The night sky this month

Northern HemisphereThe Night Sky

Northern Hemisphere

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Planets

• Jupiter, starts the month rising around 2 a.m. and brightens from magnitude -2.0 to -2.3 as the month progresses whilst its angular size increases slightly from 36.2 to 39.7 arc seconds. By month's end it rises by ~1 am BST so will be higher in the sky before dawn. Sadly it is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius. By the end of March, it will lie almost due south as the Sun rises but will only have an elevation of ~14 degrees so atmospheric dispersion will blur its image somewhat. The use of an atmospheric dispersion corrector will help to give sharper images.
  
  
• Saturn, shining with a magnitude of +0.6, rises two and a half hours before the Sun at the start of the month some 2 hours after Jupiter. Its disk is ~16 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still 24 degrees from the line of sight - spanning 35 arc seconds across. Sadly, Saturn now to the left of the 'teapot' in Sagittarius is now at the lowest point on the ecliptic and so will only have an elevation of ~10 degrees when due south before dawn in a month's time. So, like Jupiter, an atmospheric dispersion corrector could help.
  
  
• Mercury, with an angular size of 7.7 arc seconds at the start of March, reached its greatest elongation east on the 26th of February, then 18 degrees away from the Sun. On the first of March, it sets some one and a half hours after the Sun shining at magnitude +0.1. During the month, its angular size increases to 10.9 arc seconds but its brightness rapidly reduces and by March 6th, at magnitude 2, will become very difficult to spot in the twilight. Binoculars could well be needed to reduce the background glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. Mercury passes between us and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on the 15th.
  
  
• Mars, though fading from +1.2 to +1.4 magnitudes during the month, remains prominent in the south western sky after sunset at an elevation of ~37 degrees. Mars is moving north-eastwards through Aries and passes into Taurus on the 23rd/24th of the month. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) Its angular size falls from 5.3 arc seconds to 4.7 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.
  
  
• Mars, begins March at a magnitude of -4.1. with its angular size reducing from 16 to 13 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth. However, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 72% to 81% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.1 to -3.9 magnitudes. Venus rises abour 2 hours before the Sun at the beginning of the month with an elevation of ~7 degrees before dawn, but both reduce as the month progresses. We have nearly come to the end of its morning apparition as it moves towards superior conjunction (behind the Sun) in August. It will not then be visible, low in our south-western sky, until late November.
  
  
Highlights
• March 2nd - before dawn: Venus, Saturn and a thin crescent Moon. Looking southeast before dawn and if clear, a thin crescent Moon will be seen lying between Venus and Saturn.
  
  
• March 12th - evening: a waxing Moon approaches the Pleiades and Hyades clusters. Looking high in the southwest during the early evening one will, if clear, spot the Moon lying below the Pleaides and Hyades open clusters in Taurus.
  
  
• March 16th - just before dawn: Jupiter and Saturn above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon just east of south, one should be able to see Jupiter lying up to the right of Saturn above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius.
  
  
• March - Evenings of the 14th and 28th: The Straight Wall on the Moon. The Straight Wall, or Rupes Recta, is best observed either 1 or 2 days after First Quarter or a day or so before Third Quarter. To honest, it is not really a wall but a gentle scarp - as Sir Patrick has said "Neither is it a wall nor is it straight!".
  
  
Maps, images and more details on http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky


Southern Hemisphere

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



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

• The Season of Harvest.
  
  
• Kia Ora from New Zealand, Hi everyone, Once again we are at Space Place at Carter Observatory holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan in the background, our Wellingtonian star composer.
  
  I'm Haritina Mogosanu, and I'm Samuel Leske.
  
  Just look up after sunset - pray that there is clear skies and you will see one of the most amazing night skies in the world. We've also been to a few star parties lately and had the opportunity to observe all night long these amazing features that set the sky of the Southern Hemisphere in a special place in our heart. Right now, the galactic centre is slowly coming back into the picture but there are still amazing views in the Carina-Southern Cross region and the Large Magellanic Cloud. So to get your own star party going, We prepared some instructions for looking up in March.
  
  
• Planets. There are no decent planets in sight in the evening sky, just Mars and that is so close to the horizon that you can hardly distinguish it from the stars and by 10 AM it's sunk into the underworld. So if you really want to see planets you will have to stay up late. The brightest stars in the night sky are there in March, so if you'd like to know what those lights are, we will tell you all about it. March is the month when the day is equal to the night, as we are observing the March Equinox on Thursday, 21 of March.
  
  
• Equinox. Oh yes it is indeed autumn here in Wellington and the days will become shorter than the nights after the equinox. At the beginning of the month, the Sun sets around 8:30 PM and earlier and earlier every day as we are heading towards the end of the month when it will set around 7:40 PM.
  
  
At nightfall, half of our galaxy, the Milky Way, arches across the night sky from North to South, like the arm of the octopus. Wellington and New Zealand have a legendary octopus they talk about, Te Wheke o Muturangi. This octopus stole the bait and the fishooks of Kupe, who lived in Hawaiki; a chase across the Pacific Ocean followed and New Zealand was re-discovered again, as it was first found by Maui according to the Polynesians. Kupe's wife, Hine-te-Aparangi saw a long cloud in the distance, a sign that land was near and she named it Aotearoa, land of the long white cloud. And cloudy it can get sometimes!


• Stars. And talking about Maori star lore, at the fringe of our milky city of stars, Milky Way, on the north-western horizon, the Pleiades, the Shining Ones (Te Tawhiti) are preparing for the journey to the underworld. They are to disappear shortly behind the Sun and will stay there for a while. They will reappear in the morning sky in June after the longest night as Matariki, the eye of the Ariki, star cluster that marks the Maori New Year. Maori have different names for the same stars at different times throughout the year, and the Pleiades get to have three names throughout the year, in different seasons.
  
  
Also shining, Sirius and Canopus reach the meridian almost in the same time, at the beginning of the month around 9:30 PM, by the middle of the month, the same stars reach meridian around 8:30 PM, and 7:30 at the end of the month. It is really impressive how fast they shift in the sky, as the Earth revolves around the Sun, and we can see this movement, in just one month. To see them in the same spot, we need to look two hours earlier at the end of the month compared to the beginning of the month.

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

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

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


• Some binocular objects. From the horizon and travelling up the Milky Way, well sort of, first we come to M83, the Southern pinwheel, a large face-on spiral at magnitude 7.09, nearby is the Sombrero Galaxy at 8.12 mag, then closer to the Southern Cross is Centaurus A at 6.64 mag, very close to Centaurus A is the huge globular cluster Omega centauri and we can't look at Omega Centauri without also taking in the beautiful 47 Tucanae just by the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Magellanic Clouds are exceptional binocular objects.
  
  
The Magellanic clouds are our neighbouring galaxies, circumpolar here in Wellington and always a little elusive to direct sight. The Magellanic clouds are the best training objects for averted vision, always try to see them with the edge of the field of view of your eye while pretending you're looking at something else.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter, starts the month rising around 3:30 a.m. and brightens from magnitude -1.9 to -2.0 as the month progresses whilst its angular size increases slightly from 33.6 to 36.1 arc seconds. By month's end it rises by ~2 am so will be higher in the sky before dawn. Sadly it is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and currently lies in the southern part of Ophiuchus just above Scorpius.
  
  
• Saturn, shining with a magnitude of +0.6, rises one and a half hours before the Sun at the start of the month some 85 minutes after Venus. Its disk is ~16 arc seconds across and its rings - which are still 24 degrees from the line of sight - spanning 35 arc seconds across.
  
  
• Mercury, passed through Superior conjunction (behind the Sun) at the end of January and will not become visible in the evening twilight until around the 12th of the month having a magnitude of -1.2. During March's second half it dims to magnitude -0.2 but, by its end, sets some one and a half hours after the Sun. Mercury, with an angular size of 7 arc seconds, reaches its greatest elongation east on the 26th of the month, then 18 degrees away from the Sun and with an elevation of ~9 degrees 45 minutes after the Sun has set. Binoculars could well be needed to reduce the background glare, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.
  
  
• Mars, though fading from +0.9 to +1.2 magnitudes during the month, remains prominent in the south western sky after sunset at an elevation of ~38 degrees after sunset as it moves north-eastwards from the constellation of Pisces into Aries on the 12th of the month. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) Its angular size falls from 6 arc seconds to less than 5 and a half arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.
  
  
• Venus, begins February with a magnitude of -4.3. as it Its angular size reduces from 19 to 16 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 62% to 72% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.3 to -4.1 magnitudes. See the highlight above when it lies close to Saturn.
  
  
Highlights
• February 9th - before dawn: Jupiter, Venus and Saturn. Looking southeast before dawn one should, if clear, be able to easily spot Jupiter lying up to the right of Venus and, just above the horizon, Saturn. A low horizon in this direction will be needed to see Saturn.
  
  
• February 10th - evening: Mars above a waxing Moon. Looking southwest in the evening if clear, Mars will be seen lying above a waxing crescent Moon. Uranus lies to the upper left of Mars.
  
  
• February 11-13th - evening: Mars skirts past Uranus. Looking southwest in these evenings if clear, Mars (magnitude 1) will be seen passing close by Uranus giving us an easy way of finding the magnitude 6 planet.
  
  
• February 16th - just before dawn: Venus and Saturn close by. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the southeast, one should be able to see Venus lying just up to the right of Saturn. Jupiter shines to their upper right.
  
  
• February 22nd - just after sunset: Mercury above the western horizon. If clear just after sunset, and given a low horizon towards the west, one should be able to spot Mercury. Binoculars might be needed to cut through the Sun's glare, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.
  
  
• February 28th - before dawn: three planets and a waning crescent Moon. If clear before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the south southeast, one should be able to observe what will be the best skyscape of the month with Venus, Saturn, a waning crescent Moon and Jupiter forming a line above the horizon.
  
  
• February 13th and 25th: The Alpine Valley. These are two good nights to observe an interesting feature on the Moon if you have a small telescope. Close to the limb is the Appenine mountain chain that marks the edge of Mare Imbrium. Towards the upper end you should see the cleft across them called the Alpine valley. It is about 7 miles wide and 79 miles long. As shown in the image is a thin rill runs along its length which is quite a challenge to observe. The dark crater Plato will also be visible nearby. You may also see the shadow cast by the mountain Mons Piton lying not far away in Mare Imbrium. This is a very interesting region of the Moon!
  
