 253 - also known as the Sculptor Galaxy. This is large spiral galaxy at an angle to us so it looks like an elongated ellipse. It's relatively bright and easy to spot it you've got plenty of aperture. You'll have to put your light bucket on the back of your scooter and head to a dark sky location to make out much detail, but if you do, you'll be in for a treat as you take in the complex shapes and clumps of detail visible on the disk. Sculptor is about 12 million light years away appears about 27 arcminutes long so is quite big.

Quite close to Sculptor is the tight spiral galaxy known as NGC 300. This is a great galaxy to view as it's quite close at only 6.6 million light years - for Northern Sky observers it's a bit like a mini M33. Viewing from Wellington will show the bright core but you'll have to head to the hills to get any detail out of the spiral arms. Keen astrophotographers will have a better time in Wellington as this galaxy is bright enough to burn through the light pollution and produce quite a nice picture.

The problem with viewing galaxies is that they don't really look anything like the beautiful photographs people take. They are often just a faint gray smudge in the eyepiece and you have to use your best visual observing skills to get any detail out of what you're looking at. This is when it's great to swing the telescope around to the majestic brilliance of the likes of the Tarantula Nebula. This gives you a picture in the eyepiece very similar to what photographers capture, just not in colour. This big giant bright complex of gas clouds and massive stars looks a bit like a spider, hence its name and it is a must see of the Southern Sky and is almost compulsory viewing on any observing evening.

Moon Party - If all the above fails, you could always have a Moon Party.

That could be really spectacular since exactly 50 years ago the first people orbited around the Moon, the astronauts of Apollo 8. Some amazing things happened during that flight including taking the picture that changed the world, Earth rise. One little picture is credited as the most important legacy of the Apollo programme, showing Earth half hanging in shadow and suspended in the middle of nothing at all. Humans saw their planet for the first time as a whole world, a small, blue, finite globe in the distance. It's the image that is credited with starting the environmental movement and has been used as a hopeful symbol of global unity. So we think if you're going to have a Moon Party this December it's going to be pretty cool. Again, keep an eye on our website , as we will post some more content there.

Mars - There's one more thing I want to talk about, Mars.

Mars will always have a special place in my heart and now has a new resident, InSight. InSight was the mission that brought the first cubesats to Mars and now sits happily on the red planet stretching its arms. Literally.

We wish you happy hunting for comets and galaxies this month, and if all that doesn't work then grab yourself a couple of craters on the Moon.

Clear skies from Haritina and Sam here at Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington New Zealand, and see you next year!

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during November 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter is now moving towards its superior conjunction behind the Sun on November 26th and will not be visible this month.

Saturn - Saturn will be visible in the southwest at an elevation of ~11 degrees after sunset at the beginning of November but disappears into the Sun's glare by the end of the month. Its disk has an angular size of 15.7 arc seconds falling to 15.2 during the month whilst its brightness increases slightly from +0.5 to +0.6 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest last year but are still, at 24 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn is now moving westwards over the 'teapot' of Sagittarius to the left of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will greatly hinder our view.

Mercury - Mercury reaches its greatest elongation east from the Sun on November 6th but, as the angle of the ecliptic to the horizon in the evening is shallow at this time of the year, it will be lost in the Sun's glare as it moves towards inferior conjunction (between us and the Sun) on the 27th of the month.

Mars. Though fading from magnitude -0.6 to -0.1, Mars actually becomes more prominent in the southern sky after sunset as it climbs higher in elevation from ~17 degrees at the start of the month to ~27 degrees by month's end. Its angular size is 11.9 arc seconds at the start of the month falling to 9.3 arc seconds by its end. Moving from Capricornus into Aquarius on November 11th, it should still just be possible with a small to medium sized telescope to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface.

Venus - Venus passed between us and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on October 26th and can be seen from around the 8th of this month in the east before sunrise. As, at this time of the year, the ecliptic at dawn has a steep angle to the horizon it rapidly increases in elevation as November progresses and will have an elevation of ~20 degrees before sunrise by month's end. The planet brightens from -4.6 to a dazzling -4.9 magnitudes during November making it dominate the pre-dawn eastern sky. Its angular size reduces from 60.6 to 41.4 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but at the same time the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 1% to 25% - which is why the brightness actually increases.

Highlights November - still a good month to observe Neptune and Uranus with a small telescope. Neptune came into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will still be well placed to spot this month. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 2.3 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius as shown on the charts. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark (around the 7th) transparent night it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton.

Uranus reached opposition on October 23rd and so is visible all night. It will be highest in the sky in the south around midnight shining at magnitude 5.7 and with a disk 3.7 arc seconds across. It lies in Pisces, one degree and 18 arc minutes up to the right of Omicron Pisces as shown in the accompanying chart. Its turquoise green colour should be seen in a small telescope and it will be easily spotted in binoculars.

Around the 7th of November (with no Moon in the sky): find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. In the evening, the galaxy M31 in Andromeda is visible in the south. The chart provides two ways of finding it:

1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left and up a bit. Then turn 90 degrees to the right, move up to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and, if there is a dark sky, you can even see it with your unaided eye. The photons that are falling on your retina left Andromeda well over two million years ago!

2) You can also find M31 by following the 'arrow' made by the three rightmost bright stars of Cassiopeia down to the lower right as shown on the chart.

Around new Moon (7th November) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!

November early mornings: November Meteors. In the hours before dawn, November gives us a chance to observe meteors from two showers. The first that it is thought might produce some bright events is the Northern Taurids shower which has a broad peak of around 10 days but normally gives relatively few meteors per hour. The peak is around the 10th of November, just after new Moon, so its light will not intrude. The meteors arise from comet 2P/Encke. Its tail is especially rich in large particles and, this year, we may pass through a relatively rich band so it is possible that a number of fireballs might be observed!

The better known November shower is the Leonids which peak on the night of the 17th/18th of the month. The Moon is just after first quarter so, before it sets, its light will hinder our view somewhat. As one might expect, the shower's radiant lies within the sickle of Leo and meteors could be spotted from the 15th to the 20th of the month. The Leonids enter the atmosphere at ~71 km/sec and this makes them somewhat challenging to photograph but it is worth trying as one might just capture a bright fireball. Up to 15 meteors an hour could be observed if near the zenith. The Leonids are famous because every 33 years a meteor storm might be observed when the parent comet, 55P/Temple-Tuttle passes close to the Sun. In 1999, 3,000 meteors were observed per hour but we are now halfway between these impressive events hence with a far lower expected rate.

November - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark high in the south-west you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!

November - late evening: Find the asteroid Juno in Eridanus. Asteroid 3, Juno, makes its closest approach to Earth on November 16th/17th moving southwards in the constellation Eridanus as shown on the chart. On the first of November, looking southeast at ~11 pm it will have an elevation of 27 degrees and a magnitude of 7.58 and lie just above the 5.2 magnitude star 35 Eridani - so helping one to find it with binoculars. On the 17th, with a magnitude of 7.46, it will lie just down to the right of the 4.7th magnitude star 32 Eridani - so, again, helping one to find it with binoculars. Continuing its southwards motion, it will lie just above 22 Eridani (magnitude 5.5) on the last day of the month having a magnitude again of 7.58.

November 4th - 1 hour after sunset: Mars close to Delta Capricornus. Looking South Southeast after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars less than 1 degree up and to the right of the 3rd magnitude eclipsing binary star system Deneb Algedi (Delta Capricornus - 49 Capricornus).

November 11th - after sunset: Saturn below a thin crescent Moon. Given a low horizon towards the Southwest, and if clear, a very nice photo opportunity will arise with Saturn lying just a little to the lower right of a thin crescent Moon, four days after new.

November 16th - after sunset: Mars close to the Moon. After sunset on the 16th, Mars will be seen over to the right of the Moon, just after first quarter.

November 17th - before dawn: Venus and Spica. If clear, and given a low eastern horizon, Venus (magnitude -4.56) will be seen just one and a half degrees to the lower left of Spica (magnitude 0.95) in Virgo.

Hyginus Crater and Rille. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contrast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater.

Haritina Mogosanu from the Carter Science Centre in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during November 2018.

Introduction . My name is Haritina Mogosanu and I am your starryteller from Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington New Zealand. November is my favourite month of the year. The name November comes from Latin, meaning the ninth. In ancient times, it was the ninth month from the beginning of the year, in March.

Stars and Constellations. Looking towards the southern horizon you should be able to see these asterisms on:

November 1st at 10:30 PM NZDT

November 15 at 9:30 PM NZDT

December 1st at 8:30 PM NZDT

Three Royal Stars hang across the evening sky of November: Aldebaran in Taurus, Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus and Antares in Scorpius. According to French astronomer Camille Flammarion, the royal stars were the ancient guardians of the sky in ancient Persia. It is believed that the sky was divided into four districts each guarded by one of the four Royal Stars.

My favourite of them has always been Fomalhaut (Haftorang/Hastorang) the Watcher of the South. Back in the Northern Hemisphere, Fomalhaut was the southernmost significant star that I could see and we would always look at it as the secret pointer to the South. The rumours were not far off as Fomalhaut, Achernar and Canopus are almost in a straight line and if you can find Achernar you can always find the South easily.

The home-constellation of Fomalhaut is Piscis Austrinus, south of Capricornus and Aquarius, which is maybe why one of its names was Piscis Capricorni (Goat's horn fish). Another name is Piscis Solitarius - the lonely fish. Though here in New Zealand we do have The Chocolate Fish that also comes wrapped individually, I wish we could just rename the constellation to that, for obvious reasons. And just saying, if you never had chocolate fish from New Zealand you never lived!

The lonely fish drinks all the water from Aquarius's stream, says Richard Allen quoting the poets Virgilius and Ovidius who wrote that in their verses a few thousand years ago. Allen also mentions a translation inscribed in a 1340 manuscript almanac naming the constellation 'Os Piscis Meridiani', where meridional means southern of course, so just another synonym of Austrinus. According to Ian Ridpath, Eratosthenes called this the Great Fish and said that it was the parent of the two smaller fish of the zodiacal constellation Pisces (also known as "The Fish").

Today, Fomalhaut is the eye of the southern (chocolate) fish although, adding to the confusion, its original Arabic name "Fum al Hut" was translated as the mouth of the fish. However, just to clarify things, it seems that the Arabs' called it "the first frog" which last time I checked was not a fish.

Because it's the brightest star in a part of the sky that contains mostly faint stars it was used in navigation just like Achernar. A triple system, Fomalhaut is about 25 light-years from Earth and In 2008, it became the first star with an extrasolar planet candidate (Fomalhaut b) imaged at visible wavelengths.

Eastern Sky. Back to the Eastern Sky, this time of the year, the Pleiades are visible again on the horizon. Harbingers for Halloween in the northern hemisphere where now skies are grey and ravens await for the first snows, for Maori, the Pleiades are now harbingers of summer. Together with the Hyades they make the wake and feathers from the Great Canoe (Waka) of Tama Rereti.

November is the month when Milky Way surrounds the horizon like an ocean and the Great Waka was used by Maori to mark the arrival of the warm season when it was safe to travel the ocean. Tama Rereti's Waka placed the stars in the sky and now lies moored in the wake of the Milky Way.

Scorpius is Tauihu, the prow, floating low on the western horizon. Due south sits Te Punga, the anchor (the Southern Cross), with its rope, Te Taura, which is represented by the Pointers (Beta and Alpha Centauri). The latter is actually a multiple star system that holds our closest solar neighbour, the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, at 4.25 light years from Earth.

The sails of Tama Rereti's canoe are Achernar and the beautiful southern dwarf galaxies the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC). Canopus/Atutahi is the paramount chief of the skies at vigil in the waka. A source of X-rays and the most luminous close star at 310 light years from the Sun, Canopus is used for navigation by all spacecraft that employ star tracker devices, which determine the orientation (or attitude) of the spacecraft with respect to that star. Te Taurapa, or the stern of the waka is in the Eastern Sky, formed by Orion.

Here in New Zealand we can see both Scorpius and Orion in the sky in the same time and this is the time of the year to do it.

