The night sky this month

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

• 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.
  
  

• 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

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

• 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 ShowerThe 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 WallThe 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!
  
  

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

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

• 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 NovemberThe 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.
  
  

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

• 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.
  
  

• 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.]
  
  

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.

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

• 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 SeptemberSeptember 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 CrossAt 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.
  
  

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.

• 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 GalaxyKia 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 WayWe 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 WayStarting 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 eclipticThen 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 MayLower 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 MayA 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.
  
  

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

• 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.
  
  

• 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.

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.

• 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! .

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

• 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.
  
  

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

• 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.