  
Southern Hemisphere

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



• Kia Ora from New Zealand, hi everyone, we are here at Space Place at Carter Observatory in New Zealand holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, my favourite place to be, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan, our Wellingtonian star composer. I'm Haritina Mogosanu, and I'm Samuel Leske. At this time of the year we are looking towards the edge of our galaxy, the Milky Way, and Orion is just like last month, the main feature out there in the sky apart from the south celestial objects.
  
  
• Sun Rise. Everybody talks about the evening night sky but I'd love to also mention the wonderful early riser.
  What's an early riser? I think it is someone who wakes up around 4am and then commutes to work, or they are just a morning person. At that time of the morning, about 4am, the galactic centre rises as well, not just the people getting up early. And as they rise, Jupiter is out there in Ophiuchus about 30 degrees above horizon and above it is the red giant Antares. As each day goes past, Venus will seem to lower towards the Eastern horizon towards Saturn, which will also be visible in the early morning, around the 19 of February, when it will have a spectacular conjunction with Venus.
  
  
So a most interesting morning sky in February and let's just add that the Southern Cross will be high up in the sky at that early hour, crossing the meridian and pointing straight south so at least South is easy to find at 4AM in the morning if you misplaced your car keys or train pass.

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

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


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

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

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

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


• Gastronomy. So in the spirit of gastronomy - this one is from him as well, we will now point out The Pot. Higher up in the sky from Procyon is Orion, upside down here to what is known in the Northern hemisphere. So the red giant Betelgeuse is lower and then comes Orion's belt, the sword and then Rigel, the blue giant is up the top. Now when you look towards Orion, you're looking towards The Pot. Its handle is made up of Orion's sword and the bottom is Orion's belt. Holding the shape of the pot is Eta Orionis, a variable blue white main sequence double star in Orion between 3.4 and 4.9 magnitude.
  
  
We are very practical people here in New Zealand, and it is summertime and when you think of all that seafood that we will point out later, it is very nice to be here, there's just the little issue that the nights are too short at this time of the year.


• Are you Sirius? Yes very much so, Sirius is to the right of Orion and in a straight line up from Procyon, if you look northeast. And if you draw a line from Procyon to Sirius around 9PM in the middle of the month it will point to Zenith the point straight overhead.
  
  
To the right of the Zenith and almost as high, is my favourite Cat Star, Canopus, also I've heard of this from Frank, he explained to me that any serious astronomer in New Zealand has a ginger cat called Canopus. This is the tradition about the Cat star. Canopus is part of Carina, a spectacular zone in the sky.

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

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

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


• Asterisms and fish. The stars from Centaurus, Alpha and Beta Centauri (Hadar) together with Birdun, Muhlifain and Delta Centauri make the South Celestial Frying Pan. This is a season -based asterism visible probably best in January and February. Southern Cross and the Coalsack are respectively the Fish and the Flounder (the latter is the Maori name for the Coalsack) in the frying pan.
  
  
If you imagine that the Southern Cross is a big arrowhead, on the other side of the 60 degrees declination South circle is Achernar the end of the river Eridanus. These are the most prominent stars of the early evening sky, if we can call that evening, as we can only start seeing them after 8:30 when the Sun sets here this month.

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

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

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


• Canopus. It's an amazing sky this month, even though we don't see much of the Milky Way, we have brilliant stars in the sky. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky, Canopus is the second brightest and Alpha Centauri is the third brightest star at about 4 and a quarter light years away. Sirius, a double star is also very close to us, about 8.60 light years, whereas Canopus, also known as Alpha Carinae is about 309 light years away. And perhaps not too many people know but Canopus is also a double star.
  
  
I really love this star, my favourite thing about it is that it's used by interplanetary spacecraft as a reference point since it lies away from the plane of our solar system where the bright planets are found. And also in my favourite book, Dune the planet Arrakis is the third planet orbiting Canopus.

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

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


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

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


• Space Place and Telescopes. Space Place is one of the historical icons of New Zealand in terms of astronomy, located at the heart of our capital city. We have amazing historical telescopes, a 23 cm Cooke built in 1867 that we use for public viewing and we also have a retro Boller and Chivens 16 - I noticed that's the word used now when people talk about stuff made in the 60's.
  
  
The Cooke has quite a story behind it and how it got to New Zealand and eventually how it ended up in Wellington. It has been a very important telescope for research including being used to photograph Halley's Comet in 1910. Also on display is a James Short telescope. We only look at this one - and not through, it's locked in the displays, it's a very important telescope we believe came here with Captain Cook and it was donated by Adam Read, he is the son of Peter Read who was the creator and presenter of the New Zealand's Night Sky TV show in 1960's.

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

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


• I am Haritina Mogosanu and I am Samuel Leske, and we are Milky Way Kiwi at Space Place at Carter Observatory in New Zealand, Southern Hemisphere, with the February podcast, the Southern Hemisphere section for the Jodcast.
  
  
Thank you and Clear skies from Wellington!

Northern Hemisphere

The Night Sky

Northern Hemisphere

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

Note the Total Eclipse of the Moon on the morning of January 21stThe Planets

• Jupiter.Jupiter starts the month rising around 5 a.m., and brightens from magnitude -1.9 to -1.9 as the month progresses whilst its angular size increases slightly from 31.8 to 33.6 arc seconds. The highlights show how it combines with Venus to give us some wonderful views in the East before dawn.
  
  
• Saturn.Saturn passes behind the Sun on the 2nd of January so will not be visible in the pre-dawn eastern sky until around the third week of the month shining with a magnitude of +0.6. With a disk of ~15 arc seconds across and with rings spanning over twice this, it will rise one and a half hours before the Sun by month's end.
  
  
• Mercury.Mercury might just be glimpsed in the first few days of the month very low in the southeast just before sunrise shining at magnitude -0.4. Binoculars could well be needed as this reduces the background glare, but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.
  
  
• Mars.Mars, though fading from +0.5 to +0.9 magnitudes during the month remains prominent in the southern sky after sunset at an elevation of ~36 degrees, increasing to 41 degrees during January as it moves north-eastwards across the constellation of Pisces. (If only it could have been at this elevation when at closest approach last year!) Its angular size falls from 7.5 arc seconds to 6 arc seconds during the month so one will not be able to spot any details on its salmon-pink surface.
  
  
• Venus.Venus reaches greatest elongation west some 47 degrees away from the Sun on January 6th so dominates the eastern sky rising some 3 hours before the Sun. It begins January with a dazzling magnitude of -4.6. Its angular size reduces from 26.3 to 19.4 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 47% to 62% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.6 to -4.3 magnitudes. See the highlight above when it lies close to Jupiter.
  
  
Highlights
• January 3rd - before dawn: Jupiter below a very thin crescent Moon.
• Around the 6th of January (with no Moon in the sky): find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum.Around new Moon (6th Jan) - and away from towns and cities - you may also be able to spot M33, the third largest galaxy after M31 and our own galaxy in our Local Group of galaxies. It is a face on spiral and its surface brightness is pretty low so a dark, transparent sky will be needed to spot it using binoculars (8x40 or, preferably, 10x50). Follow the two stars back from M31 and continue in the same direction sweeping slowly as you go. It looks like a piece of tissue paper stuck on the sky just a bit brighter than the sky background. Good Hunting!
  
  
• January12th - evening: Mars above a waxing Moon.Looking south in the evening if clear, Mars will be seen lying above a waxing crescent Moon.
  
  
• January 21st - a Total Eclipse of the Moon.If clear in the hours before dawn, we should be able to see a Total Eclipse of the Moon as it moves through the Earth's shadow at times indicated on the chart. It will be fully eclipsed from 04:41 to 05:43. A nice photo opportunity.
  
  
• January 31st - just before dawn: a thin crescent Moon lies between Jupiter and Venus.If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the southeast, one should be able to see a thin waning crescent Moon lying between Jupiter (on its right) and Venus shining brightly to its left. A nice photo opportunity.
  
  
• January 13th and 26th evening: The Hyginus Rille.
  
  
Southern Hemisphere

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



• The Shining Ones.
• Kia Ora from New Zealand.Hi everyone, We are here at Space Place at Carter Observatory holding Galactic Conversations from the heart of Wellington in the Southern Hemisphere, my favourite place to be, with the music of the amazing Rhian Sheehan, our Wellingtonian star composer, and we are Haritina Mogoșanu and Samuel Leske. Space Place is our historical astronomy icon here in New Zealand and we are located right at the heart of our capital city. And we are so lucky to be among the capital cities in the world from where you can still see the Milky Way.
  
  
• Summary.As for deep sky objects, the month is perfect for observing Orion and some of the objects from the Northern Hemisphere that sit below Orion in the Southern Sky, such as the fabulous Rosette Nebula and the elusive M74. Back to the south celestial region, we can still see the Magellanic Clouds and some awesome circumpolar objects, check out our videos on how to find them on Milky-Way. And did you know that this time of the year you can see the brightest, second brightest and third brightest star in the sky from here from Wellington? If you have a solar telescope you can admire a very quiet Sun. Almost no spots adorn the Sun but we will be watching it closely to see if any appear. (Do NOT look at the sun with a telescope, binoculars or even the naked eye without protection!) Watch for the Moon, it new on the first Sunday of the month, which means that's a good week for deep sky observations, and full on the third week, the 21st of January.
  
  
You must wake up very early in the morning to see the other planets, which are mostly in the morning sky, so if you're a morning person then you're in for a show. Venus, Jupiter and Mercury are all visible in the morning sky, as well as the Moon in the first week of the Month and Saturn at the end of the month. You can wake up as early as 3:30 for Venus, and Jupiter is rising up every morning earlier so it catches up with Venus around the 22nd when they will rise together and then Jupiter will move higher than Venus. Saturn will be rising around 4:30 in the morning at the end of the month. So who said the sky is only for the night owls? But what is there left for the night owls if everything is in the morning sky?


• Planets. Mars is still in the evening sky although we will need to wait until 9 PM when the Sun sets and then look northwest. Mars is still bright so it should be easy to spot. Unseen to the naked eye, to the left of Mars is Neptune and to the right is Uranus. Uranus is 19 AU from the Sun, which is 162 light minutes away. Although you can see Uranus, which has a visual magnitude of 5.8 with the naked eye from a very dark place, for Neptune you will definitely need a telescope. Both are beautiful with a bluish tint.
  