Magellanic Clouds. With the Milky Way laying across the horizon, there aren't so many deep sky objects handy to observe. However, we are in the Southern Hemisphere and the spectacular Magellanic Clouds (or Nubeculae Magellani) are high in the sky at this time of the year. Remember they were the sail of the waka o Tama Rereti and this sail is now set. In my first night here in New Zealand, I printed a map of them and started looking onto the southern sky annoyed by a cirrus cloud I thought, only to discover to my delight that it was the Large Magellanic Cloud I was looking at. It is that spectacular and substantial. The large Magellanic Cloud is about 160,000 light years from us and the Small Magellanic Cloud is about 200,000 light years away. To find them, draw a line from the Southern Cross to Achernar. Two thirds from the Southern Cross on each side of the line are the two galaxies. Now far apart, it seems that they collided in a the past, as a paper just published in October 2018 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters supports that idea with data from the Gaia satellite.

Inside the Magellanic Clouds are amazing deep sky objects. The Large Magellanic Cloud was host galaxy to a supernova (SN 1987A), the brightest observed in over four centuries, co discovered independently by Ian Shelton and Oscar Duhalde at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile on February 24, 1987, and within the same 24 hours by the legendary Albert Jones in New Zealand. Albert Jones was the first astronomer in the world that made 500,000 observations and he could distinguish about one twentieth of a magnitude, whereas most people can distinguish about one tenth of magnitude changes.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is home of Tarantula Nebula that gets its name from its resemblance to a huge spider. Tarantula Nebula is very luminous, so great that if it were as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast visible shadows. In fact it is the most active starburst region known in the Local Group of galaxies.

The Small Magellanic Cloud is on the other side of the imaginary line that goes from Achernar to the Southern cross. Recent research suggest a giant piece broke off the Small Magellanic Cloud in South-Eastern part of the galaxy, which goes toward the Large Magellanic Cloud at a speed of 64 kilometers per second and that the Small Magellanic Cloud may in fact be split in two, with a smaller section of this galaxy being behind the main part of the SMC (as seen from Earth's perspective), and separated by about 30,000 light years. The reason for this might be due to a past interaction with the LMC splitting the SMC, and it is believed now that the two sections are still moving apart. The smaller remnant of the Small Magellanic Cloud is now called the Mini Magellanic Cloud, a MiniMe of a galaxy.

About 15 times closer than the Small Magellanic Cloud but on the same line of sight is my favourite star cluster 47 Tucanae, the most beautiful globular cluster, rival of Omega Centauri.

Pegasus. To the North, the great horse of Pegasus is flying through the sky. Andromeda is in the sky too and if we could only see it from Wellington... but even if we did it would be like a smidgen, since is very close to the horizon.

All the stars that we touched briefly on, will come back in a year's time in the same formation. We cannot really perceive the proper motion of the stars, it takes them thousands of years to visibly shift positions (well maybe except Barnards' Star). So we are now looking at the same constellations as our ancestors did thousands of years ago (maybe 3 or 4,000 years ago). That's the reason why the stars were used to mark seasons and navigate, their patterns remain constant for thousands of years. What changes the sky and makes every year different are mostly the planets, and sometimes other visitors like comets or asteroids.

On the planetary realm. At the beginning of the month Jupiter and Mercury will be low in the west at dusk, setting toward the southwest 1.5 hours after the sun. Orange Mars is in Capricornus north of overhead at dusk. Midway between Mars and Jupiter is Saturn in Sagittarius. Jupiter sets earlier each night as we move to the far side of the sun from it. By mid-month it is lost in the twilight. Mercury holds its position in the west before disappearing late in November when it passes between us and the sun. A thin crescent moon will be near Mercury and Jupiter on the 9th. At the end of the month Saturn and Mars are the only naked-eye planets in the evening sky. The moon will be near Saturn on the 11th and 12th and close to Mars on the 16th. Venus rises a little south of east 50 minutes before the sun at the beginning of the month; more than 1.5 hours before sunrise at the end. It is a long thin crescent in a telescope and big binoculars.

Phases of the Moon. The month starts with the Moon at Last Quarter, then New Moon is on the 8th, followed by First Quarter on 16 November and full Moon on the 23rd.

And with this, I wish you a great November, good night and clear skies from Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington New Zealand.

Northern Hemisphere
The Night Sky

Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during October 2018 .
The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen low in the west soon after sunset at the start of the month. It shines at magnitude -1.8 (falling to -1.7 during the month) and has a disk some 32.6 (falling to 31.4) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons could be visible in a small telescope but its low elevation will greatly hinder our view.

Saturn - Saturn will be visible in the south-east at an elevation of ~14 degrees after sunset at the beginning of October. Its disk has an angular size of 16.5 arc seconds falling to 15.7 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.5 to +0.6 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest last year but are still well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn is moving slowly eastwards in Sagittarius. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will greatly hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury - Mercury (shining at magnitude -0.2 and with an angular diameter of ~6 arc seconds) might just be spotted very low in the west at the very end of the month and binoculars could well be needed - but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. Look up and to the left of where the Sun has set as its angular separation from the Sun is not great.

Mars - Mars, now racing eastwards in Capricornus, made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. It can be seen due south shining at a magnitude of -1.3 around 9 pm at the start of October but this falls to -0.6 by month's end when it is due south at ~8 pm. Its angular size is 16 arc seconds at the start of October but this falls to 12 arc seconds by November. With a small telescope it should be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector? A superb program WinJUPOS can be used to find what should be visible on any night.

Venus - Venus is not visible from the UK this month but will be seen low in the east just before sunrise by the middle of next month.

Highlights October - still worth observing Mars. Mars came to its closest opposition to Earth since 2003 on the 27th July but, sadly its elevation has conspired to limit our views. From the UK its maximum elevation when on the meridian is only 14 degrees when observed from a latitude of +52 degrees. It angular size at the start of October is still 16 arc seconds so it is still worth looking for details on the surface now that the dust storm that covered much of the surface in June and July has subsided. The free program WinJUPOS will show you what should be visible on the Martian surface.

October - a good month to observe Uranus with binoculars or a small telescope. Uranus comes into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 23rd of October, so will be well placed both this month and next. Its magnitude is +5.7 so Uranus, with a disk just 3.7 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aries close to the borders of Cetus and Pisces. It rises to an elevation of ~47 degrees when due south. Given a small telescope it will appear as a small turquoise coloured disk. On the night of closest approach, it will lie up to the left of a near Full Moon - whose glare might make it hard to spot!

October - still a good month to observe Neptune with a small telescope. Neptune came into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will still be well placed this month. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 2.3 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius up to the left of Lambda Aquarii as shown on the charts. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark transparent night (around New Moon on the 9th) it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton.

October - early morning: find a Comet with binoculars. In the early hours of a clear morning one should be able, using binoculars, to spot the comet Giacobini-Zinner arching across the heavens as shown on the chart. It was discovered by Michael Giacobini in December 1900, but then 're-discovered' by Ernst Zinner 6.5 years later. Its nucleus is about 2 km across.

October - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!

October 11th - after sunset: Jupiter below a thin crescent Moon. If clear after sunset and given a very low western horizon one should be able to see Jupiter setting in the West down to the left of a very thin crescent Moon. Binoculars might well be needed to cut through the twilight, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

October 14th - after sunset: Saturn to the left of a waxing crescent Moon. If clear after sunset and looking southwest, one should be able to see Saturn over to the left of a waxing crescent Moon.

October 18 - evening: Mars close to the first quarter Moon. During the evening of the 18th, Mars, in the south, will be seen close to the third quarter Moon. A nice photo opportunity perhaps?

Learn the Mare on the Moon. Why not use the annotated image of the full Moon to learn the locations of the Moon's Mare. You can see some of them with your unaided eye and binoculars will enable you to spot them all.

Southern Hemisphere
We welcome back a familiar voice for our long-term listeners - Haritina Mogosanu from the Carter Research Center in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during October 2018.

Southern Hemisphere

Introduction .

Welcome to October, this is the New Zealand Night Sky and I am Haritina Mogosanu from Space Place at Carter Observatory. It's great to be back on the Jodcast with more stories and wonders of the southern hemisphere's sky.

The Planets. It's been the winter of the planets in the Southern Hemisphere and spring has continued the theme. October is still offering a great chance to see many of the fantastic planetary sights that we've become accustomed to over the winter. The start of October sees the Sun setting just after 7:30 in the evening as the nights are starting to get shorter and daylight savings has made astronomers stay up an hour extra to view the night sky.

Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. The early evening sky is dominated first by Venus and then by Jupiter as darkness falls. Both of the planets start the month in Libra with Venus heading towards the Sun in Virgo by the end of the month. Jupiter is joined by Mercury from the 27 Oct for a few days, though will be a real challenge to see very low on the horizon just after the Sun has set at about 15 degrees so Kiwis will have to head to the coast or climb up some of the high hills to have a chance of a fleeting view of Mercury. Unfortunately the situation is the same for Jupiter, the planet that has been with us since autumn is getting lower and lower in the sky and will make for challenging viewing.

Saturn, Neptune and Mars. Marching up the ecliptic, Saturn is still in Sagittarius and its rings are at a great tilt to view them. A modest telescope and good seeing should reveal the Cassini division. Also in Sagittarius is Pluto, though at a magnitude of 14.3 it's going to be quite a challenge to see unless you've got your hands on a bigger telescope. And at around 0.1 arcseconds across it's only going to look like a faint star. The dominant planet of the night sky remains Mars, in Capricornus, and at -0.7 magnitude by the end of October it is still going to be very bright and easy to spot - even if you've got to put up with a lot of light pollution. By the end of October, Mars is around 114 million kilometres away which is considerably further away than it is at the start of the month which is 89 million kilometres, showing how fast Earth and Mars are separating. The start of the month will be great for viewing Mars - as it will still be close enough to make out some detail. That is if the seeing is right and the dust storm that silenced the rover Opportunity has long subsided (and hopefully we'll hear from Opportunity by October). The evening sky has one more planet for the keen astronomer with binoculars or telescopes and that's Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, which we can find in Aquarius. At 7.8 magnitude it will be easy to spot and will appear as a very small bluish disk. Neptune is a long way away at over 4.3 billion kilometres that is 242 light minutes or about four light hours.

Deep Sky Objects. This time of the year is one of my favourite for viewing deep sky objects and a great place to start is with the Southern Cross and work your way up the Milky Way. Or the other way around. To find the Southern Cross, turn away from the ecliptic and just follow the Milky Way all the way to the two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri. We are so lucky in here that we can see the Milky Way. There are some great nebulae in it and really beautiful open clusters. In the Southern Cross is one of the most fantastic clusters in the night sky, the Jewel Box Cluster (also known as NGC 4755). This great little cluster has three stars in a line that look a bit like a traffic light, two blue and one red in the middle. The reddish looking star is a red supergiant about 19 times the mass of the Sun. To the right of the Southern Cross is the huge Omega Centauri globular cluster, which at a magnitude of 3.7 can be seen by the naked eye. Omega centauri is the competitor to 47 Tucanae globular cluster, which is not located in the Milky Way but in Toucana in the south celestial circumpolar part of the sky along with the Magellanic Clouds. Back to the Milky Way, and following up past Alpha Centauri, there's the sting of Scorpius which is home to the Cat's Paw Nebula (also known as NGC 6334). It's quite faint but some of the nebula can be seen - astrophotographers will get a lot of detail. Just up the Milky Way from the sting is M7, also known as Ptolemy Cluster. This amazing cluster is visible with the naked eye but through a reasonable telescope it's very impressive against the backdrop of the star clouds. The cluster has about 80 stars in it. Towards the horizon from M7 is the other amazing Southern Hemisphere site, the Milky Way Kiwi.

Milky Way Kiwi. Right at the center of the Milky Way, a spectacular bird guards the center of our galaxy. This is the Milky Way Kiwi, a shape made from dark dust within our own galaxy. More than ten years ago astrophotographers from New Zealand were taking snapshots of the night sky. One of them looked at the pictures and realised that the dark patch known in the Northern Hemisphere as the dark horse, being upside down here, looked just like a great galactic kiwi bird. But as I realised later while travelling, you either have to be from New Zealand or have friends in New Zealand to know what a kiwi bird looks like. The Milky Way Kiwi is my absolute favourite object in the sky and I once saw it with the naked eye from Lake Tekapo in the South Island. And if you were wondering, the direction of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy is right on the top of the head of the Milky Way kiwi, just like a jewel on a crown .