  
• Bright Stars. So because this time of the year there are many distinctive bright stars in the night sky, I call it the season of the shining ones.
  
  
• Constellations. So not only there are pans and pots in the Southern Sky but there are also crosses. There's the Southern Cross, the Diamond Cross and the False Cross, and these are like official asterisms. That is if you ignore the fact that every combination of four stars can look like a cross. The great thing about them is that they are teeming with amazing deep sky objects. Such is the very famous Jewel Box open cluster near the Southern Cross. Two favourites of ours are the star clusters Omicron Velorum and NGC 2516 in the False Cross region, NGC 2516 is next Avior and Omicron Velorum is next to the star Delta Velorum.
  
  
• Clusters.And also remember that it doesn't really matter what you call the stars as long as you can remember where they are.
  
  
• May you enjoy the beginning of another happy rotation around the sun! Thank you and Clear skies from Wellington!
  
  

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter - Jupiter passed behind the Sun on November 26th and will appear low in the eastern pre-dawn sky around the 12th of the month. It will have a magnitude of ~-1.8 and a disk ~32 arc seconds across. It is not a good month to observe Jupiter due to its low elevation, but do see the 'highlight' above.
  
  
• Saturn - Saturn might just be glimpsed in the first few days of December very low in the southwest around 16:45 but soon disappears into the Sun's glare as it moves towards superior conjunction on January 2nd. It will have a disk of ~15 arc seconds and a magnitude of +0.5.
  
  
• Mercury - Mercury passed between us and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on the 27th of November but appears in the pre-dawn sky around the 6th of the month. It will then have a magnitude of +0.5 which increases to magnitude 0 by the 8th. Mercury reaches its greatest elongation (west) of the Sun on the 16th, when 21 degrees away and rising over an hour and a half before it when it is ~60% lit. As the morning ecliptic is at a steep angle to the horizon at this time of the year, this is an excellent apparition. Do not miss (when hopefully clear) its conjunction with Jupiter as described above.
  
  
• Mars - Mars, though fading from magnitude -0.0 to +0.4 during the month remains prominent in the southern sky as it starts the month at an elevation of 27 degrees in Aquarius. It will lie due south around 6 pm. As the month progresses, it moves eastwards into Pisces on the 21st; slightly higher in elevation at ~32 degrees when due south around 5:30 pm. Its angular size falls from 9.3 arc seconds to 7.5 arc seconds during the month so it will become harder to spot any details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface.
  
  
• Venus - Venus begins December at an elevation of ~32 degrees and with a dazzling magnitude of -4.9. Its angular size reduces from 40.7 to 26.6 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but, at the same time, the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 26% to 47% - which is why the brightness only reduces from -4.9 to -4.6 magnitudes. It will reach greatest elongation from the Sun on January 6th.
  
  
Highlights
• Comet46P/Wirtanen rises high in the sky and may be visible to the unaided eye. This month we have a chance of seeing a comet with our unaided eyes as it could reach magnitude +3. The chart shows its position during the month as it rises above the southern horizon through Taurus and Auriga. On the night of the 16/17th December it will pass between the Pleaides and Hyades clusters in Taurus - making a wonderful imaging opportunity if clear. Then, on the night of the 24th, it will lie very close to Capella in Auriga (but sadly, the Moon will then be full).
  
  
At closest approach on the night of December 16th it will be only 30 times further than the Moon. Then its coma should be about 1 km in size and span one degree across. The waxing gibbous Moon will hinder our view early on that night but will set at 1 am, so it is worth staying up late if it is clear!


• December 3rd - before dawn: Venus below a very thin crescent Moon. Looking southeast before dawn one should, if clear, be able to easily spot brilliant Venus lying below a very thin crescent Moon. Spica is over to the right of Venus making a nice photo opportunity.
  
  
• December 7th - 1 hour after sunset: A very close conjunction of Mars and Neptune. Looking south after sunset one should, if clear, be easily able to spot Mars. But when it gets fully dark, with binoculars or a small telescope, Neptune should appear just down to its lower right. A great opportunity to find Neptune - let's hope it is clear!
  
  
• December 14th - after sunset: Mars will lie 4 degrees above the First Quarter Moon. Looking south after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars lying about 4 degrees above the First Quarter Moon making a nice photo opportunity.
  
  
• December 14th and 15th after midnight: the Geminid Meteor Shower. The early mornings of December 14th and 15th will give us the chance, if clear, of observing the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. The Moon is at First Quarter and will set around 11 pm so, when Gemini is highest in the sky, its light will not hinder our view. The Geminids can often produce near-fireballs and so the shower is well worth observing if it is clear. An observing location well away from towns or cities will pay dividends. The relatively slow moving meteors arise from debris released from the asteroid 3200 Phaethon. This is unusual, as most meteor showers come from comets. The radiant - where the meteors appear to come from - is close to the bright star Castor in the constellation Gemini as shown on the chart. If it is clear it will be cold - so wrap up well, wear a woolly hat and have some hot drinks with you.
  
  
• December 21st - just before dawn: Jupiter and Mercury together with Venus above. If clear just before dawn, and given a low horizon towards the east, one should be able to see Mercury lying a little above Jupiter making it appearance in a new apparition. Venus will be shining brightly up to their right. A nice photo opportunity.
  
  
• December 22nd/23rd - late evenings: the Ursid Meteor Shower. The late evenings of the 22nd and 23rd of December are when the Ursid meteor shower will be at its best - though the peak rate of ~10-15 meteors per hour is not that great. Sadly, this year Full Moon is on the 21st, so its light will greatly hinder our view. The radiant lies close to the star Kochab in Ursa Minor (hence their name), so look northwards at a high elevation. Occasionally, there can be a far higher rate so it is worth having a look should it be clear.
  
  
• December 16th (late night) and 17th: Two Great Lunar Craters. This is a great night to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon - seen in the image below - the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a clasic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.
  
  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter - Jupiter is now moving towards its superior conjunction behind the Sun on November 26th and will not be visible this month.
  
  
• Saturn - Saturn will be visible in the southwest at an elevation of ~11 degrees after sunset at the beginning of November but disappears into the Sun's glare by the end of the month. Its disk has an angular size of 15.7 arc seconds falling to 15.2 during the month whilst its brightness increases slightly from +0.5 to +0.6 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest last year but are still, at 24 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn is now moving westwards over the 'teapot' of Sagittarius to the left of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will greatly hinder our view.
  
  
• Mercury - Mercury reaches its greatest elongation east from the Sun on November 6th but, as the angle of the ecliptic to the horizon in the evening is shallow at this time of the year, it will be lost in the Sun's glare as it moves towards inferior conjunction (between us and the Sun) on the 27th of the month.
  
  
• Mars.Though fading from magnitude -0.6 to -0.1, Mars actually becomes more prominent in the southern sky after sunset as it climbs higher in elevation from ~17 degrees at the start of the month to ~27 degrees by month's end. Its angular size is 11.9 arc seconds at the start of the month falling to 9.3 arc seconds by its end. Moving from Capricornus into Aquarius on November 11th, it should still just be possible with a small to medium sized telescope to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface.
  
  
• Venus - Venus passed between us and the Sun (inferior conjunction) on October 26th and can be seen from around the 8th of this month in the east before sunrise. As, at this time of the year, the ecliptic at dawn has a steep angle to the horizon it rapidly increases in elevation as November progresses and will have an elevation of ~20 degrees before sunrise by month's end. The planet brightens from -4.6 to a dazzling -4.9 magnitudes during November making it dominate the pre-dawn eastern sky. Its angular size reduces from 60.6 to 41.4 arc seconds during the month as it moves away from the Earth but at the same time the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) increases from 1% to 25% - which is why the brightness actually increases.
  
  
Highlights
• November - still a good month to observe Neptune and Uranus with a small telescope. Neptune came into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will still be well placed to spot this month. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 2.3 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius as shown on the charts. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark (around the 7th) transparent night it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton.
  
  
Uranus reached opposition on October 23rd and so is visible all night. It will be highest in the sky in the south around midnight shining at magnitude 5.7 and with a disk 3.7 arc seconds across. It lies in Pisces, one degree and 18 arc minutes up to the right of Omicron Pisces as shown in the accompanying chart. Its turquoise green colour should be seen in a small telescope and it will be easily spotted in binoculars.


• Around the 7th of November (with no Moon in the sky): find M31 - The Andromeda Galaxy - and perhaps M33 in Triangulum. In the evening, the galaxy M31 in Andromeda is visible in the south. The chart provides two ways of finding it:
  
  
1) Find the square of Pegasus. Start at the top left star of the square - Alpha Andromedae - and move two stars to the left and up a bit. Then turn 90 degrees to the right, move up to one reasonably bright star and continue a similar distance in the same direction. You should easily spot M31 with binoculars and, if there is a dark sky, you can even see it with your unaided eye. The photons that are falling on your retina left Andromeda well over two million years ago!

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

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


• November early mornings: November Meteors. In the hours before dawn, November gives us a chance to observe meteors from two showers. The first that it is thought might produce some bright events is the Northern Taurids shower which has a broad peak of around 10 days but normally gives relatively few meteors per hour. The peak is around the 10th of November, just after new Moon, so its light will not intrude. The meteors arise from comet 2P/Encke. Its tail is especially rich in large particles and, this year, we may pass through a relatively rich band so it is possible that a number of fireballs might be observed!
  
  
The better known November shower is the Leonids which peak on the night of the 17th/18th of the month. The Moon is just after first quarter so, before it sets, its light will hinder our view somewhat. As one might expect, the shower's radiant lies within the sickle of Leo and meteors could be spotted from the 15th to the 20th of the month. The Leonids enter the atmosphere at ~71 km/sec and this makes them somewhat challenging to photograph but it is worth trying as one might just capture a bright fireball. Up to 15 meteors an hour could be observed if near the zenith. The Leonids are famous because every 33 years a meteor storm might be observed when the parent comet, 55P/Temple-Tuttle passes close to the Sun. In 1999, 3,000 meteors were observed per hour but we are now halfway between these impressive events hence with a far lower expected rate.


• November - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark high in the south-west you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!
  
  
• November - late evening: Find the asteroid Juno in Eridanus. Asteroid 3, Juno, makes its closest approach to Earth on November 16th/17th moving southwards in the constellation Eridanus as shown on the chart. On the first of November, looking southeast at ~11 pm it will have an elevation of 27 degrees and a magnitude of 7.58 and lie just above the 5.2 magnitude star 35 Eridani - so helping one to find it with binoculars. On the 17th, with a magnitude of 7.46, it will lie just down to the right of the 4.7th magnitude star 32 Eridani - so, again, helping one to find it with binoculars. Continuing its southwards motion, it will lie just above 22 Eridani (magnitude 5.5) on the last day of the month having a magnitude again of 7.58.
  
  
• November 4th - 1 hour after sunset: Mars close to Delta Capricornus. Looking South Southeast after sunset one should, if clear, be able to spot Mars less than 1 degree up and to the right of the 3rd magnitude eclipsing binary star system Deneb Algedi (Delta Capricornus - 49 Capricornus).
  
  
• November 11th - after sunset: Saturn below a thin crescent Moon. Given a low horizon towards the Southwest, and if clear, a very nice photo opportunity will arise with Saturn lying just a little to the lower right of a thin crescent Moon, four days after new.
  
  
• November 16th - after sunset: Mars close to the Moon. After sunset on the 16th, Mars will be seen over to the right of the Moon, just after first quarter.
  
  
• November 17th - before dawn: Venus and Spica. If clear, and given a low eastern horizon, Venus (magnitude -4.56) will be seen just one and a half degrees to the lower left of Spica (magnitude 0.95) in Virgo.
  
  
• Hyginus Crater and Rille. For some time a debate raged as to whether the craters on the Moon were caused by impacts or volcanic activity. We now know that virtually all were caused by impact, but it is thought that the Hyginus crater that lies at the centre of the Hyginus Rille may well be volcanic in origin. It is an 11 km wide rimless pit - in contrast to impact craters which have raised rims - and its close association with the rille of the same name associates it with internal lunar events. It can quite easily be seen to be surrounded by dark material. It is thought that an explosive release of dust and gas created a vacant space below so that the overlying surface collapsed into it so forming the crater.
  
  

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

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

• Stars and Constellations. Looking towards the southern horizon you should be able to see these asterisms on:
  
  
November 1st at 10:30 PM NZDT

November 15 at 9:30 PM NZDT

December 1st at 8:30 PM NZDT

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

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

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

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

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

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


• Eastern Sky. Back to the Eastern Sky, this time of the year, the Pleiades are visible again on the horizon. Harbingers for Halloween in the northern hemisphere where now skies are grey and ravens await for the first snows, for Maori, the Pleiades are now harbingers of summer. Together with the Hyades they make the wake and feathers from the Great Canoe (Waka) of Tama Rereti.
  
  
November is the month when Milky Way surrounds the horizon like an ocean and the Great Waka was used by Maori to mark the arrival of the warm season when it was safe to travel the ocean. Tama Rereti's Waka placed the stars in the sky and now lies moored in the wake of the Milky Way.

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

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

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


• Magellanic Clouds. With the Milky Way laying across the horizon, there aren't so many deep sky objects handy to observe. However, we are in the Southern Hemisphere and the spectacular Magellanic Clouds (or Nubeculae Magellani) are high in the sky at this time of the year. Remember they were the sail of the waka o Tama Rereti and this sail is now set. In my first night here in New Zealand, I printed a map of them and started looking onto the southern sky annoyed by a cirrus cloud I thought, only to discover to my delight that it was the Large Magellanic Cloud I was looking at. It is that spectacular and substantial. The large Magellanic Cloud is about 160,000 light years from us and the Small Magellanic Cloud is about 200,000 light years away. To find them, draw a line from the Southern Cross to Achernar. Two thirds from the Southern Cross on each side of the line are the two galaxies. Now far apart, it seems that they collided in a the past, as a paper just published in October 2018 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters supports that idea with data from the Gaia satellite.
  
  
Inside the Magellanic Clouds are amazing deep sky objects. The Large Magellanic Cloud was host galaxy to a supernova (SN 1987A), the brightest observed in over four centuries, co discovered independently by Ian Shelton and Oscar Duhalde at the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile on February 24, 1987, and within the same 24 hours by the legendary Albert Jones in New Zealand. Albert Jones was the first astronomer in the world that made 500,000 observations and he could distinguish about one twentieth of a magnitude, whereas most people can distinguish about one tenth of magnitude changes.

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

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

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


• Pegasus. To the North, the great horse of Pegasus is flying through the sky. Andromeda is in the sky too and if we could only see it from Wellington... but even if we did it would be like a smidgen, since is very close to the horizon.
  
  
All the stars that we touched briefly on, will come back in a year's time in the same formation. We cannot really perceive the proper motion of the stars, it takes them thousands of years to visibly shift positions (well maybe except Barnards' Star). So we are now looking at the same constellations as our ancestors did thousands of years ago (maybe 3 or 4,000 years ago). That's the reason why the stars were used to mark seasons and navigate, their patterns remain constant for thousands of years. What changes the sky and makes every year different are mostly the planets, and sometimes other visitors like comets or asteroids.


• On the planetary realm. At the beginning of the month Jupiter and Mercury will be low in the west at dusk, setting toward the southwest 1.5 hours after the sun. Orange Mars is in Capricornus north of overhead at dusk. Midway between Mars and Jupiter is Saturn in Sagittarius. Jupiter sets earlier each night as we move to the far side of the sun from it. By mid-month it is lost in the twilight. Mercury holds its position in the west before disappearing late in November when it passes between us and the sun. A thin crescent moon will be near Mercury and Jupiter on the 9th. At the end of the month Saturn and Mars are the only naked-eye planets in the evening sky. The moon will be near Saturn on the 11th and 12th and close to Mars on the 16th. Venus rises a little south of east 50 minutes before the sun at the beginning of the month; more than 1.5 hours before sunrise at the end. It is a long thin crescent in a telescope and big binoculars.
  
  
• Phases of the Moon. The month starts with the Moon at Last Quarter, then New Moon is on the 8th, followed by First Quarter on 16 November and full Moon on the 23rd.
  
  
• And with this, I wish you a great November, good night and clear skies from Space Place at Carter Observatory in Wellington New Zealand.
  
  

Northern Hemisphere

The Night Sky

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

The Planets

• Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen low in the west soon after sunset at the start of the month. It shines at magnitude -1.8 (falling to -1.7 during the month) and has a disk some 32.6 (falling to 31.4) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons could be visible in a small telescope but its low elevation will greatly hinder our view.
  
  
• Saturn - Saturn will be visible in the south-east at an elevation of ~14 degrees after sunset at the beginning of October. Its disk has an angular size of 16.5 arc seconds falling to 15.7 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.5 to +0.6 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest last year but are still well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn is moving slowly eastwards in Sagittarius. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will greatly hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Mercury - Mercury (shining at magnitude -0.2 and with an angular diameter of ~6 arc seconds) might just be spotted very low in the west at the very end of the month and binoculars could well be needed - but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. Look up and to the left of where the Sun has set as its angular separation from the Sun is not great.
  
  
• Mars - Mars, now racing eastwards in Capricornus, made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. It can be seen due south shining at a magnitude of -1.3 around 9 pm at the start of October but this falls to -0.6 by month's end when it is due south at ~8 pm. Its angular size is 16 arc seconds at the start of October but this falls to 12 arc seconds by November. With a small telescope it should be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector? A superb program WinJUPOS can be used to find what should be visible on any night.
  
  
• Venus - Venus is not visible from the UK this month but will be seen low in the east just before sunrise by the middle of next month.
  
  
Highlights
• October - still worth observing Mars. Mars came to its closest opposition to Earth since 2003 on the 27th July but, sadly its elevation has conspired to limit our views. From the UK its maximum elevation when on the meridian is only 14 degrees when observed from a latitude of +52 degrees. It angular size at the start of October is still 16 arc seconds so it is still worth looking for details on the surface now that the dust storm that covered much of the surface in June and July has subsided. The free program WinJUPOS will show you what should be visible on the Martian surface.
  
  
• October - a good month to observe Uranus with binoculars or a small telescope. Uranus comes into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 23rd of October, so will be well placed both this month and next. Its magnitude is +5.7 so Uranus, with a disk just 3.7 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aries close to the borders of Cetus and Pisces. It rises to an elevation of ~47 degrees when due south. Given a small telescope it will appear as a small turquoise coloured disk. On the night of closest approach, it will lie up to the left of a near Full Moon - whose glare might make it hard to spot!
  
  
• October - still a good month to observe Neptune with a small telescope. Neptune came into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will still be well placed this month. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 2.3 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius up to the left of Lambda Aquarii as shown on the charts. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark transparent night (around New Moon on the 9th) it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton.
  
  
• October - early morning: find a Comet with binoculars. In the early hours of a clear morning one should be able, using binoculars, to spot the comet Giacobini-Zinner arching across the heavens as shown on the chart. It was discovered by Michael Giacobini in December 1900, but then 're-discovered' by Ernst Zinner 6.5 years later. Its nucleus is about 2 km across.
  
  
• October - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!
  
  
• October 11th - after sunset: Jupiter below a thin crescent Moon. If clear after sunset and given a very low western horizon one should be able to see Jupiter setting in the West down to the left of a very thin crescent Moon. Binoculars might well be needed to cut through the twilight, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.
  
  
• October 14th - after sunset: Saturn to the left of a waxing crescent Moon. If clear after sunset and looking southwest, one should be able to see Saturn over to the left of a waxing crescent Moon.
  
  
• October 18 - evening: Mars close to the first quarter Moon. During the evening of the 18th, Mars, in the south, will be seen close to the third quarter Moon. A nice photo opportunity perhaps?
  
  
• Learn the Mare on the Moon. Why not use the annotated image of the full Moon to learn the locations of the Moon's Mare. You can see some of them with your unaided eye and binoculars will enable you to spot them all.
  
  

Southern Hemisphere

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

Southern Hemisphere

Introduction.

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

• The Planets. It's been the winter of the planets in the Southern Hemisphere and spring has continued the theme. October is still offering a great chance to see many of the fantastic planetary sights that we've become accustomed to over the winter. The start of October sees the Sun setting just after 7:30 in the evening as the nights are starting to get shorter and daylight savings has made astronomers stay up an hour extra to view the night sky.
  