The Moon. Since I talked about my favourite object in the sky, the Milky Way Kiwi, I will also mention my least favourite object in the sky, the Moon because it casts too much light at night, but hey people drove on it so that actually makes the Moon very cool apart from the light situation. The Moon here is obviously upside down to the Northern hemisphere and according to New Zealand kids has a big rabbit inside it. You can see its ears are Mare Fecunditatis and Mare Nectaris the head is Mare Tranquillitatis and the tummy is Mare Serenitatis. Behold the rabbit hole at Mare Crisium. Not only that there is this rabbit inside the Moon but the Moon itself is to be found on the northern part of the sky as everything else near the ecliptic in this hemisphere, and facing the ecliptic, east is to the right and west is to the left. That makes the shadows in the morning look like the evening shadows from the other hemisphere and it feels like morning in the evening and evening in the morning until the brain engages back. So if you ever come visit us, don't let them tell you it's only jetlag.

This concludes our Jodcast for October 2018 from Space Place at Carter Observatory. Thank you to the amazing Sam Leske of Milky Way Kiwi who contributed to the content. Good night and have a great October.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during September 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen in the west soon after sunset at the start of the month. It shines at magnitude -1.9 (falling to -1.8 during the month) and has a disk some 35 (falling to 33) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly eastwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~10 degrees after sunset. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn - Saturn will be visible in the south at an elevation of ~14 degrees after sunset at the beginning of September. Its disk has an angular size of 17.5 arc seconds falling to 16.5 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.4 to +0.5 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 25 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, halts its retrograde motion on the 6th within a few degrees of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury - Mercury can be seen low in the east-northeast some 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise during the first week of September. On the 5th and 6th, Mercury, shining at magnitude -1, is just over one degree from Regulus in Leo (at magnitude +1). Around the 11th of the month Mercury disappears into the Sun's glare as it moves towards superior conjunction (behind the Sun) on the 20th of the month.

Mars - Mars, which ceased it retrograde motion westwards in Capricornus (and just moving into Sagittarius) at the beginning of the month made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. After sunset, Mars can be seen just east of south shining at a magnitude of -2.1 but this falls to -1.3 by month's end. Its angular size is 21 arc seconds at the start of the month falling to 16 arc seconds by the start of October. With a small telescope it should (but see below) be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector? As I write this in August, the dust storm which has obscured much of the surface since the end of June appears to be subsiding so let's hope it clears during September.

Venus - Venus, was at greatest elongation east on the 17th August but is now only seen low in the west southwest after sunset setting at about 80 (reducing to 45) minutes after the Sun. The planet brightens from -4.6 to a dazzling -4.8 magnitudes making it easier to spot in the Sun's glare. Binoculars might be needed to spot it but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. Its angular size increases from 29 to 46 arc seconds during the month as the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) narrows from 40% to just 17%.

Highlights Early September - observe Mars. Mars came to its closest opposition to Earth since 2003 on the 27th July but, sadly two things have conspired to limit our views. From the UK its maximum elevation when on the meridian was only 12 degrees when observed from a latitude of +52 degrees. Thus the atmosphere has hindered our view and the use of an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector may well help to alleviate its effects. The second problem was that, as sometimes happens, Mars has suffered a major dust storm which, at the end of July, was making it very difficult to observe any features on the surface. These can happen every six to eight years and can last for several months. A small scale dust storm began on May 30th and, by the 20th of June, had engulfed the whole planet. Happily, the dust storm has now subsided and so details on the surface such as Syrtis Major and the Hellas Basin will be visible in small telescopes.

Early September - observe Saturn. Saturn which reached opposition on the 27th of June, is now low (at an elevation of ~14 degrees) in the south as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory. As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little "squashed". Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison. The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring. Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are currently at an angle of 26 degrees to the line of sight. The rings will continue to narrow until March 2025 when they will appear edge-on again.

September - evenings: - Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!

September - evenings: - A good month to observe Neptune with a small telescope. Neptune comes into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will be well placed both this month and next. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 3.7 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius over to the left of Lambda Aquarii as shown on the charts. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark transparent night it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton. (This is my objective around this month!)

September - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!

September first week - after sunset: three planets towards the south and west. If clear after sunset one should be able to see Jupiter setting in the West, Saturn lying due South, and Mars in the South southeast.

September 8th - before dawn: Mercury below a thin crescent Moon. If clear before dawn on the 8th, look for Mercury low in the east just below a thin crescent Moon. Binoculars might be needed but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

September 17th - early evening: Saturn below a first quarter Moon. This evening, if clear, Saturn will be seen just below a first quarter Moon - a nice photo opportunity!

September 18th - evening: Mars to the lower left of a waxing gibbous Moon. This evening, if clear, Mars will be seen down to the left of a waxing gibbous Moon.

September 29th - late evening : the Moon amongst the Hyades Cluster. As Taurus rises, one should be able to spot (if clear!) a waning gibbous Moon amongst the Hyades Cluster.

September 18th: Mons Piton and Cassini. Best seen after First Quarter, Mons Piton is an isolated lunar mountain located in the eastern part of Mare Imbrium, south-east of the crater Plato and west of the crater Cassini. It has a diameter of 25 km and a height of 2.3 km. Its height was determined by the length of the shadow it casts. Cassini is a 57km crater that has been flooded with lava. The crater floor has then been impacted many times and holds within its borders two significant craters, Cassini A, the larger and Cassini B. North of Mons Piton can be seen a rift through the Alpine Mountains (Montes Alpes). Around 166 km long it has a thin rille along its center. I have never seen it, but have been able to image it as seen in the lunar section (The 8 day old Moon).

In her final Night Sky segment, Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during September 2018.

Introduction - Kia Ora everyone, Gabriela here from Wellington New Zealand looking up at our September Southern hemisphere night sky. We are finally seeing the end of the cold nights as we move into Spring. September is the time for Spring and we can see it in our gardens as well as our skies. Throughout the month you will notice that your days are slowly becoming longer and your nights will be getting shorter as the 22nd of September is the Spring Equinox, meaning that we will have nearly equal amounts of day and night and the days will continue to get longer as we move forward in time.

The Planets - We will also notice some change in the elevation of the Sun as it has started appearing higher in our north sky and will continue to move higher throughout the month. In terms of the Moon, new moon will fall on the 9th so the beginning of the month will have the darkest skies which is perfect for viewing all the deep sky objects and the Moon will be full on the 25th of September. We still have quite a few planets in the sky found across the ecliptic. We have four naked-eye planets in our sky. The brightest of these will be Venus, our evening star. It will be on the western horizon shortly after sunset. Above Venus you will find Jupiter and up ahead, east of the zenith we have Mars. All three will be visible just after sunset as these planets appear very brightly in our sky. Mars has been especially bright this year, coming the closest it has to Earth in 15 years at the end of July and is still looking quite bright, about the same brightness as Jupiter but it is now moving away and will be appearing smaller in our skies. As the night gets darker we will see Saturn appearing in the North. The moon will be weaving its way through the planets throughout the month.

Scorpius/Antares - Between Jupiter and Saturn you can find our 'winter' constellation Scorpius and its bright orange star, Antares (the rival of Mars). This giant red star marks the heart of the scorpion. But we don't have Scorpions in New Zealand so early Maori see it as a fish hook. And Antares is the bloody bait on the hook. Now Maori constellations, unlike European ones, change as the night changes or as the year does as they will appear at different angles and different locations. For example in the morning, Scorpius will appear on the horizon, hook side up. Then this shape becomes the Western 'Pou' or pillar holding up the sky. It is hooked over as it bears the heavy sky on it's back all alone in the west but in the east there are three 'pou'.

Bootes /Argo Navis - We have another brilliant star in our sky. Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation of Bootes, the fourth-brightest in the night sky, and will appear in our northwest sky with Canopus, the second brightest star on the south skyline. Both of these stars will appear to twinkle. Canopus can look a little like a traffic light as it flashes different colours and Arcturus will flash red and green. This happens when the stars are so close to the horizon and the light scatters and disperses as the light has to travel through a thicker atmosphere before it reaches our eyes. Canopus is in the constellation of Carina which is circumpolar to us here in New Zealand meaning we can see it at any time of the year and night. It was once a part of a bigger constellation, the Argo Navis. that has been split into the three. The giant boat, once the largest constellation, is now formed of Carina (the keel of the ship), Vela (the sails) and Puppis (the poop deck). Carina is found near the Southern Cross (Crux). Through a pair of binoculars you can spot Eta Carinae. A star which once shone brightly in our skies during an event known as 'an imposter supernova'. A supernova can happens at the end of star's life as it collapses in on itself in a massive explosion bursting out bits of gas and dust. Eta Carinae went through a similar event but has not come to the end of its life, it is still quite hardy. Now astronomers are keeping their eye on this star as it may go full supernova are maybe go through another similar event. It is now encased in a nebula and astronomers believe it to be a double star system.

Southern Cross. The Southern Cross is easily spotted in the South using the pointer stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri point down to the Crux constellation. Also in the South we have a stunning new of our Milky Way galaxy, the bulge appearing between Scorpius and Sagittarius, marks the heart of our Milky Way.

On moonless evenings in a dark sky the Zodiacal Light is visible in the west. It makes up faint light surrounding Venus and Jupiter. It is just sunlight reflecting off meteoric dust in the plane of the solar system. The dust may have come from a big comet, long ago. That will certainly be a sight to see!

That's it from me here in Wellington, New Zealand. I wish you all clear skies and a fantastic Spring!

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during August 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen in the southwest soon after sunset at the start of the month. It shines at magnitude -2.1 (falling to -1.9 during the month) and has a disk some 38 (falling to 35) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, now moving slowly eastwards in Libra, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~15 degrees after sunset. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn - Saturn was at opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible in the south at an elevation of ~15 degrees after sunset at the beginning of August. Its disk has an angular size of 18 arc seconds falling to 17 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.2 to +0.4 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 26 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning some 2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot' slowly moving in retrograde to within a few degrees of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Triffid Nebula. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury - Mercury, having passed between the Earth and Sun (inferior conjunction) on August 9th, becomes visible after the 20th before reaching greatest elongation east of the Sun on August 26th. Then, some 18 degrees from the Sun, it rises before 5 am shining at magnitude zero.

Mars - Mars, moving in retrograde motion westwards in Capricornus at the start of the month, made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. It moves into Sagittarius on the 23rd of August. Mars begins the month rising just after sunset shining at its peak magnitude of -2.8 but this falls to -2.2 by month's end. Its angular size exceeds 24 arc seconds until August 8th and falls to 21 arc seconds by the start of September. With a small telescope it should (but see below) be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector? As I write this in July, a dust storm obscures much of the surface - let's hope it clears during August.

Venus - Venus, can be seen low in the west after nightfall sinking towards the horizon as the month progresses. During August, its illuminated phase thins from ~57% to ~29% but, at the same time, the angular diameter of its disk increases from 20 to 29 arc seconds. The surface area reflecting the Sun's light does and so the brightness increases from -4.3 to an outstanding -4.6 magnitudes. Venus moves towards Spica in Virgo as August progresses and ends the month just one degree below the star. Sadly, however, they are then only ~10 degrees above the western horizon after sunset.

Highlights August - observe Mars. Mars came to its closest opposition to Earth since 2003 on the 27th July but, sadly two things conspire to limit our views. From the UK its maximum elevation when on the meridian will be only 12 degrees when observed from a latitude of +52 degrees. Thus the atmosphere will hinder our view and the use of an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector may well help to alleviate its effects. The second problem is that, as sometimes happens, Mars is now suffering a major dust storm which, at the end of July, was making it very difficult to observe any features on the surface. These can happen every six to eight years and can last for several months. A small scale dust storm began on May 30th and, by the 20th of June, had engulfed the whole planet. Sadly, it could take as long as September for the dust to settle thus greatly inhibiting our view of Mars this apparation. However, it does look as though the South Polar Cap is still visible. Let's just hope that the dust storm subsides in time for other details on the surface such as Syrtis Major and the Hellas Basin to become visible in small telescopes. On the night of August 11th, these should be facing the Earth. A superb program, WinJUPOS can be downloaded for free and will give a view of Mar's surface for any time, showing what features should be visible.

August - observe Saturn. Saturn reached opposition on the 27th of June, so is now low (at an elevation of ~14 degrees) in the west-southwest as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory.

As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little "squashed". Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison.The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring.

Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are currently at an angle of 26 degrees to the line of sight. The rings will continue to narrow until March 2025 when they will appear edge-on again.

August- Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!

August - A good month to observe Neptune with a small telescope. Neptune comes into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will be well placed to observe both this month and next. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 3.7 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius to the left of Lambda Aquarius as shown on the chart. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark transparent night it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton. (This is my objective around the end of the month!)