  
• Venus, Jupiter and Mercury. The early evening sky is dominated first by Venus and then by Jupiter as darkness falls. Both of the planets start the month in Libra with Venus heading towards the Sun in Virgo by the end of the month. Jupiter is joined by Mercury from the 27 Oct for a few days, though will be a real challenge to see very low on the horizon just after the Sun has set at about 15 degrees so Kiwis will have to head to the coast or climb up some of the high hills to have a chance of a fleeting view of Mercury. Unfortunately the situation is the same for Jupiter, the planet that has been with us since autumn is getting lower and lower in the sky and will make for challenging viewing.
  
  
• Saturn, Neptune and Mars. Marching up the ecliptic, Saturn is still in Sagittarius and its rings are at a great tilt to view them. A modest telescope and good seeing should reveal the Cassini division. Also in Sagittarius is Pluto, though at a magnitude of 14.3 it's going to be quite a challenge to see unless you've got your hands on a bigger telescope. And at around 0.1 arcseconds across it's only going to look like a faint star. The dominant planet of the night sky remains Mars, in Capricornus, and at -0.7 magnitude by the end of October it is still going to be very bright and easy to spot - even if you've got to put up with a lot of light pollution. By the end of October, Mars is around 114 million kilometres away which is considerably further away than it is at the start of the month which is 89 million kilometres, showing how fast Earth and Mars are separating. The start of the month will be great for viewing Mars - as it will still be close enough to make out some detail. That is if the seeing is right and the dust storm that silenced the rover Opportunity has long subsided (and hopefully we'll hear from Opportunity by October). The evening sky has one more planet for the keen astronomer with binoculars or telescopes and that's Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, which we can find in Aquarius. At 7.8 magnitude it will be easy to spot and will appear as a very small bluish disk. Neptune is a long way away at over 4.3 billion kilometres that is 242 light minutes or about four light hours.
  
  
• Deep Sky Objects. This time of the year is one of my favourite for viewing deep sky objects and a great place to start is with the Southern Cross and work your way up the Milky Way. Or the other way around. To find the Southern Cross, turn away from the ecliptic and just follow the Milky Way all the way to the two pointers, Alpha and Beta Centauri. We are so lucky in here that we can see the Milky Way. There are some great nebulae in it and really beautiful open clusters. In the Southern Cross is one of the most fantastic clusters in the night sky, the Jewel Box Cluster (also known as NGC 4755). This great little cluster has three stars in a line that look a bit like a traffic light, two blue and one red in the middle. The reddish looking star is a red supergiant about 19 times the mass of the Sun. To the right of the Southern Cross is the huge Omega Centauri globular cluster, which at a magnitude of 3.7 can be seen by the naked eye. Omega centauri is the competitor to 47 Tucanae globular cluster, which is not located in the Milky Way but in Toucana in the south celestial circumpolar part of the sky along with the Magellanic Clouds. Back to the Milky Way, and following up past Alpha Centauri, there's the sting of Scorpius which is home to the Cat's Paw Nebula (also known as NGC 6334). It's quite faint but some of the nebula can be seen - astrophotographers will get a lot of detail. Just up the Milky Way from the sting is M7, also known as Ptolemy Cluster. This amazing cluster is visible with the naked eye but through a reasonable telescope it's very impressive against the backdrop of the star clouds. The cluster has about 80 stars in it. Towards the horizon from M7 is the other amazing Southern Hemisphere site, the Milky Way Kiwi.
  
  
• Milky Way Kiwi. Right at the center of the Milky Way, a spectacular bird guards the center of our galaxy. This is the Milky Way Kiwi, a shape made from dark dust within our own galaxy. More than ten years ago astrophotographers from New Zealand were taking snapshots of the night sky. One of them looked at the pictures and realised that the dark patch known in the Northern Hemisphere as the dark horse, being upside down here, looked just like a great galactic kiwi bird. But as I realised later while travelling, you either have to be from New Zealand or have friends in New Zealand to know what a kiwi bird looks like. The Milky Way Kiwi is my absolute favourite object in the sky and I once saw it with the naked eye from Lake Tekapo in the South Island. And if you were wondering, the direction of the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy is right on the top of the head of the Milky Way kiwi, just like a jewel on a crown .
  
  
• The Moon. Since I talked about my favourite object in the sky, the Milky Way Kiwi, I will also mention my least favourite object in the sky, the Moon because it casts too much light at night, but hey people drove on it so that actually makes the Moon very cool apart from the light situation. The Moon here is obviously upside down to the Northern hemisphere and according to New Zealand kids has a big rabbit inside it. You can see its ears are Mare Fecunditatis and Mare Nectaris the head is Mare Tranquillitatis and the tummy is Mare Serenitatis. Behold the rabbit hole at Mare Crisium. Not only that there is this rabbit inside the Moon but the Moon itself is to be found on the northern part of the sky as everything else near the ecliptic in this hemisphere, and facing the ecliptic, east is to the right and west is to the left. That makes the shadows in the morning look like the evening shadows from the other hemisphere and it feels like morning in the evening and evening in the morning until the brain engages back. So if you ever come visit us, don't let them tell you it's only jetlag.
  
  
• This concludes our Jodcast for October 2018 from Space Place at Carter Observatory. Thank you to the amazing Sam Leske of Milky Way Kiwi who contributed to the content. Good night and have a great October.
  
  

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen in the west soon after sunset at the start of the month. It shines at magnitude -1.9 (falling to -1.8 during the month) and has a disk some 35 (falling to 33) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly eastwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~10 degrees after sunset. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Saturn - Saturn will be visible in the south at an elevation of ~14 degrees after sunset at the beginning of September. Its disk has an angular size of 17.5 arc seconds falling to 16.5 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.4 to +0.5 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 25 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, halts its retrograde motion on the 6th within a few degrees of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Mercury - Mercury can be seen low in the east-northeast some 30 to 45 minutes before sunrise during the first week of September. On the 5th and 6th, Mercury, shining at magnitude -1, is just over one degree from Regulus in Leo (at magnitude +1). Around the 11th of the month Mercury disappears into the Sun's glare as it moves towards superior conjunction (behind the Sun) on the 20th of the month.
  
  
• Mars - Mars, which ceased it retrograde motion westwards in Capricornus (and just moving into Sagittarius) at the beginning of the month made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. After sunset, Mars can be seen just east of south shining at a magnitude of -2.1 but this falls to -1.3 by month's end. Its angular size is 21 arc seconds at the start of the month falling to 16 arc seconds by the start of October. With a small telescope it should (but see below) be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector? As I write this in August, the dust storm which has obscured much of the surface since the end of June appears to be subsiding so let's hope it clears during September.
  
  
• Venus - Venus, was at greatest elongation east on the 17th August but is now only seen low in the west southwest after sunset setting at about 80 (reducing to 45) minutes after the Sun. The planet brightens from -4.6 to a dazzling -4.8 magnitudes making it easier to spot in the Sun's glare. Binoculars might be needed to spot it but please do not use them until after the Sun has set. Its angular size increases from 29 to 46 arc seconds during the month as the percentage illuminated disk (its phase) narrows from 40% to just 17%.
  
  
Highlights
• Early September - observe Mars. Mars came to its closest opposition to Earth since 2003 on the 27th July but, sadly two things have conspired to limit our views. From the UK its maximum elevation when on the meridian was only 12 degrees when observed from a latitude of +52 degrees. Thus the atmosphere has hindered our view and the use of an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector may well help to alleviate its effects. The second problem was that, as sometimes happens, Mars has suffered a major dust storm which, at the end of July, was making it very difficult to observe any features on the surface. These can happen every six to eight years and can last for several months. A small scale dust storm began on May 30th and, by the 20th of June, had engulfed the whole planet. Happily, the dust storm has now subsided and so details on the surface such as Syrtis Major and the Hellas Basin will be visible in small telescopes.
  
  
• Early September - observe Saturn. Saturn which reached opposition on the 27th of June, is now low (at an elevation of ~14 degrees) in the south as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory. As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little "squashed". Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison. The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring. Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are currently at an angle of 26 degrees to the line of sight. The rings will continue to narrow until March 2025 when they will appear edge-on again.
  
  
• September - evenings: - Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!
  
  
• September - evenings: - A good month to observe Neptune with a small telescope. Neptune comes into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will be well placed both this month and next. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 3.7 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius over to the left of Lambda Aquarii as shown on the charts. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark transparent night it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton. (This is my objective around this month!)
  
  
• September - evening: find the 'Coathanger'. Looking upwards after dark you should spot the three stars making up the 'Summer Triangle'. The lowest is Altair in Aquilla, up to its right is Vega in Lyra and over to its left is Deneb in Cygnus. With binoculars sweep upwards about one third of the way from Altair towards Vega. You should spot a nice asterism, formally 'Brocchi's Cluster' but usually called the Coathanger. It is formed of a straight line of six stars below which is a 'hook' of four stars. A pretty object!
  
  
• September first week - after sunset: three planets towards the south and west. If clear after sunset one should be able to see Jupiter setting in the West, Saturn lying due South, and Mars in the South southeast.
  
  
• September 8th - before dawn: Mercury below a thin crescent Moon. If clear before dawn on the 8th, look for Mercury low in the east just below a thin crescent Moon. Binoculars might be needed but please do not use them after the Sun has risen.
  
  
• September 17th - early evening: Saturn below a first quarter Moon. This evening, if clear, Saturn will be seen just below a first quarter Moon - a nice photo opportunity!
  
  
• September 18th - evening: Mars to the lower left of a waxing gibbous Moon. This evening, if clear, Mars will be seen down to the left of a waxing gibbous Moon.
  
  
• September 29th - late evening : the Moon amongst the Hyades Cluster. As Taurus rises, one should be able to spot (if clear!) a waning gibbous Moon amongst the Hyades Cluster.
  
  
• September 18th: Mons Piton and Cassini. Best seen after First Quarter, Mons Piton is an isolated lunar mountain located in the eastern part of Mare Imbrium, south-east of the crater Plato and west of the crater Cassini. It has a diameter of 25 km and a height of 2.3 km. Its height was determined by the length of the shadow it casts. Cassini is a 57km crater that has been flooded with lava. The crater floor has then been impacted many times and holds within its borders two significant craters, Cassini A, the larger and Cassini B. North of Mons Piton can be seen a rift through the Alpine Mountains (Montes Alpes). Around 166 km long it has a thin rille along its center. I have never seen it, but have been able to image it as seen in the lunar section (The 8 day old Moon).
  
  

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

• Introduction - Kia Ora everyone, Gabriela here from Wellington New Zealand looking up at our September Southern hemisphere night sky. We are finally seeing the end of the cold nights as we move into Spring. September is the time for Spring and we can see it in our gardens as well as our skies. Throughout the month you will notice that your days are slowly becoming longer and your nights will be getting shorter as the 22nd of September is the Spring Equinox, meaning that we will have nearly equal amounts of day and night and the days will continue to get longer as we move forward in time.
  
  
• The Planets - We will also notice some change in the elevation of the Sun as it has started appearing higher in our north sky and will continue to move higher throughout the month. In terms of the Moon, new moon will fall on the 9th so the beginning of the month will have the darkest skies which is perfect for viewing all the deep sky objects and the Moon will be full on the 25th of September. We still have quite a few planets in the sky found across the ecliptic. We have four naked-eye planets in our sky. The brightest of these will be Venus, our evening star. It will be on the western horizon shortly after sunset. Above Venus you will find Jupiter and up ahead, east of the zenith we have Mars. All three will be visible just after sunset as these planets appear very brightly in our sky. Mars has been especially bright this year, coming the closest it has to Earth in 15 years at the end of July and is still looking quite bright, about the same brightness as Jupiter but it is now moving away and will be appearing smaller in our skies. As the night gets darker we will see Saturn appearing in the North. The moon will be weaving its way through the planets throughout the month.
  
  
• Scorpius/Antares - Between Jupiter and Saturn you can find our 'winter' constellation Scorpius and its bright orange star, Antares (the rival of Mars). This giant red star marks the heart of the scorpion. But we don't have Scorpions in New Zealand so early Maori see it as a fish hook. And Antares is the bloody bait on the hook. Now Maori constellations, unlike European ones, change as the night changes or as the year does as they will appear at different angles and different locations. For example in the morning, Scorpius will appear on the horizon, hook side up. Then this shape becomes the Western 'Pou' or pillar holding up the sky. It is hooked over as it bears the heavy sky on it's back all alone in the west but in the east there are three 'pou'.
  
  
• Bootes /Argo Navis - We have another brilliant star in our sky. Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation of Bootes, the fourth-brightest in the night sky, and will appear in our northwest sky with Canopus, the second brightest star on the south skyline. Both of these stars will appear to twinkle. Canopus can look a little like a traffic light as it flashes different colours and Arcturus will flash red and green. This happens when the stars are so close to the horizon and the light scatters and disperses as the light has to travel through a thicker atmosphere before it reaches our eyes. Canopus is in the constellation of Carina which is circumpolar to us here in New Zealand meaning we can see it at any time of the year and night. It was once a part of a bigger constellation, the Argo Navis. that has been split into the three. The giant boat, once the largest constellation, is now formed of Carina (the keel of the ship), Vela (the sails) and Puppis (the poop deck). Carina is found near the Southern Cross (Crux). Through a pair of binoculars you can spot Eta Carinae. A star which once shone brightly in our skies during an event known as 'an imposter supernova'. A supernova can happens at the end of star's life as it collapses in on itself in a massive explosion bursting out bits of gas and dust. Eta Carinae went through a similar event but has not come to the end of its life, it is still quite hardy. Now astronomers are keeping their eye on this star as it may go full supernova are maybe go through another similar event. It is now encased in a nebula and astronomers believe it to be a double star system.
  
  
• Southern Cross.The Southern Cross is easily spotted in the South using the pointer stars, Alpha and Beta Centauri point down to the Crux constellation. Also in the South we have a stunning new of our Milky Way galaxy, the bulge appearing between Scorpius and Sagittarius, marks the heart of our Milky Way.
  
  
• On moonless evenings in a dark sky the Zodiacal Light is visible in the west. It makes up faint light surrounding Venus and Jupiter. It is just sunlight reflecting off meteoric dust in the plane of the solar system. The dust may have come from a big comet, long ago. That will certainly be a sight to see!
  
  
• That's it from me here in Wellington, New Zealand. I wish you all clear skies and a fantastic Spring!
  
  

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen in the southwest soon after sunset at the start of the month. It shines at magnitude -2.1 (falling to -1.9 during the month) and has a disk some 38 (falling to 35) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands, sometimes the Great Red Spot and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, now moving slowly eastwards in Libra, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~15 degrees after sunset. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Saturn - Saturn was at opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible in the south at an elevation of ~15 degrees after sunset at the beginning of August. Its disk has an angular size of 18 arc seconds falling to 17 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.2 to +0.4 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 26 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning some 2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot' slowly moving in retrograde to within a few degrees of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Triffid Nebula. Sadly, atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Mercury - Mercury, having passed between the Earth and Sun (inferior conjunction) on August 9th, becomes visible after the 20th before reaching greatest elongation east of the Sun on August 26th. Then, some 18 degrees from the Sun, it rises before 5 am shining at magnitude zero.
  
  
• Mars - Mars, moving in retrograde motion westwards in Capricornus at the start of the month, made its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. It moves into Sagittarius on the 23rd of August. Mars begins the month rising just after sunset shining at its peak magnitude of -2.8 but this falls to -2.2 by month's end. Its angular size exceeds 24 arc seconds until August 8th and falls to 21 arc seconds by the start of September. With a small telescope it should (but see below) be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector? As I write this in July, a dust storm obscures much of the surface - let's hope it clears during August.
  
  
• Venus - Venus, can be seen low in the west after nightfall sinking towards the horizon as the month progresses. During August, its illuminated phase thins from ~57% to ~29% but, at the same time, the angular diameter of its disk increases from 20 to 29 arc seconds. The surface area reflecting the Sun's light does and so the brightness increases from -4.3 to an outstanding -4.6 magnitudes. Venus moves towards Spica in Virgo as August progresses and ends the month just one degree below the star. Sadly, however, they are then only ~10 degrees above the western horizon after sunset.
  
  
Highlights
• August - observe Mars.Mars came to its closest opposition to Earth since 2003 on the 27th July but, sadly two things conspire to limit our views. From the UK its maximum elevation when on the meridian will be only 12 degrees when observed from a latitude of +52 degrees. Thus the atmosphere will hinder our view and the use of an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector may well help to alleviate its effects. The second problem is that, as sometimes happens, Mars is now suffering a major dust storm which, at the end of July, was making it very difficult to observe any features on the surface. These can happen every six to eight years and can last for several months. A small scale dust storm began on May 30th and, by the 20th of June, had engulfed the whole planet. Sadly, it could take as long as September for the dust to settle thus greatly inhibiting our view of Mars this apparation. However, it does look as though the South Polar Cap is still visible. Let's just hope that the dust storm subsides in time for other details on the surface such as Syrtis Major and the Hellas Basin to become visible in small telescopes. On the night of August 11th, these should be facing the Earth. A superb program, WinJUPOS can be downloaded for free and will give a view of Mar's surface for any time, showing what features should be visible.
  
  
• August - observe Saturn.Saturn reached opposition on the 27th of June, so is now low (at an elevation of ~14 degrees) in the west-southwest as darkness falls lying above the 'teapot' of Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good "seeing" (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory.
  
  
• As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little "squashed". Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison.The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring.
  
  
• Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are currently at an angle of 26 degrees to the line of sight. The rings will continue to narrow until March 2025 when they will appear edge-on again.
  
  
• August- Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!
  
  
• August - A good month to observe Neptune with a small telescope. Neptune comes into opposition - when it is nearest the Earth - on the 7th of September, so will be well placed to observe both this month and next. Its magnitude is +7.9 so Neptune, with a disk just 3.7 arc seconds across, is easily spotted in binoculars lying in the constellation Aquarius to the left of Lambda Aquarius as shown on the chart. It rises to an elevation of ~27 degrees when due south. Given a telescope of 8 inches or greater aperture and a dark transparent night it should even be possible to spot its moon Triton. (This is my objective around the end of the month!)
  
  
• The mornings of August 12th and 13th - midnight to dawn: look out for the Perseid meteor shower - with no Moon in the sky! If clear, these mornings should give us a chance of observing the Perseid meteor shower - produced by debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle. The early morning of the 12th August will give us the best chance, if clear, of viewing the shower, but the peak is quite broad and so it is well worth observing on the nights before and after. Post midnight is best as then Perseus has then risen higher in the sky. Most meteors are seen looking about 50 degrees from the "radiant" which lies between Perseus and Cassiopeia. This year, the Moon is just after 'New Moon' (on the 11th) so will not hinder out view. NB: As we need to view a very wide area of sky, normal binoculars would be of no use, but the Vixen SG 2.1 x 42 that I have just reviewed in the Astronomy Digest, could be useful as it covers a field of view of 27 degrees. Do get to as dark a sky location as you can to the south of any major towns or cities. This dark sky map gives a very good guide to where to travel to.
  
  
• August 14th - Venus just below a thin crescent Moon.After sunset on the 14th, look for Venus, low in the west just below a thin waxing crescent Moon.
  
  
• August 31st - Venus just below Spica, Alpha Virginis. Soon after sunset and looking very low on the west-southwest you might be able to spot Venus just one degree below Spica. Binoculars may well be needed to lessen the light remaining in the sky, but please do not use them until after the Sun has set.
  
  

Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during August 2018.

• Introduction.Kia Ora, Gabriela Perez here from Space Place at the Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand. We are looking up at the month of August. The worst of winter is now behind us and our nights are getting shorter, but we still have plenty of long nights to look up at the stars. There are some spectacular sights in the sky this month. We have four visible planets in our skies in the early evening. They are so bright, they are outshining the surrounding stars and they become the focus point scattered across the night sky on the arch of the ecliptic backdropped by the zodiac constellations.
  
  
• Venus.Our evening star in the northwest is the brilliant planet, Venus. Because of its thick atmosphere it reflects a lot of light from the sun. It's so bright you will see it first in the sky before the Sun sets. High up in the north you will see Jupiter and following it is the planet Saturn followed by Mars. Mars is rivalling Venus's intensity in the East looking especially bright and red. It is still quite close to the earth as it was in opposition at the end of July and in the beginning of August it will continue to be the closest it has been to earth since 2003 a mere 58 million km from us.
  