The mornings of August 12th and 13th - midnight to dawn: look out for the Perseid meteor shower - with no Moon in the sky! If clear, these mornings should give us a chance of observing the Perseid meteor shower - produced by debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The early morning of the 12th August will give us the best chance, if clear, of viewing the shower, but the peak is quite broad and so it is well worth observing on the nights before and after. Post midnight is best as then Perseus has then risen higher in the sky. Most meteors are seen looking about 50 degrees from the "radiant" which lies between Perseus and Cassiopeia. This year, the Moon is just after 'New Moon' (on the 11th) so will not hinder out view. NB: As we need to view a very wide area of sky, normal binoculars would be of no use, but the Vixen SG 2.1 x 42 that I have just reviewed in the Astronomy Digest, could be useful as it covers a field of view of 27 degrees. Do get to as dark a sky location as you can to the south of any major towns or cities. This dark sky map gives a very good guide to where to travel to.

August 14th - Venus just below a thin crescent Moon. After sunset on the 14th, look for Venus, low in the west just below a thin waxing crescent Moon.

August 31st - Venus just below Spica, Alpha Virginis. Soon after sunset and looking very low on the west-southwest you might be able to spot Venus just one degree below Spica. Binoculars may well be needed to lessen the light remaining in the sky, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during August 2018.

Introduction . Kia Ora, Gabriela Perez here from Space Place at the Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand. We are looking up at the month of August. The worst of winter is now behind us and our nights are getting shorter, but we still have plenty of long nights to look up at the stars. There are some spectacular sights in the sky this month. We have four visible planets in our skies in the early evening. They are so bright, they are outshining the surrounding stars and they become the focus point scattered across the night sky on the arch of the ecliptic backdropped by the zodiac constellations.

Venus. Our evening star in the northwest is the brilliant planet, Venus. Because of its thick atmosphere it reflects a lot of light from the sun. It's so bright you will see it first in the sky before the Sun sets. High up in the north you will see Jupiter and following it is the planet Saturn followed by Mars. Mars is rivalling Venus's intensity in the East looking especially bright and red. It is still quite close to the earth as it was in opposition at the end of July and in the beginning of August it will continue to be the closest it has been to earth since 2003 a mere 58 million km from us.

Scorpius and deep space objects. The most familiar of the constellations in our sky will be our 'winter constellation', Scorpius. It has a hooked tail and bleeding heart, Antares. Antares and the tail make the 'fish-hook of Maui' in Maori starlore, Antares becoming the bloody bait on the hook. Antares is a red giant star: 600 light years away. Scorpius is also home to four deep space object that were among the first to be catalogued by Charles Messier: M4, M6 also known as the Butterfly Cluster; M7, and M80. Below or right of the Scorpion's tail is 'the teapot' made by the brightest stars of Sagittarius. It is upside down in our southern hemisphere view. Saturn is near the teapot's lid. Between Scorpius and Sagittarius, we find the heart of our Milky Way in the 'bulge'. This area designated 'Sagittarius A' is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole in the center of our home galaxy helping to hold it all together.

The best viewing time for the deep sky objects will be mid-month as we will have the new moon the 11th. Full Moon will on the 26th of August.

Dark Nebula. Mid-month will be the best time to look over at the South. High up in the Southwest we have the Crux constellation or the Southern Cross. On a dark moonless night away from the city lights, you might spot a dark patch nearby the Crux's second brightest star 'Beta Crucis'. This is the Coalsack Nebula, a famous dark nebula that is only visible because of the strong concentration of starlight we get along the edgewise view of our milky way. Dark nebulae block out the light from far away stars as they are densely packed pillars of frozen dust and gas. The Coalsack Nebula, much like coal itself, will ignite one day and in 3 or 4 million years, become one of the brightest patches in the sky. The Coalsack Nebula is sometimes known as the head of the Moa here in New Zealand, a large extinct flightless bird, and you can track it's long neck, body and feet formed by the other dark nebula you can make out across the Milky Way.

Constellations. If you are awake in the early morning you can catch a glimpse of our dawn skies. We will have Orion and Taurus in the east, last month they were telling the tale of Matariki, the Maori New Year. There are some great views of 'The Pot' a small asterism in Orion with the base formed by Orion's belt. With three fainter stars that form the handle. The middle of these is in fact The Great Orion Nebula, a diffuse nebula and the closest stellar nursery to Earth. Here astronomers have witnessed the birth of stars and protoplanetary disk, the disks in which planets are formed around the young stars.

That's all from me here in Wellington New Zealand and I wish everyone clear skies during the month of August.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during July 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen due south soon after sunset at the start of the month and over towards the southwest as the month progresses. It shines at magnitude -2.3 (falling to -2.1 during the month) and has a disk some 41.5 (falling to 38) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly westwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn - Saturn, was at opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible during all the (few) hours of darkness. It will highest in the south around midnight as July begins and a little earlier by month's end. Its disk has an angular size of 18.4 arc seconds falling to 18.0 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.0 to +0.2 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 26 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot' slowly moving in retrograde to within a few degrees of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. Sadly, it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury - Mercury shining at around zeroth magnitude early in the month reaches greatest elongation west of the Sun is on July 12th. It will be then be seen about 15 degrees down to the lower right of Venus but will have dimmed to magnitude +1 by the 17th and then rapidly fade from view into the Sun's glare.

Mars - Mars, in Capricornus, is moving in retrograde motion westwards as it moves towards its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. Mars begins the month rising about 2 hours after sunset shining at magnitude -2.2 but its brightness peaks at -2.8 during the final week of July. Its angular size reaches 24.3 arc seconds at closest approach but will exceed 24 arc seconds from July 24th until August 8th. With a small telescope it will be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector?

Venus - Venus, can be seen low in the west after nightfall sinking towards the horizon as the month progresses. During July, its illuminated phase thins from ~70% to ~57% but, at the same time, the angular diameter of its disk increases from 16 to 20 arc seconds. The surface area reflecting the Sun's light thus stays roughly constant and so the brightness stays at around -4.2. On July 9th Venus is close to Regulus in Leo and on the 15th to a waxing crescent Moon.

Highlights July - still a great month to view Jupiter. This is a still a great month to observe Jupiter which came into opposition on May 8th and will be visible in the south in the late evening. It is moving down the ecliptic and now lies in Libra so, sadly, will only reach an elevations of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. An interesting observation is that the Great Red Spot appears to be diminishing in size. At the beginning of the last century it spanned 40,000 km across but now appears to be only ~16,500 km across - less than half the size. It used to be said that 3 Earths could fit within it, but now it is only one. The shrinking rate appears to be accelerating and observations indicate that it is now reducing in size by ~580 miles per year. Will it eventually disappear?

[I have imaged Jupiter recently and the Red Spot is very prominent and has a lovely orange/red colour. These can be seen in my article 'Imaging Jupiter at Closest Approach' to be found in my Astronomy Digest].The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely (as seen in Damian's image) but has now returned to its normal wide state but is less prominent than the North Equatorial Belt .

Saturn in the evening Sky. Saturn is just past opposition, so is now due south and highest in the sky in the late evening. It lies close to the topmost star of the 'Teapot' in Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good 'seeing' (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory. As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little 'squashed'. Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison. The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring. Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are now well opened out, currently at an angle of 26 degrees to the line of sight. The ring's orientation is beginning to narrow until, in March 2025, they will appear edge-on again.

July - Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!

Early July: A very good time to spot Noctilucent Clouds! Noctilucent clouds, also known as polar mesospheric clouds, are most commonly seen in the deep twilight towards the north from our latitude. They are the highest clouds in the atmosphere at heights of around 80 km or 50 miles. Normally too faint to be seen, they are visible when illuminated by sunlight from below the northern horizon whilst the lower parts of the atmosphere are in shadow. They are not fully understood and are increasing in frequencey, brightness and extent; some think that this might be due to climate change! So on a clear dark night as light is draining from the north western sky long after sunset take a look towards the north and you might just spot them!

July 3rd ~2:30 am: Mars and a waning gibbous Moon. In the early morning of the 3rd, Mars will be seen down to the lower left of the gibbous Moon.

July 9th - sunset: Venus close to Regulus in Leo. On the 9th, one would, if clear, see Venus shining brightly just up to the right of Regulus in Leo.

July 10th before dawn: the Moon in the Hyades Cluster. Before dawn, a thin waning crescent Moon will be seen amongst the Hyades Cluster.

July 15th, after sunset: Venus to the left of a very thin crescent Moon. If clear after sunset and given a very low western horizon, you should be able to spot Venus over to the left of a very thin crescent Moon.

July 19th after sunset: Jupiter below a waxing Moon. After sunset on the 19th if clear, you should be able to spot Jupiter below a waxing Moon. Alpha Libri is to its lower left.

July 24th after sunset: Saturn close to a waxing Moon. After sunset on the 24, Saturn will be seen, if clear, to the lower left of the waxing Moon.

July 27th after sunset: a Total Eclipse of the Moon. After sunset on the 27th, if clear, we will be able to observe a totally eclipsed Moon. All times in BST.

8:50 Moon rise on the horizon in the south east.

9:21 Maximum eclipse when the Moon is closest to the centre of the Earth's shadow. (The Umbra)

10:13 Total eclipse ends.

11:19 Partial eclipse ends - the Moon has left the Earth's umbra and lost its red colour.

12:28 Penumbral eclipse ends - the Moon has moved out of eclipse.

Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during July 2018.

Introduction . Kia Ora everyone, the winter continues here in New Zealand and with it come the season of Matariki, the Maori New Year as well as spectacular views of our planets and plenty of hours of night to gaze at the night sky.

Planets - All the visible planets will be in our skies during the month of July. Mercury will set with the sun in the West appearing close to the brilliant evening star, Venus. High up in the sky will be the orange Jupiter in the constellation of Libra followed by Saturn in Sagittarius, in the bulge of the Milky Way in the location of the centre of our galaxy, and Mars which will be found in Capricornus. Mars will be the closest it has been to earth since 2003 when we pass by at the end of July.

Stars and Constellations - The brightest stars in the night sky, Sirius and Canopus can be found in the Southwest both twinkling as they are close to the horizon. Canopus will appear to change colour as the light is dispersed and appears to separate into separate colours as it closer to the horizon marking itself as the traffic light of our South Skies.

In the north we can spot Cancer, the Crab with Leo the Lion, looking a bit more like a coat hanger in his stick figure form. Cancer is the dimmest of the Zodiac constellations. The stars forming a shape of a Y, quite tricky to see with the naked eye as the brightest star in this constellation is only magnitude 3.5. Cancer is home to some famous deep sky objects including M66 and the Beehive Cluster. M66 can be found at the midpoint between Regulus in Leo and Procyon in Canis Minor. It is the oldest 'close' star cluster between 3.5-5 billion years old which is quite incredible as stars generally tend to pull away from their sister stars in an open star cluster quite quickly. And just below it we can see the Beehive Cluster aging at only 600 million years old.

Milky Way - In the South we find spectacular views of our Milky Way, peppered with dark patches marking the location of dark nebulas made visible to us because of the high concentration of stars the their subsequent light in the edgewise view of our Milky Way, the most visible of these is the Coalsack Nebula. This densely packed pillar of gas and dust could ignite one day, much like coal itself, as within it our all the right conditions for stars to be born. For now one of the darkest patches in the sky but in a few million years it could be the brightest. Of course you can use this to find the Crux or Southern Cross but a more reliable method would be to use the pointer stars, orange Alpha and blue Beta Centauri. The brightest stars in the constellation of Centaurus. Alpha is a triple star system it's dimmest star being our closest stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri at only 4.2 light years away.

Pleiades and Matariki - The heliacal rising of the Pleiades star cluster, Matariki, marks the time of the Maori New Year. The dawn sky has a particular importance to us in New Zealand as it was the dawn sky as opposed to the evening sky that was studied closely by early Maori astronomers. At this time of year the sky is held up by four pillars (Pou), three in the east (Sirius, Pleiades and Orion's Belt) and Scorpius being the lone pillar in the West with a curved back as the weight is crushing down on it. The belt of Orion is easily spotted just before sunrise and points us to Matariki. It is found in the shoulder of the bull in the constellation of Taurus. It is a young star cluster, only 100 million years old, mostly consisting of giant hot blue stars. It is a rare sight to be able to pick out so many stars in an individual cluster in our night sky with the naked eye.

That's all from me here in New Zealand.To the New Zealand listeners remember to keep warm and I hope you have a happy Matariki season and I wish everyone clear skies in July.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during June 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter. Jupiter reached opposition on May 8th, so will be visible during the evening after darkness has fallen. It shines at magnitude -2.5 (falling to -2.3 during the month) and has a disk some 44 (falling to 41.5) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Galilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly westwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn. Saturn, comes into opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible during all the (few) hours of darkness. Its disk has an angular size of 18.2 arc seconds increasing to 18.4 during the month. Its brightness increases from +0.2 to +0.0 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 25.7 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot'. Sadly, it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view.

Mercury. Mercury passes behind the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 5th/6th June but will become visible (at around magnitude -0.7) low in the west after sunset by mid-month. By month's end its magnitude will have dropped to -0.2 and it will set some one and a half hours after the Sun when it will have an angular diameter of 6.5 arc seconds. Greatest elongation west of the Sun is on July 12th.

Mars. Mars, in Capricornus, beings its retrograde motion westwards on the 28th June as it moves towards its closest approach to Earth since 2003 in two months time. Mars rises at around midnight BST at the start of the month and around 10:30 pm by month's end. During the month Mars has a magnitude which increases from -1.2 to -2.1 and has an angular size of 15.3 increasing to 20.7 arc seconds so, with a small telescope, it will be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. It will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees before dawn so, sadly, again the atmosphere will hinder our view.

Venus. Venus dominates the western sky after sunset, shining brightly at magnitude -3.9 (increasing to -4.1 during month) with an angular size of 13 arc seconds increasing to 15 arc seconds as the month progresses. Venus rises a little higher in the sky during June, initially setting around two and a half hours after the Sun but a little less by month's end as its elevation at sunset stays at around 20 degrees. Venus starts the month in Gemini, not far below and to the left of Pollux, but passes into Cancer on the 11th when, on the 19th and 20th, it lies close to the M44, the Beehive Cluster.

Highlights June - a great month to view Jupiter. The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely but has now returned to its normal wide state.

June 1st ~2 am: Saturn close to a waning gibbous Moon.In the early hours of the 1st, the waning gibbous Moon will lie just up to the left of Saturn as they cross the meridian. [A good photo opportunity.]

June 3rd ~2:30 am: Mars and a waning gibbous Moon.In the early morning of the 3rd, Mars will be seen down to the lower left of the gibbous Moon.

June 8th, after sunset: Venus to the lower left of Pollux in Gemini.After sunset on the 8th and given a low western horizon Venus will be seen to lie in Gemini down to the lower left of Pollux.

June 16th after sunset: Venus and a very thin crescent MoonAfter sunset, if clear, you may be able to spot a very thin crescent Moon lying over to the left of Venus. With binoculars or a telescope you might be able to see the 'Earthshine' which faintly illuminates the dark part of the lunar disk.

June 28th ~2:30 am: Saturn and the Full Moon.In the early morning of the 28th, Saturn will be seen down to the lower left of the Full Moon - a nice photo opportunity.

January 22nd/23rdth: Two Great Lunar Craters. These are two great nights (late evening on the 22nd) to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.

Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during June 2018.

Introduction . Kia Ora, Gabriela Perez here from Space Place at the Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand. It’s certainly getting colder down here as we approach the winter but the good news is that we have plenty of opportunities to look at our southern skies with all the extra dark hours. June is an incredible month for viewing the visible planets.

Solstice . Mid month brings on the winter solstice on the 21st of June which in turn brings the longest night and the shortest day. It will also mean the Sun will be at its lowest elevation for the year.

Summer Constellations . The beginning of the month will see the last of our summer constellations low in the western sky along with Sirius, the brightest true star, which will twinkle as in the early evening being found closer to the horizon. This twinkling occurs as the star's light will be dispersed as the atmosphere is denser nearing the horizon and we will see a bit of separation of colour. Rising in the East are some of our winter constellations such as Scorpius and Sagittarius. We don't have scorpions here in New Zealand so Scorpius is seen as the fish hook of Maui, with it's bloody bait, the red giant star Antares. Following Scorpius is Saggitarius and the zone between them, Sag A, marks the heart of our Milky Way. Winter in the Southern Hemisphere is a great time to see this 'bulge' of the Milky Way and in this zone astronomers believe to be a supermassive black hole helping to hold our galaxy together.

The Planets . The first planet that will be visible in the sky before the sun has fully set is our 'evening star' Venus, it will be visible in the northwest in the constellation of Gemini and it will set about an hour after the sun. The next bright planet will be Jupiter in the east in the constellation of Libra which will remain in our skies until dawn. At about 9pm Saturn will rise in the southeast in the beginning of the month but will appear earlier and earlier each day in the constellation of Sagittarius. Following that will be the final planet to appear in our night sky which is the red planet Mars and we can find him in the constellation of Capricornus.

Winter Constellations . The Southern Cross (Crux) will be at its highest point for the year and Achenar, marking the end of the constellation of Eridanus, the river, will be visible just above the horizon. The mid-point of these two objects marks the South Celestial Pole centre which you can use to find South. You can use Achenar to locate the faint constellation of Tucana, and within it a stunning and visible globular star cluster 47 Tucanae. The second brightest globular cluster out of the 150 that exist in the halo of our Milky Way. The brightest can be spotted using the pointer stars (Alpha Cen and Beta Cen) in the constellation of Centaurus, Omega Centauri.

Pleiades . In mid June we will also have a sighting of the Pleiades star cluster in our dawn sky which has special significance in New Zealand as the heliacal rising of this cluster marks the time of the Maori New Year. It is found in the shoulder of the bull in the constellation of Taurus. It is a young star cluster, only 100 million years old, mostly consisting of giant hot blue stars. It is a rare sight to be able to pick out so many stars in an individual cluster in our night sky with the naked eye.

Hope everyone keeps warm and enjoys the extra hours of dark skies in the evening for some star gazing.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during May 2018 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter reaches opposition on May 8th, so will be visible all night. It shines at magnitude -2.5 and has a disk some 44 arc seconds across throughout the month. Jupiter's equatorisl bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, lying in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn - Saturn, now well into its new apparition, rises at around midnight on the first of May and a couple of hours earlier by month's end. With an angular size of ~17.5 arc seconds (increasing to 18.1 during the month) it climbs higher before dawn and so becomes easier to spot as the month progresses. Its brightness increases from +0.4 to +0.2 magnitudes during the month. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 25 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot'. It will been seen best just before dawn but, sadly, even when at opposition later in the year it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury - Mercury reached greatest elongation east from the Sun on April 29th and might just be glimpsed low above the western horizon for the first few days of May, but for the remainder of the month will lie too close to the Sun to be visible.

Mars - Mars starts the month in Sagittarius and moves into Capricornus in mid-May. Now a morning object, it rises at around 1:30 am BST at the start of the month and a little after midnight by May 31st. During the month, Mars has a magnitude which increases rapidly from -0.4 to -1.2 and has an angular size of 11.1 increasing to 15.1 arc seconds during the month so it should be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface with a small telescope. It will only reach an elevation of ~10 degrees before dawn at the start of the month and ~131 degrees by month's end. Sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector?

Venus - Venus, seen in the west after sunset, shines brightly at magnitude -3.9 all month with an angular size of 11.5 increasing to 13 arc seconds. Venus rises a little higher in the sky as April progresses, initially setting around two hours after the Sun but increasing to two and a half hours by month's end as its elevation at sunset stays at around 20 degrees - it will be very prominent in the evening sky. Venus starts the month in Taurus, not far above the Hyades Cluster, but passes into Gemini on the 19th before passing between the Hyades and Pleiades Clusters on the 27th.

Highlights May - a great month to view Jupiter. This is a great month to observe Jupiter which comes into opposition on May 8th and will be visible during all the hours of darkness. It is moving down the ecliptic and now lies in Libra and, sadly, will only reach an elevations of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. An interesting observation is that the Great Red Spot appears to be diminishing in size. At the beginning of the last century it spanned 40,000 km across but now appears to be only ~16,500 km across - less than half the size. It used to be said that 3 Earths could fit within it, but now it is only one. The shrinking rate appears to be accelerating and observations indicate that it is now reducing in size by ~580 miles per year. Will it eventually disappear?

The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely (as seen in Damian's image) but has now returned to its normal wide state.

May: Look for the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. This list gives some of the best evening times during May to observe the Great Red Spot which should then lie on the central meridian of the planet. The times are in UT.

May 5th and 6th before dawn: The Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower. The Eta Aquarids are one of the finest meteor showers that can be seen from the southern hemisphere but, in the northern hemisphere, may only be glimpsed in the pre-dawn sky in the south-east around 90 minutes before dawn. Sadly, this year the peak is when there is a waning gibbous Moon in the sky - so moonlight will hinder our view.

May 5th - before dawn: Saturn, the Moon and Mars together in the southern sky. Before dawn on the 5th of May and given a clear sky and a low horizon to the east of south, you should be able to spot Saturn to the right of the waning gibbous Moon with Mars down to its lower left. Binoculars might be needed to penetrate the sky's pre-dawn brightness, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

May 17th after sunset: Venus above a very thin crescent Moon. If clear after sunset on the 17th May and given a very low western horizon you should easily spot Venus! However it will be much harder to spot a very thin crescent Moon, just two days after new, down to its lower left. Binoculars may well be needed to see the Moon, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.

May 6th and 22nd - evenings: The Hyginus Rille. These evenings, should it be clear, are a superb time to view the Hyginus Crator and Rille as it will lie close to the terminator. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contrast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater. The author's image of the crater and rille can be seen in the inset to the image of the 8 day old Moon below.

Gabriela Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during May 2018.

Introduction - Kia Ora, Gabriela Perez here from Wellington New Zealand. It's autumn here in the southern hemisphere and we can tell from the chilly night and fallen leaves but also from our skies. We can see the summer months sinking into the Western horizon with Orion and his companions making way for all our winter constellations. Quite a nice time year to see Orion and Scorpius on either sides of the sky knowing that they're doomed to chase one another forever.

Orion - The best time to view the deep space objects will be around the middle of the month as new moon will be on the 15th of May and on the 29th we will round off the month with the full moon.

The Planets - In the middle of May we will have sliver Venus setting 90 minutes after the Sun in the northwest once again becoming our evening star. The fainter planets, Saturn and Mars will also be in the sky in the constellation of Sagittarius.

Scorpius - Another fantastic sight in the constellation of Scorpius is the Bug/Butterfly Nebula. It is a bipolar planetary nebula, having one the most complex structures ever seen with a star at its centre, also in its final stages but burning at some of the hottest temperatures recorded in the galaxy (for a star).

Stellar Clusters - Between Scorpius and Sagittarius is the zone designated Sagittarius A and it is our galactic centre. The middle point of our Milky Way or the 'bulge' making up some of the brightest and star-rich regions of our night sky. We have noted some intense radio feedback form this zone as astronomers believe that in the centre of our galaxy (and in fact the centre of every galaxy) is a supermassive black hole holding it together. On a clear night you can follow the Milky Way up to the Crux constellation or the Southern Cross, the smallest constellation but arguably the most well-known in the South. Use the pointer stars, the reddish orange Alpha Centauri and the blue/white Beta Centauri to make sure you have the right cross shape in the sky. Nearby star clusters such as the Jewel Box cluster or the Southern Pleiades make for some stunning telescope observations. Pick out the different colours in the cluster depicting stars of different sizes and at different stages of their lives. For a little bit of a challenge, and for another look at a dying star, you can move towards the constellation of Carina and find Eta Carinae and the Carina Nebula.

Meteor Shower - If you're up late enough, at about around midnight on the 6th till the early hours of the 7th of May you can catch the peak of the Eta Aquarids. This spectacular annual meteor shower is capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour. They will radiate from Aquarius but can be seen in a lot of the night sky.

Arcturus - And if you're up early enough soon after dusk Arcturus appears in the northeast, seen twinkling as it is close to the horizon with it's light being broken up. It is the brightest red object in the sky, only outshone by Mars and 120 times brighter than the Sun.

That's all for me for this month in the South and remember to keep warm but not let that stop you from going outside and looking up!

Northern Hemisphere
Fiona Healy tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during April 2018 .

Fiona Healy and Fiona Healy from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speak about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during April 2018.

We would have descriptions here, but unfortunately Fiona's cat has run off with them and none of us are brave enough to try and get them back.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during March 2018 .