  
• Scorpius and deep space objects.The most familiar of the constellations in our sky will be our 'winter constellation', Scorpius. It has a hooked tail and bleeding heart, Antares. Antares and the tail make the 'fish-hook of Maui' in Maori starlore, Antares becoming the bloody bait on the hook. Antares is a red giant star: 600 light years away. Scorpius is also home to four deep space object that were among the first to be catalogued by Charles Messier: M4, M6 also known as the Butterfly Cluster; M7, and M80. Below or right of the Scorpion's tail is 'the teapot' made by the brightest stars of Sagittarius. It is upside down in our southern hemisphere view. Saturn is near the teapot's lid. Between Scorpius and Sagittarius, we find the heart of our Milky Way in the 'bulge'. This area designated 'Sagittarius A' is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole in the center of our home galaxy helping to hold it all together.
  
  
• The best viewing time for the deep sky objects will be mid-month as we will have the new moon the 11th. Full Moon will on the 26th of August.
  
  
• Dark Nebula.Mid-month will be the best time to look over at the South. High up in the Southwest we have the Crux constellation or the Southern Cross. On a dark moonless night away from the city lights, you might spot a dark patch nearby the Crux's second brightest star 'Beta Crucis'. This is the Coalsack Nebula, a famous dark nebula that is only visible because of the strong concentration of starlight we get along the edgewise view of our milky way. Dark nebulae block out the light from far away stars as they are densely packed pillars of frozen dust and gas. The Coalsack Nebula, much like coal itself, will ignite one day and in 3 or 4 million years, become one of the brightest patches in the sky. The Coalsack Nebula is sometimes known as the head of the Moa here in New Zealand, a large extinct flightless bird, and you can track it's long neck, body and feet formed by the other dark nebula you can make out across the Milky Way.
  
  
• Constellations.If you are awake in the early morning you can catch a glimpse of our dawn skies. We will have Orion and Taurus in the east, last month they were telling the tale of Matariki, the Maori New Year. There are some great views of 'The Pot' a small asterism in Orion with the base formed by Orion's belt. With three fainter stars that form the handle. The middle of these is in fact The Great Orion Nebula, a diffuse nebula and the closest stellar nursery to Earth. Here astronomers have witnessed the birth of stars and protoplanetary disk, the disks in which planets are formed around the young stars.
  
  
• That's all from me here in Wellington New Zealand and I wish everyone clear skies during the month of August.
  
  

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter - Jupiter can be seen due south soon after sunset at the start of the month and over towards the southwest as the month progresses. It shines at magnitude -2.3 (falling to -2.1 during the month) and has a disk some 41.5 (falling to 38) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Gallilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly westwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Saturn - Saturn, was at opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible during all the (few) hours of darkness. It will highest in the south around midnight as July begins and a little earlier by month's end. Its disk has an angular size of 18.4 arc seconds falling to 18.0 during the month. Its brightness reduces from +0.0 to +0.2 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 26 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot' slowly moving in retrograde to within a few degrees of M8, the Lagoon Nebula, and M20, the Trifid Nebula. Sadly, it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view and, as for Jupiter, it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Mercury - Mercury shining at around zeroth magnitude early in the month reaches greatest elongation west of the Sun is on July 12th. It will be then be seen about 15 degrees down to the lower right of Venus but will have dimmed to magnitude +1 by the 17th and then rapidly fade from view into the Sun's glare.
  
  
• Mars - Mars, in Capricornus, is moving in retrograde motion westwards as it moves towards its closest approach to Earth since 2003 on the night of July 30th/31st. Mars begins the month rising about 2 hours after sunset shining at magnitude -2.2 but its brightness peaks at -2.8 during the final week of July. Its angular size reaches 24.3 arc seconds at closest approach but will exceed 24 arc seconds from July 24th until August 8th. With a small telescope it will be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. From the UK, it will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees when due south and so, sadly, the atmosphere will hinder our view. Another reason for purchasing a ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion corrector?
  
  
• Venus - Venus, can be seen low in the west after nightfall sinking towards the horizon as the month progresses. During July, its illuminated phase thins from ~70% to ~57% but, at the same time, the angular diameter of its disk increases from 16 to 20 arc seconds. The surface area reflecting the Sun's light thus stays roughly constant and so the brightness stays at around -4.2. On July 9th Venus is close to Regulus in Leo and on the 15th to a waxing crescent Moon.
  
  

Highlights

• July - still a great month to view Jupiter. This is a still a great month to observe Jupiter which came into opposition on May 8th and will be visible in the south in the late evening. It is moving down the ecliptic and now lies in Libra so, sadly, will only reach an elevations of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. An interesting observation is that the Great Red Spot appears to be diminishing in size. At the beginning of the last century it spanned 40,000 km across but now appears to be only ~16,500 km across - less than half the size. It used to be said that 3 Earths could fit within it, but now it is only one. The shrinking rate appears to be accelerating and observations indicate that it is now reducing in size by ~580 miles per year. Will it eventually disappear?
  
  
• [I have imaged Jupiter recently and the Red Spot is very prominent and has a lovely orange/red colour. These can be seen in my article 'Imaging Jupiter at Closest Approach' to be found in my Astronomy Digest].The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely (as seen in Damian's image) but has now returned to its normal wide state but is less prominent than the North Equatorial Belt .
  
  
• Saturn in the evening Sky. Saturn is just past opposition, so is now due south and highest in the sky in the late evening. It lies close to the topmost star of the 'Teapot' in Sagittarius. Held steady, binoculars should enable you to see Saturn's brightest moon, Titan, at magnitude 8.2. A small telescope will show the rings with magnifications of x25 or more and one of 6-8 inches aperture with a magnification of ~x200 coupled with a night of good 'seeing' (when the atmosphere is calm) will show Saturn and its beautiful ring system in its full glory. As Saturn rotates quickly with a day of just 10 and a half hours, its equator bulges slightly and so it appears a little 'squashed'. Like Jupiter, it does show belts but their colours are muted in comparison. The thing that makes Saturn stand out is, of course, its ring system. The two outermost rings, A and B, are separated by a gap called Cassini's Division which should be visible in a telescope of 4 or more inches aperture if seeing conditions are good. Lying within the B ring, but far less bright and difficult to spot, is the C or Crepe Ring. Due to the orientation of Saturn's rotation axis of 27 degrees with respect to the plane of the solar system, the orientation of the rings as seen by us changes as it orbits the Sun and twice each orbit they lie edge on to us and so can hardly be seen. This last happened in 2009 and they are now well opened out, currently at an angle of 26 degrees to the line of sight. The ring's orientation is beginning to narrow until, in March 2025, they will appear edge-on again.
  
  
• July - Find the globular cluster in Hercules and spot the "Double-double" in Lyra. Just to the left of the bright star Vega in Lyra is the multiple star system Epsilon Lyrae often called the double-double. With binoculars a binary star is seen but, when observed with a telescope, each of these two stars is revealed to be a double star - hence the name!
  
  
• Early July: A very good time to spot Noctilucent Clouds! Noctilucent clouds, also known as polar mesospheric clouds, are most commonly seen in the deep twilight towards the north from our latitude. They are the highest clouds in the atmosphere at heights of around 80 km or 50 miles. Normally too faint to be seen, they are visible when illuminated by sunlight from below the northern horizon whilst the lower parts of the atmosphere are in shadow. They are not fully understood and are increasing in frequencey, brightness and extent; some think that this might be due to climate change! So on a clear dark night as light is draining from the north western sky long after sunset take a look towards the north and you might just spot them!
  
  
• July 3rd ~2:30 am: Mars and a waning gibbous Moon. In the early morning of the 3rd, Mars will be seen down to the lower left of the gibbous Moon.
  
  
• July 9th - sunset: Venus close to Regulus in Leo. On the 9th, one would, if clear, see Venus shining brightly just up to the right of Regulus in Leo.
  
  
• July 10th before dawn: the Moon in the Hyades Cluster. Before dawn, a thin waning crescent Moon will be seen amongst the Hyades Cluster.
  
  
• July 15th, after sunset: Venus to the left of a very thin crescent Moon. If clear after sunset and given a very low western horizon, you should be able to spot Venus over to the left of a very thin crescent Moon.
  
  
• July 19th after sunset: Jupiter below a waxing Moon. After sunset on the 19th if clear, you should be able to spot Jupiter below a waxing Moon. Alpha Libri is to its lower left.
  
  
• July 24th after sunset: Saturn close to a waxing Moon. After sunset on the 24, Saturn will be seen, if clear, to the lower left of the waxing Moon.
  
  
• July 27th after sunset: a Total Eclipse of the Moon.After sunset on the 27th, if clear, we will be able to observe a totally eclipsed Moon. All times in BST.
  
  
• 8:50 Moon rise on the horizon in the south east.
  
  
• 9:21 Maximum eclipse when the Moon is closest to the centre of the Earth's shadow. (The Umbra)
  
  
• 10:13 Total eclipse ends.
  
  
• 11:19 Partial eclipse ends - the Moon has left the Earth's umbra and lost its red colour.
  
  
• 12:28 Penumbral eclipse ends - the Moon has moved out of eclipse.
  
  

Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during July 2018.

• Introduction. Kia Ora everyone, the winter continues here in New Zealand and with it come the season of Matariki, the Maori New Year as well as spectacular views of our planets and plenty of hours of night to gaze at the night sky.
  
  
• Planets - All the visible planets will be in our skies during the month of July. Mercury will set with the sun in the West appearing close to the brilliant evening star, Venus. High up in the sky will be the orange Jupiter in the constellation of Libra followed by Saturn in Sagittarius, in the bulge of the Milky Way in the location of the centre of our galaxy, and Mars which will be found in Capricornus. Mars will be the closest it has been to earth since 2003 when we pass by at the end of July.
  
  
• Stars and Constellations - The brightest stars in the night sky, Sirius and Canopus can be found in the Southwest both twinkling as they are close to the horizon. Canopus will appear to change colour as the light is dispersed and appears to separate into separate colours as it closer to the horizon marking itself as the traffic light of our South Skies.
  