Jupiter. Jupiter rises just before midnight at the beginning of the month and about one hour earlier by month's end. Initially it has a 39 arc second disk, shining at a magnitude of -2.2 but as the month progresses, its apparent diameter increases to 42.5 arc seconds and it brightens to magnitude -2.4. Jupiter will transit before dawn and so will enable the giant planet to be seen with the equatorial bands, sometimes the Great (but reducing in size) Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons visible in a small telescope. Sadly, Jupiter, lying in Libra during the month, is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn. Saturn, at the start of its new apparition, rises at around 3 am at the start of the month and just after 2 am at its end. With an angular size of ~16.3 arc seconds it climbs higher before dawn and so becomes easier to spot as the month progresses. Its brightness increases from +0.6 to +0.5 magnitudes during the month. The rings were at their widest a few months ago and are still, at 26 degrees to the line of sight, well open. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is just 3 degrees above the topmost star of the 'teapot'. Sadly, even when at opposition later in the year it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury. Mercury gives us its best evening apparition this month when it reaches its peak height above the western horizon on March 15th when, at greatest elongation, it lies some 18 degrees west of the Sun. However, by this time its magnitude has dropped from -1.3 at the beginning of March to -0.4 magnitudes. Its magnitude continues to fall, dropping to +0.9 by 20th and soon after will be lost in the Sun's glare. Mercury flirts with Venus during the month as detailed in the highlights.

Mars. Mars starts the month moving quicky eastwards in Ophiuchus moving into Sagittarius on the 12th of the month as it moves towards Saturn. Now a morning object, it rises at around 2 am at the start of the month. During the month, Mars has a magnitude which increases from +0.8 to +0.3 and an angular size of just 7, increasing to 8.5, arc seconds so it will be hard to spot details on its salmon-pink surface. It will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees before dawn at the start of the month and just 12 degrees by month's end.

Venus. Venus, seen low in the west after sunset shines at magnitude -3.9 all month with an angular size of ~10.3 arc seconds. Venus rises a little higher in the sky as March progresses, initially setting around one hour after the Sun but increasing to an hour and a half by month's end. It has two near conjunctions with Mercury as described in the highlights above.

Highlights March 2nd to 4th after sunset: Venus and Mercury within 1.3 degrees of each other. After sunset on these three evenings and given a clear sky and a low western horizon, you should be able to spot Venus and Mercury. Their closest is on the 3rd when they are just 1.1 degrees apart. Binoculars might be needed to penetrate the skys residual brightness, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. [Note: The sky brightness has been reduced in the chart.]

March 10th/11th before dawn: Saturn, Mars and a waning Moon. Mars below a waning Moon If clear before dawn on the 10th and 11th, looking just east of south, one should see a waning crescent Moon lying to the upper left of Mars on the 10th and Saturn on the 11th.

March 19th after sunset: Venus, Mercury and a very thin crescent Moon. Looking West after sunset on the 19th and given a very low western horizon, one might be able to spot Venus near Mercury which is close to maximum elongation from the Sun. A very thin crescent Moon, just two days after new, will be seen up to their left. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them before the Sun has set. A tough observing challenge! [Note: the sky brightness has been reduced in the chart.]

March 23rd evening: The Moon in the Hyades Cluster. In the evening of the 23rd of the month, the Moon, coming towards first quarter, will lie within the Hyades cluster. After it has set from the UK it will occult Aldebaran which is a red giant star lying between our solar system and the cluster.

March 8th and 24th: The Alpine Valley. These are two good nights to observe an interesting feature on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. As shown in the image is a thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe. The dark crater Plato will also be visible nearby. You may also see the shadow cast by the mountain Mons Piton lying not far away in Mare Imbrium. This is a very interesting region of the Moon!

This month we welcome two new presenters, Gabriela Perez and Jasmine Chan-Hyams who tell us what we can see in the Southern Hemisphere night sky during March 2018.

Introduction . I'm Gaby, I work at Space Place at the Carter Observatory, in Wellington New Zealand as a telescope operator. I've been staring at the Southern Skies for most of my life. As a child I saw the fully mapped-out globe and I became fascinated with space, ever since I have wanted to explore the universe beyond. Now I bring the universe to me (mostly through collecting its light) with my eyes, a pair of binoculars or a telescope.

And I'm Jasmine, I am a PhD Biotech student at Victoria University of Wellington. But who I am is a scientist, a star-gazer and a story-teller. We wish a fond farewell to Claire who has contributed so much to this podcast over the years. Thank you for teaching me about treasuring that moment of awe when you share a wonder of the universe with someone who has never seen anything like it before. You will be sorely missed at Space Place and we wish you all the best in your new job!

Looking up into the night skies is one of the true delights of living in the southern hemisphere; especially here in Aotearoa, New Zealand where it is easy to get away from the bright city lights and where we a get a broader and brighter view of the Milky Way.

Early in the month of March we can look forward to gazing upon many star studded greek heroes and mythical creatures. We can use constellations as guideposts to find deep sky objects including beautiful nebulae and special features of our southern skies.

The region around Orion. Our journey begins with the Greek constellation Orion, who appears in the skies after full dark in north-north west for the month of March. For many of us finding the three bright stars that form Orion's belt were probably the first thing you could proudly identify as a child. These three stars are 2nd magnitude stars. You can also see with the naked eye Betelgeuse, located in Orion's armpit; a red supergiant hundreds of times larger than our sun. Yet the brightest star of this constellation is Rigel - a blue star at Orion's ankle. Blue stars are the hottest kind of stars you'll find in the night skies while red stars are cooler and burning up the last of their heat energy. Just below his belt you'll find the Orion Emission Nebula (M42)- a huge star forming cloud - more than two widths of our moon across, it lies about 1500 light years away. With the naked eye it appears as a diffuse cloudy patch. Through a telescope you can see the clouds of dust and gas, lit up by the baby stars they are forming.

From Orion's belt it's just a star jump to the right and up to find Sirius, the brightest star in our skies. Sirius is seriously bright at about 20 times brighter than our sun and is only 8.6 lya. Sirius is part of the Canis Major constellation - one of the two dog companions that accompany the hunter Orion. Below Canis Major you can look for the two stars that form Canis Minor. The star Procyon, in Canis Minor, forms a triangle with the 1st magnitude stars Sirius and Betelgeuse.

Within this "southern triangle" you can look for the Monoceros unicorn constellation - home to the gorgeous Rosette nebula. This nebula has a beautiful carnation pick colouring and can be seen with binoculars in the part of the constellation closest to Betelgeuse.

Neighboring Orion is the zodiac constellation Taurus the Bull. Taurus and his fiery eye, the red giant Aldebaran, can be found low in our Northern-Western sky after sunset where we can easily make out his V shaped horns. Near his shoulder lies the Pleiades star cluster. On a clear dark night you can see seven points of light with the naked eye but it is best viewed with a pair of binoculars. The Pleiades is a young cluster of mostly hot blue stars, the big ones that burn up all their fuel quickly -they live fast and die young. These bright blue stars are said to be seven beautiful sisters. You can find the seven sisters sheltering in the shoulder of the bull hiding from Orion's amorous intentions.

Crab Nebula.
After you get an eyeful of these blue beauties you can jump down to the Crab Nebula (M1) but you'll want a telescope for this part. M1 was the fist Messier object recorded by famous French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. To find M1 with your telescope look for Aldebaran first then follow the bull's horn to the end, it will be close to the horizon. Large apertures are needed to make out the filamentous detail. The Crab Nebula is was first viewed more than a 1000 years ago, by ancient Chinese astronomers, who recorded a bright light forming in this area. They witnessed was a supernova - a dying star. At the heart of the Crab Nebula is the pulsar, the skeleton of the dying star. Although we cannot see it with a telescope we can listen to the radio waves it emits as it spins. We can listen to the song of supernova.

You can enjoy looking for Orion, his hunting dogs, Taurus and the unicorn Monoceros throughout the early evenings of March. Now I'll hand over to Gabriela who'll tell us what planets we can see this month and features of the skies to the south.

The Planets - But if you are looking for planets in March, you'll need stay up late. Venus sets shortly after the sun but becomes increasingly visible in our twilight skies towards the end of the month. Jupiter rises in the late evening about midnight in mid-March. This gas giant reflects the light of our sun and outshines Sirius, becoming the brightest object in our night sky after the Moon. For those early risers Mars and Saturn are in the eastern horizon just before dawn. Around the 7th of March the planets will line up quite nicely on either side of the waxing gibbous Moon. On the 21st of March we can observe the Autumn equinox when there night and day will be of equal length.

Constellations and Nebulae -
This is probably my favourite time of year to look at the Southern Skies because you can stay out late without either freezing to death or being eaten alive by mosquitoes and the most important objects stay high in the skies for longer. The Full Moon will occur mid-month on the 12th of March. So the beginning and end of March are excellent times to explore the deeper sky objects that you can only see from the southern hemisphere.

Turning to the south horizon we look for the kite shaped Southern Cross constellation Crux. The Crux will be low in our South Eastern sky in early March after sunset. We can use the pointer stars, red-orange Alpha Centauri and blue-white Beta Centauri to identify the true Southern Cross.

As night progresses, the Southern Cross journeys around the southern celestial pole, bringing with it the dark patches stretched out through our view of the Milky Way. Here these patched represents the Giant Moa -a now extinct large flightless bird native to New Zealand. These dark patches are where large interstellar objects, called Dark Nebulas, have blocked out the light from more distant stars - preventing their light reaching us here on Earth. Dark Nebulae are easily seen against the backdrop of the Milky Way as the large concentration of star-light surrounding them lets us see them better. The head of the Moa sits by the Crux, nearby Beta Cruxis and the Jewel Box Cluster. This dark nebula is usually known as the Coalsack nebula. Much like coal itself it could one day ignite as it becomes an active stellar nursery, shining up as one of the brightest sections of our skies.

Following the Moa's ascent, Scorpius rises in the east. In Maori starlore we know it as the legendary fish hook of Maui. Where the Milky Way bulges, next to Scorpius, is Sagittarius A - the Galactic Centre - where we have the brightest view of our own galaxy. From the Galactic Centre we receive intense radio feedback from the super-massive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way.

Using the Southern Cross we can find, Canopus, the second brightest true star in our sky. It is part of the Carina constellation, the keel of Argo Navis. The ship that used to dominate the night sky as the largest constellation. In March it is located above the Crux. In the centre of this constellation is the Great Carina Nebula which houses the giant red dying star Eta Carinae. It once illuminated our night sky as one of the brightest stars for a short period of time after it undertook a massive event known as an imposter supernova. Now this hardy star, encased in the Homunculus Nebula, has faded and can only be seen through a telescope.

The globular star cluster 47 Tucanae will be high in the sky and faintly spotted to the naked eye by the tenth brightest star, the pancake star Achernar (It's spinning so fast it's flattened itself out a bit). Globular clusters are fascinating things. Their structure allows us witness stellar interactions but also allows us to pinpoint the smallest and faintest stars. The large bright stars are at the core while the outer stars are fainter creating a unique and beautifully ordered structure found only in globular clusters.

Magellanic Clouds - We can also look for two of our neighbouring galaxies - the Magellanic Clouds. You can see them without the aid of a telescope. But you will need to get away from the bright city lights on a dark moonless night. These two small irregular dwarf galaxies orbit our Milky Way. The gravitational, pull of our galaxy, warps and distorts them - pulling away clouds of dust and gas and even stars to form the Magellanic Stream. The SMC and LMC are actually connecting by a bridge of neutral helium, suggesting they were once the same object. The Magellanic Clouds are the furthest objects away from home that we can see from our backyards in the southern hemisphere.

G - That's it for us in the month of March. Thanks for tuning in. J - and we wish you all very happy star gazing.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during February 2018 .
Jupiter - Jupiter rises around 2 am at the beginning of the month and just before midnight by month's end. Initially it has a 36 arcsecond disk, shining at a magnitude of -2 but as the month progresses, its apparent diameter increases to 39 arcseconds and it brightens to magnitude -2.2. Jupiter will transit before dawn and so will enable the giant planet to be seen with the equatorial bands, sometimes the Great (but reducing in size) Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons visible in a small telescope. Sadly, Jupiter, lying in Libra during the month, is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Saturn - Saturn, at the start of its new apparition, rises at around 5 am at the start of the month and just after 3 am at its end. With an angular size of ~15.5 arc seconds it climbs higher before dawn and so becomes easier to spot as the month progresses. Its brightness remains at +0.6 magnitudes. The rings were at their widest a few months ago and are still, at 26 degrees to the line of sight, well open. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is just 3 degrees above the topmost star of the 'teapot'. Sadly, even when at opposition later in the year it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.

Mercury - Mercury passes through superior conjuction (between us and the Sun) on the 17th February so will be lost in the Sun's glare until the very end of the month when it might just be glimpsed after sunset with its ~5 arc second disk having an unusually bright magnitude of -1.5.

Mars - Mars starts the month moving quickly eastwards in Scorpius close to Beta Scorpii (Graffias) but moves into Ophiuchus on the 8th of the month. Now a morning object at the start of its new apparition, it rises four hours or so earlier than the Sun. During the month, Mars has a magnitude which increases from +1.2 to +0.8 and an angular size of just 5.6, increasing to 6.6, arc seconds so no details will be seen on its salmon-pink surface. It will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees before dawn at the start of the month and just 12 degrees by month's end.

Venus - Venus passed through superior conjunction (on the far side of the Sun) on January 9th and so, at the beginning of February will be lost in the Sun's glare, setting less than half an hour after the Sun. However, by month's end, shining with a magnitude of -3.9, it will set around an hour after the Sun and its 10 arc second disk should be easy to spot 30 minutes or so after sunset. However a low western horizon will be needed as it will then only have an elevation of ~5 degrees some way to the south of west.

Highlights February 8th before dawn: A waning Moon close to Jupiter - with Mars nearby. If clear before dawn on the 8th, a waning moon between Full Moon and Last Quarter lies close to Jupiter. Down to the left is Mars lying above Antares in Scorpius.

February 9th before dawn: Mars and a waning Moon. If clear before dawn on the 9th and looking to the South-southeast, Mars, at magnitude +1, will be seen to the lower right of a waning crescent Moon.

February 17th after sunset: Venus and a thin crescent Moon. Looking West-Southwest after sunset on the 17th and given a very low western horizon, one might be able to spot Venus at the start of its new evening apparition. A very thin crescent Moon, just two days after new, will be seen up to its left. Binoculars may well be needed, but please do not use them before the Sun has set. A very tough observing challenge!

February 23rd/24th evening: The Moon in a beautiful skyscape. In the evenings of the 23rb and 24th of the month, the Moon, coming towards first quarter, will pass through Taurus and Orion. On the 23rd, it will lie close to Aldebaran and on the 24th lie above Orion.

February 6th and 22nd evening: The Hyginus Rille. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contrast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater.

In her final broadcast for the Jodcast, Claire Bretherton from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand tells us what we can see in the Southern Hemisphere night sky during February 2018.

Kia ora and welcome to the February Jodcast from Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand.
Lunar Eclipse - Whilst the Earth blocks all direct light from the Sun, some light passes though the Earth's atmosphere and is bent or refracted towards the surface of the Moon. Light with shorter wavelengths, towards the blue end of the spectrum, is scattered more strongly, so only the redder light gets through, giving the eclipsed moon a telltale reddish glow.

Partial Solar Eclipse - Whilst New Zealand won't see it, some parts of the southern hemisphere will also experience a partial solar eclipse this month, on the morning of the 16th NZ time. From parts of Chile and Argentina the moon will cover some 25% of the Sun's disk, whilst from Antarctica around 49% will be covered.

Orion - Orion is now high in the north after dark, with Sirius, or Takurua, the brightest star in our night-time sky, even higher.

Procyon - Below and to the right, and forming a triangle with Sirius and Betelgeuse, is Procyon, the brighter of the two main stars that form the constellation of Canis Minor, Orion's small hunting dog. Procyon is the eighth brightest star in the night-time sky and, like Sirius (at ~9 ly distant), is one of our Sun's nearest neighbours at just 11 light years away. Also like Sirius, it is in fact a binary system, with a 1.5 solar mass primary and a faint white dwarf companion.

Clusters and Nebulae - Just over a third of the way between Sirius and Procyon, in the constellation of Monoceros, is M50, a pretty, heart-shaped open cluster of stars, visible in binoculars.

Around a third of the way from Betelgeuse to Procyon is NGC2244, a rectangular cluster of stars that is embedded in a faint nebula called the Rosette. Whilst the cluster is visible in binoculars and small telescopes, the nebula is more of a challenge and is best seen in long exposure photographs.

Below Canis Minor sits another pair of stars, Castor and Pollux, marking the heads of Gemini, the twins. Pollux, the higher and brighter of the two stars, is the 17th brightest star in our night sky. It is about 35 light years away from us, whilst Castor is in fact a sextuple star system located 52 light years from Earth.

Nearby to Eta Geminorum, at the foot of the twin of Castor, is the open star cluster M35, covering an area almost the size of the full moon. Under good conditions it can be seen with the unaided eye as a hazy star, but binoculars or a wide-field telescope will reveal more detail and are the best ways to view this lovely cluster.

Next to Gemini is the faint zodiac constellation of Cancer, the crab. At the centre of Cancer is a lovely open cluster of stars known as M44, Praesepe (the Manger) or the Beehive. At magnitude 3.7, the cluster is visible to the naked eye as a hazy nebula, and has been know since ancient times. It was one of the first objects Galileo studied when he turned his telescope to the skies in 1609.

Galileo was able to pick out around 40 stars, but today we know that Praesepe contains over 1000 individual members, with a combined mass of between 500 and 600 times that of the Sun. As one of the closest open star clusters to our Solar System, M44 is a great target for binoculars or small telescopes, which will easily reveal a number of individual stars within it.

Higher, and to the east of Canis Major is Puppis, representing the Poop deck of the great ship Argo, which we explored last month. Inside Puppis are two lesser known Messier Objects, M46 and M47.

Messier 46 (also known as NGC 2437) is a rich open cluster at a distance of about 5,500 light-years away. M46 is estimated to contain around 500 stars, of which around 150 of magnitude 10-13. Estimated to be only 300 million years old, this is a young cluster, and a lovely sight in binoculars or a small telescope. Astronomer John Herschel described it in his General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars as “Remarkable, cluster, very bright, very rich, very large, involving a planetary nebula". This planetary nebula, located near the cluster's northern edge, is NGC 2438.

A planetary nebula is formed when a low or intermediate mass star comes to the end of its life, ejecting its outer layers into space as a glowing shell of ionized gas.

Located around 1 degree west is another open cluster, M47. The two fit easily within one binocular field of view, and are often referred to as sisters.

Messier 47 or NGC 2422 has actually been discovered several times. The first was some time before 1654 by Giovanni Batista Hodierna and then independently by Charles Messier on February 19, 1771. William Herschel also independently rediscovered it on February 4, 1785, and it was included as GC 1594 in John Herschel's General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars (the precursor to Dreyer's New General Catalogue) in 1864.

Due to a sign error by Messier, the cluster was considered a 'lost Messier Object' for many years, as no cluster could be found at the position of Messiers original coordinates. It wasn't until 1959 that Canadian astronomer T. F. Morris identified that the cluster was in fact NGC2422, and realized Messier's mistake.

M47 lies at a distance of around 1,600 light-years from Earth with an estimated age of about 78 million years. It is described as a course, bright cluster containing around 50 stars, scattered over an area around the same size as the full moon in the sky. It is bright enough to be glimpsed with the naked eye under good observing conditions, but best viewed with binoculars or a small telescope.

There are a couple of other excellent binocular targets in Puppis, including open cluster NGC2477 - a wonderful, rich cluster of over 300 stars, described by American Astronomer Robert Burnham as "probably the finest of the galactic clusters in Puppis" along with its neighbor NGC 2451, both located close to the second magnitude star Zeta Puppis.

Also known as Naos, this blue supergiant is one of the hottest, most luminous stars visible to the naked eye. It has a bolometric (total) luminosity of at least 500,000 times that of the Sun, but with most of its radiation emitted in the ultraviolet it is visually around 10,000 times brighter. It is also one of the closest stars of its kind to our Sun, at a distance of around 1,080 ly.

Planets - Our evening skies are still bereft of bright planets. Jupiter is the first to rise at around 1 am at the start of the month. Mars follows shortly afterwards, and the two are joined by Saturn around 3:30 am. You may spot Mercury briefly at the start of February, rising in the dawn twilight around an hour before the Sun, but it will soon disappear from view as it heads back towards the Sun. By months end Jupiter has moved into our evening skies, rising at 11 pm, Mars around 12:30 am and Saturn by 2 am, making a diagonal line down the eastern morning sky.

Farewell - After 8 years at Space Place at Carter Observatory, and being involved with the Jodcast for almost as long, I am moving on to a new role in February and so sadly this will be my last southern skies section. It's been a great pleasure bringing you a little taster of our wonderful New Zealand stars and some of the amazing stories within them over the past few years. I wish you clear skies and all the very best for the future. So farewell from me, Claire Bretherton, and the team here at space Place at Carter Observatory.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the northern hemisphere night sky during January 2018 .

Jupiter. Jupiter is now a pre-dawn object rising some three and a half hours before the Sun at the beginning of the month with its 33 arc second disk, shining at a magnitude of -1.8, to be seen under clear skies. As the month progresses, its apparent diameter increases to 35.8 arc seconds and it brightens to magnitude -2. The elevation before dawn will then be sufficiently high to enable crisp views of the giant planet to be seen with the equatorial bands, sometimes the Great (but reducing in size) Red Spot and up to four of its Galilean moons visible in a small telescope.

Saturn. Saturn passed behind the Sun on December 21st (superior conjunction) on December 21st and reappears in the pre dawn sky this month at the start of its new apparition. It is unlikely to be seen in the first week of January, but climbs higher and so becomes easier to spot as the month progresses as its brightness increases to +0.6 magnitudes. The rings were at their widest a few months ago and are still well open.

Mercury. Mercury reaches greatest elongation west on New Year's Day shining at magnitude -0.3. It will be seen low in the Southeast before dawn and will be visible for a couple of weeks before sinking back towards the Sun. Its angular diameter reduces from 6.7 to 4.9 arc seconds but, as the percentage illuminated surface area increases from 62% to 95%, its brightness remains constant throughout the month.

Mars. At the start of the month Mars lies in Libra but moves down into Scorpius at the end of the Month. A morning object at the start of its new apparition, it rises four hours or so earlier than the Sun. During the month, Mars has a magnitude increasing from 1.5 to 1.2 and an angular size of just 4.8, increasing to 5.6, arc seconds so no details will be seen on its salmon-pink surface. Moving eastwards, Mars has a very close conjunction with Jupiter on the 6th of January.

Venus. Venus, passes through superior conjunction (on the far side of the Sun) on January 9th and so cannot be observed this month.

Highlights Around the 17th of January (with no Moon in the sky): find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum Around new Moon (17th January) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50).

January 5th before dawn: A waning Moon closes on Regulus in Leo. If clear before dawn on the 5th, a waning Moon between Full Moon and Last Quarter lies just a few degrees from Regulus in Leo.

January 6th before dawn: Mars and Jupiter up close. If clear before dawn on the 6th and looking to the South-Southeast, Mars, at magnitude 1.4 will be seen just to the right of Jupiter shining at magnitude -1.8. At their closest they will be just 23 arc seconds apart.

January 13th before dawn: Saturn and Mercury. Looking Southeast before dawn on the 13th and given a very low eastern horizon, one might be able to spot Saturn at the start of its new apparition lying just above Mercury. A very thin crescent Moon will be seen up to their right. Binoculars may well be needed but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

January 26th: Two Great Lunar Craters. This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby.

Claire Bretherton from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the southern hemisphere night sky during January 2018.

This month we will continue our tour of some of the clusters and nebulae along the Milky Way, which stretches across the eastern sky after dark, becoming brightest in the south towards the Southern Cross /Te Punga.

Orion still dominates our Eastern skies after dark. Just above and to the right of Sirius, at distance of around 4 degrees, is M41, or NGC 2287. M41 is an open cluster of stars, covering an area around the size of the full moon. It is just about visible as a blurry smudge to the naked eye from a clear, dark location. Through binoculars or a small telescope you will start to resolve a number of individual stars, showing hints of red and orange, including a prominent 6.3 magnitude K3 giant close to the cluster's centre.

Canopus. Canopus is the brightest star in the constellation of Carina, the keel, which along with Vela, the sails, and Puppis, the poop deck, once formed part of the southern constellation of Argo Navis. Straddling the Milky Way, this represented the great ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece. The constellation was split into the three components used today by French Astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763.

Eta Carina. Eta Carinae is now back to around 4th magnitude, but it is brightening again. It is expected to end its life in a huge supernova within the next few thousand years.