  
• In the north we can spot Cancer, the Crab with Leo the Lion, looking a bit more like a coat hanger in his stick figure form. Cancer is the dimmest of the Zodiac constellations. The stars forming a shape of a Y, quite tricky to see with the naked eye as the brightest star in this constellation is only magnitude 3.5. Cancer is home to some famous deep sky objects including M66 and the Beehive Cluster. M66 can be found at the midpoint between Regulus in Leo and Procyon in Canis Minor. It is the oldest 'close' star cluster between 3.5-5 billion years old which is quite incredible as stars generally tend to pull away from their sister stars in an open star cluster quite quickly. And just below it we can see the Beehive Cluster aging at only 600 million years old.
  
  
• Milky Way - In the South we find spectacular views of our Milky Way, peppered with dark patches marking the location of dark nebulas made visible to us because of the high concentration of stars the their subsequent light in the edgewise view of our Milky Way, the most visible of these is the Coalsack Nebula. This densely packed pillar of gas and dust could ignite one day, much like coal itself, as within it our all the right conditions for stars to be born. For now one of the darkest patches in the sky but in a few million years it could be the brightest. Of course you can use this to find the Crux or Southern Cross but a more reliable method would be to use the pointer stars, orange Alpha and blue Beta Centauri. The brightest stars in the constellation of Centaurus. Alpha is a triple star system it's dimmest star being our closest stellar neighbor Proxima Centauri at only 4.2 light years away.
  
  
• Pleiades and Matariki - The heliacal rising of the Pleiades star cluster, Matariki, marks the time of the Maori New Year. The dawn sky has a particular importance to us in New Zealand as it was the dawn sky as opposed to the evening sky that was studied closely by early Maori astronomers. At this time of year the sky is held up by four pillars (Pou), three in the east (Sirius, Pleiades and Orion's Belt) and Scorpius being the lone pillar in the West with a curved back as the weight is crushing down on it. The belt of Orion is easily spotted just before sunrise and points us to Matariki. It is found in the shoulder of the bull in the constellation of Taurus. It is a young star cluster, only 100 million years old, mostly consisting of giant hot blue stars. It is a rare sight to be able to pick out so many stars in an individual cluster in our night sky with the naked eye.
  
  
• That's all from me here in New Zealand.To the New Zealand listeners remember to keep warm and I hope you have a happy Matariki season and I wish everyone clear skies in July.
  
  

Northern Hemisphere

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

The Planets

• Jupiter.Jupiter reached opposition on May 8th, so will be visible during the evening after darkness has fallen. It shines at magnitude -2.5 (falling to -2.3 during the month) and has a disk some 44 (falling to 41.5) arc seconds across. Jupiter's equatorial bands and sometimes the Great Red Spot (see 'highlights' for the times when it crosses Jupiter's central meridian) and up to four of its Galilean moons will be visible in a small telescope. Sadly, moving slowly westwards in Libra during the month, Jupiter is heading towards the southern part of the ecliptic and will only have an elevation of ~20 degrees when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus hinder our view and it might be worth considering purchasing the ZWO Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector to counteract its effects.
  
  
• Saturn.Saturn, comes into opposition on the 27th of June and so will be visible during all the (few) hours of darkness. Its disk has an angular size of 18.2 arc seconds increasing to 18.4 during the month. Its brightness increases from +0.2 to +0.0 magnitudes as the month progresses. The rings were at their widest some months ago and are still, at 25.7 degrees to the line of sight, well open and spanning ~2.5 times the size of Saturn's globe. Saturn, lying in Sagittarius, is close to the topmost star of the 'teapot'. Sadly, it will only reach an elevation of just over 15 degrees above the horizon when crossing the meridian. Atmospheric dispersion will thus greatly hinder our view.
  
  
• Mercury.Mercury passes behind the Sun (superior conjunction) on the 5th/6th June but will become visible (at around magnitude -0.7) low in the west after sunset by mid-month. By month's end its magnitude will have dropped to -0.2 and it will set some one and a half hours after the Sun when it will have an angular diameter of 6.5 arc seconds. Greatest elongation west of the Sun is on July 12th.
  
  
• Mars.Mars, in Capricornus, beings its retrograde motion westwards on the 28th June as it moves towards its closest approach to Earth since 2003 in two months time. Mars rises at around midnight BST at the start of the month and around 10:30 pm by month's end. During the month Mars has a magnitude which increases from -1.2 to -2.1 and has an angular size of 15.3 increasing to 20.7 arc seconds so, with a small telescope, it will be possible to spot details, such as Syrtis Major, on its salmon-pink surface. It will only reach an elevation of ~14 degrees before dawn so, sadly, again the atmosphere will hinder our view.
  
  
• Venus.Venus dominates the western sky after sunset, shining brightly at magnitude -3.9 (increasing to -4.1 during month) with an angular size of 13 arc seconds increasing to 15 arc seconds as the month progresses. Venus rises a little higher in the sky during June, initially setting around two and a half hours after the Sun but a little less by month's end as its elevation at sunset stays at around 20 degrees. Venus starts the month in Gemini, not far below and to the left of Pollux, but passes into Cancer on the 11th when, on the 19th and 20th, it lies close to the M44, the Beehive Cluster.
  
  
Highlights
• June - a great month to view Jupiter.The features seen in the Jovian atmosphere have been changing quite significantly over the last few years - for a while the South Equatorial Belt vanished completely but has now returned to its normal wide state.
  
  
• June 1st ~2 am: Saturn close to a waning gibbous Moon.In the early hours of the 1st, the waning gibbous Moon will lie just up to the left of Saturn as they cross the meridian. [A good photo opportunity.]
  
  
• June 3rd ~2:30 am: Mars and a waning gibbous Moon.In the early morning of the 3rd, Mars will be seen down to the lower left of the gibbous Moon.
  
  
• June 8th, after sunset: Venus to the lower left of Pollux in Gemini.After sunset on the 8th and given a low western horizon Venus will be seen to lie in Gemini down to the lower left of Pollux.
  
  
• June 16th after sunset: Venus and a very thin crescent MoonAfter sunset, if clear, you may be able to spot a very thin crescent Moon lying over to the left of Venus. With binoculars or a telescope you might be able to see the 'Earthshine' which faintly illuminates the dark part of the lunar disk.
  
  
• June 28th ~2:30 am: Saturn and the Full Moon.In the early morning of the 28th, Saturn will be seen down to the lower left of the Full Moon - a nice photo opportunity.
  
  
• January 22nd/23rdth: Two Great Lunar Craters. These are two great nights (late evening on the 22nd) to observe two of the greatest craters on the Moon, Tycho and Copernicus, as the terminator is nearby. Tycho is towards the bottom of Moon in a densely cratered area called the Southern Lunar Highlands. It is a relatively young crater which is about 108 million years old. It is interesting in that it is thought to have been formed by the impact of one of the remnents of an asteroid that gave rise to the asteroid Baptistina. Another asteroid originating from the same breakup may well have caused the Chicxulub crater 65 million years ago. It has a diameter of 85 km and is nearly 5 km deep. At full Moon the rays of material that were ejected when it was formed can be see arcing across the surface. Copernicus is about 800 million years old and lies in the eastern Oceanus Procellarum beyond the end of the Apennine Mountains. It is 93 km wide and nearly 4 km deep and is a classic "terraced" crater. Both can be seen with binoculars.
  
  

Gaby Perez from the Carter Observatory in New Zealand speaks about the Southern Hemisphere night sky during June 2018.

• Introduction.Kia Ora, Gabriela Perez here from Space Place at the Carter Observatory in Wellington, New Zealand. It’s certainly getting colder down here as we approach the winter but the good news is that we have plenty of opportunities to look at our southern skies with all the extra dark hours. June is an incredible month for viewing the visible planets.
  
  
• Solstice.Mid month brings on the winter solstice on the 21st of June which in turn brings the longest night and the shortest day. It will also mean the Sun will be at its lowest elevation for the year.
  
  
• Summer Constellations.The beginning of the month will see the last of our summer constellations low in the western sky along with Sirius, the brightest true star, which will twinkle as in the early evening being found closer to the horizon. This twinkling occurs as the star's light will be dispersed as the atmosphere is denser nearing the horizon and we will see a bit of separation of colour. Rising in the East are some of our winter constellations such as Scorpius and Sagittarius. We don't have scorpions here in New Zealand so Scorpius is seen as the fish hook of Maui, with it's bloody bait, the red giant star Antares. Following Scorpius is Saggitarius and the zone between them, Sag A, marks the heart of our Milky Way. Winter in the Southern Hemisphere is a great time to see this 'bulge' of the Milky Way and in this zone astronomers believe to be a supermassive black hole helping to hold our galaxy together.
  
  
• The Planets.The first planet that will be visible in the sky before the sun has fully set is our 'evening star' Venus, it will be visible in the northwest in the constellation of Gemini and it will set about an hour after the sun. The next bright planet will be Jupiter in the east in the constellation of Libra which will remain in our skies until dawn. At about 9pm Saturn will rise in the southeast in the beginning of the month but will appear earlier and earlier each day in the constellation of Sagittarius. Following that will be the final planet to appear in our night sky which is the red planet Mars and we can find him in the constellation of Capricornus.
  
  
• Winter Constellations.The Southern Cross (Crux) will be at its highest point for the year and Achenar, marking the end of the constellation of Eridanus, the river, will be visible just above the horizon. The mid-point of these two objects marks the South Celestial Pole centre which you can use to find South. You can use Achenar to locate the faint constellation of Tucana, and within it a stunning and visible globular star cluster 47 Tucanae. The second brightest globular cluster out of the 150 that exist in the halo of our Milky Way. The brightest can be spotted using the pointer stars (Alpha Cen and Beta Cen) in the constellation of Centaurus, Omega Centauri.
  
  
• Pleiades.In mid June we will also have a sighting of the Pleiades star cluster in our dawn sky which has special significance in New Zealand as the heliacal rising of this cluster marks the time of the Maori New Year. It is found in the shoulder of the bull in the constellation of Taurus. It is a young star cluster, only 100 million years old, mostly consisting of giant hot blue stars. It is a rare sight to be able to pick out so many stars in an individual cluster in our night sky with the naked eye.
  
  

Hope everyone keeps warm and enjoys the extra hours of dark skies in the evening for some star gazing.