Nebulae in Eta Carinae. Also worth looking out for in Carina is NGC 2516, known as the southern beehive, located just above the false cross, and NGC 3532, the football cluster, or wishing well cluster. Both are visible to the naked eye, but a good pair of binoculars will reveal a stunning view. NGC 3532 in particular is a great target, a favourite of English astronomer John Herschel, and the very first object to be observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in May 1990. You'll find it roughly half way between Crux and the False Cross, close to Eta Carinae.

Planets. Mercury sits low in the morning twilight throughout most of January and is soon joined by Saturn, with the two sitting right next to each other on the morning of the 13th. Saturn continues to rise higher whilst Mercury, on its inner orbit, sinks back into the twilight.

Wishing you clear skies, and a very happy 2018, form the team here at Space Place at Carter Observatory.

Northern Hemisphere
Ian Morison tells us what we can see in the Northern Hemisphere night sky during December 2017 .

The Planets Jupiter - Jupiter is now a pre-dawn object rising some 2 hours before the Sun at the beginning of the month with its 31 arc second disk, shining at a magnitude of -1.7, to be seen under clear skies. As the month progresses, its apparent diameter increases to 33 arc seconds and it brightens to magnitude -1.8. The low elevation will hinder our view, but the equatorial bands and up to four of its Gallilean moons should be visible.

Saturn - Saturn will not be visible this month as it leaves the evening sky on its way to superior conjunction (passing behind the Sun) on December 21st before it reappears in the pre-dawn sky next year.

Mercury - Mercury, just visible in the evening sky at the end of November, will not be seen for three weeks as it passes between the Earth and the Sun on December 13th (inferior conjunction). From the 20th or so it brightens rapidly in the pre-dawn sky to reach a magnitude of -0.3 by month's end when some 23 degrees away from the Sun. As the ecliptic makes quite a steep angle to the horizon, it will then have a reasonable elevation so making the end of the month an excellent time to observe Mercury. It will then have a magnitude of -0.3 and a disk 6.9 arc seconds across.

Mars - As December begins, Mars lies in Virgo just 3 degrees up to the left of Spica, Alpha Virginis. Now a morning object at the start of its new apparition, it rises four hours or so earlier than the Sun. During the month, Mars has a magnitude increasing from 1.7 to 1.5 and an angular size of just 4.2 (increasing to 4.8) arc seconds so no details will be seen on its salmon-pink surface. Mars crosses from Virgo into Libra on the 21st, moving eastwards to closely approach Jupiter on New Year's Eve before a very close conjunction with it on the 7th of January.

Venus - Venus, was seen in a close conjunction with Jupiter on the 13th November. Moving back towards the Sun, it rises just 45 minutes before the Sun at the start of December and is lost in the Sun's glare around the 12th of the month on its way towards superior conjunction (on the far side of the Sun) on January 9th. In its final week of visibility, it will have a magnitude of -3.9 and disk 9.9 arc seconds across.

Highlights M31 and M33. Around the 18th of December (with no Moon in the sky): find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum.

December 2nd before dawn: Mars and Jupiter and a last chance to observe Venus for a while. If clear before dawn on the 2nd, there is a last chance for a while of spotting Venus as it sinks down to the Sun with, first, Jupiter and then Mars higher above in the southeastern sky. To spot Venus, a very low horizon will be needed and perhaps binoculars - but please to not use them after the Sun has risen.

December 14th before dawn: Mars, Jupiter and a thin crescent Moon. If clear before dawn on the 14th, there will be a nice grouping of a very thin waning crescent Moon with Mars, to its upper right and Jupiter below.

December 14th and 15th after midnight: the Geminid Meteor Shower. The early mornings of December 14th and 15th will give us the chance, if clear, of observing the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. Pleasingly, this is a great year to observe them as the thin waning crescent moon will not affect our view. The Geminids can often produce near-fireballs and so the shower is well worth observing if it is clear. An observing location well away from towns or cities will pay dividends. The relatively slow moving meteors arise from debris released from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This is unusual, as most meteor showers come from comets. The radiant - where the meteors appear to come from - is close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini as shown on the chart. If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you.

December 22nd/23rd - late evenings: the Ursid Meteor Shower. The late evenings of the 22nd and 23rd of December are when the Ursid meteor shower will be at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great. Pleasingly, the Moon soon after new, will not affect our view during much of the night. The radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation. Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so it is worth having a look should it be clear.

December 30/31st ~1 am: The Moon occults Aldebaran. Just after 1 am on the morning of the 31st of December, the near full Moon will occult the red giant star Aldebaran that lies between us and the Hyades cluster. It will disappear behind the dark limb of the Moon just after 1 am (but, due to parallax, the time is dependent on your location in the UK) and reappear just before 2 am.

December 31st - before dawn: three planets in the Southeast. Before dawn on the 31st one will, if clear, be able to spot Jupiter and Mars close together in the pre-dawn sky with elusive Mercury above the horizon down to their lower left. A low horizon towards the Southeast will be needed to pick up Mercury and perhaps binoculars - but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.

December 9th and 26th: The Alpine Valley. Two good evenings to observe the Alpine Valley.

Claire Bretherton from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during December 2017.

Kia Ora and welcome to the December Jodcast from Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand.

We're really noticing our days getting warmer now and our evenings getting brighter as we head towards the southern hemisphere summer solstice on the 22nd of December. The eastern evening sky is dominated by our summer constellations of Taurus and Orion, with his two dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor.
The summer Milky Way stretches through these constellations and along our southern horizon. Whilst not as bright as our winter Milky Way, we can still pick out the mottled glow of bright and dark regions when observed from a dark location. The bright regions are the combined light of the many distant stars that form our galaxy, whilst the dark patches are clouds of interstellar gas and dust that block the light from more distant stars. Throughout this region there are many star clusters and nebulae that can be observed with binoculars and small telescopes, and some that can even be seen with the naked eye.

Orion - We'll start our tour of the southern skies in Orion, sitting high in the east after dark, and easy to find by the three bright stars that form his belt. Here in Aotearoa we call these Tautoru, meaning line of three. As he lies along the celestial equator, Orion can be seen (at least partially) throughout the world. Above Orion's belt is a line of faint stars which form Orion's sword, but in New Zealand we see him upside down, so instead his belt and sword become a pot or saucepan.

In Greek mythology Orion is a hunter, and the arch enemy of Scorpius, our winter constellation. The two continually chase each other around the sky. Just as one rises in the east, the other sets below the western horizon.

At the top left of the constellation is the bright blue-white supergiant Rigel or Puanga. Whilst Rigel has been given the Beta designation, it is, in fact, normally the brightest star in the constellation and the seventh brightest in the night sky. Its colour tells us that it is extremely hot, with over twice the temperature and many tens of thousands of times the luminosity of the Sun. With an estimated age of just 8 million years, compared to 4.5 billion years for the Sun, Rigel is a young star, but has already used up all the hydrogen in its core and has swollen out to between 79 and 115 times the Sun's radius. Hot, massive, blue stars like Rigel don't live very long, they live fast and die young, using their fuel quickly before meeting a violent death. Over the next few million years Rigel will expand further and cool to become a red supergiant before ending its life in a massive explosion called a supernova.
Betelguese
At the bottom right of Orion is Betelguese, a star that has already reached the red supergiant phase, bloating out and cooling down to give it its wonderful red hue.

Betelgeuse is designated Alpha Orionis, but is currently the second brightest star in the constellation. Estimates of its mass range from around 8 to 20 times that of the Sun, and if it were placed at the centre of the Solar System its surface would reach out almost as far as the orbit of Jupiter.
One day soon Betelgeuse is also going to end its life in a supernova. Of course, soon to astronomers could be a million years, but if it does go bang within our lifetimes it is sure to be a spectacular sight, perhaps becoming so bright you could see it in the daytime. At a distance of over 600 light years, it is possible that this explosion has already happened and we are just waiting for the light to reach us.

But, as well as stars at the end of their lives, Orion also contains stars whose lives are just beginning. If you look carefully you may see the middle star of Orion's sword has a fuzzy appearance. This is the great nebula in Orion, or M42. The Orion Nebula is a stellar nursery, a huge cloud of gas and dust in which new stars are being born. At around 1,344 light years away, M42 is the closest massive star formation region to the Earth, with around 700 stars in various stages of the star formation process. In the heart of the Orion nebula is a small group of bright stars known as the Trapezium Cluster. The ultraviolet radiation from these stars is lighting up the surrounding gas.

Whilst easily spotted with the naked eye, through binoculars or a small telescope the nebula is a wonderful sight. Take your time and you should be able to clearly see some of the nebulosity of M42 and the bright star cluster that lights it up.

Another nebula in Orion that is well worth a look is the reflection nebula M78, easily found as a hazy patch in a small telescope. With a larger telescope the famous Horsehead nebula, silhouetted against the emission nebula IC434, is a lovely sight just to the south of the star Alnitak, the easternmost star in Orion's belt. Its proximity to bright Alnitak makes viewing the horsehead nebula more challenging, but long exposure photographs will reveal much more detail.
Aldebaran - Following Orion's belt to the left we come to an upturned V shape of stars marking the head of Taurus the bull. At the bottom of this V is the bright orange star Aldebaran, at around 65ly away, representing the eye of the bull. The other stars in the V are part of the more distant Hyades cluster. At 153 ly away, the Hyades is the closest, and one of the best studied, open clusters to Earth. It is estimated to be around 625 million years old. Over time the cluster will continue to spread out and disperse into space, with some of the largest and brightest members already coming towards the ends of their lives.

Crab Nebula - Near to the fainter of the two horns of Taurus, and just about visible in binoculars under excellent conditions, is the Crab Nebula. First discovered by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731, the Crab Nebula is a supernova remnant now believed to be associated with Supernova SN1054, observed and recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 AD.

Pleiades - Continuing further around the sky you come to another famous open cluster, the Pleiades, or M45, at a distance of 444ly away. This group of stars is even younger than the Hyades, and is dominated by a number of hot, massive, blue stars only around 100 million years old. The Pleiades has many different names in many different cultures, but here in New Zealand is known as Matariki, meaning little eyes, or eyes of God. The rising of this group of stars for the first time before the Sun, around June, each year marks the coming of the Māori New Year.

Sirius - Following Orion's belt to the right you come to Sirius, or Takurua, the brightest star in our nighttime sky, and in the constellation of Canis Major, Orion's large hunting dog. Canis Minor, the small dog, is a little below, close to the eastern horizon. It contains just two bright stars, and looks like a single line when traced on the sky. Here at Space Place we like to call it the hotdog constellation, as that's the only dog we know of with no head, no legs and no tail. The brighter of the two stars, Procyon, is one of the Sun's nearest stellar neighbours at just 11.46 light years away. Whilst it appears as a single star, the eighth brightest in the night sky, it is actually a binary star system, consisting of a white main-sequence star and a faint white dwarf companion.

Crux - From Orion and his hunting dogs you can follow the band of the Milky Way around the sky, through the False and Diamond Crosses to Crux, the Southern Cross, low in the south. Scanning a pair of binoculars along the Milky Way should pick out glowing gas clouds and numerous star clusters whilst revealing much more detail than the eye can see.

Planets - Both Mercury and Saturn quickly disappear from our dusk skies this month as they move closer to the Sun, leaving our evenings bereft of bright planets. Mars is the first to rise, around 3:30 am at the start of the month, with Jupiter joining it around 40 minutes later. By the end of December Mecury will also reappear in the morning, rising rapidly up the dawn sky to sit just below orange Antares.

We also have a number of meteor showers happening this month. The Phoenicids reach their peak on 6th December and are thought to be associated with the comet D/1819 W1 (Blanpain). With the radiant in the constellation of Phoenix, not far from Achernar, this shower is well placed for southern hemisphere observers throughout the hours of darkness. The Pheonicids were first discovered during an outburst in 1956, where approximately 100 meteors an hour were seen from locations across the southern hemisphere. However, activity is very uncertain, and rates since have been much much lower than this. The minor Puppid-Velids meteor shower also reaches its peak at around the same time with a zenithal hourly rate of around 10, however , the radiant will only rise around 14 degrees above out horizon, so we may only get around 3 an hour.

Just a few days later, peaking on the 15th of the month, are the Geminids. The Geminids are one of the best meteor showers of the year, but we are not well placed for viewing in New Zealand, with the radiant in the constellation of Gemini and well north of the equator. The constellation is at its highest around 3 am, but still appears low in our northern sky. Due to this low height we only see around half of the meteors visible to those in the northern hemisphere.

Wishing you clear skies and a Merry Christmas from the team here at Space Place at Carter Observatory.