Greetings Stargazers. There hasn’t been a starcast for some time now, but with three bright planets gracing our skies, its time to update you.
Its midsummer, so we’re looking upwards well after sunset, say about 21h30.
This time im going to orientate you using the brightest object in the sky (except the moon), which is the giant planet Jupiter. It shines (or rather reflects the sun’s light) bright , slightly north of overhead. Apart from the Sun. its the largest object in the solar system, at over 100 000 km in diameter. Its also quite close to earth at the moment, having been at opposition about three months back, so its about 700 000 000 km away at the moment.
Now look to the west (if its around 30 November the moon will be good guide). You can make out Saturn, much dimmer than Jupiter, but then its twice the distance from Earth at nearly 1500 000 000 km away. Its past its best but still great to view through a telescope. We’ve only a month or so before Saturn drifts behind the Sun and will not be visible until early mornings around March next year. It will spend most of next year as a morning feature, so book a Darkskyes tour soon, because we don’t do early mornings here.
Now look to the north east, where there’s a load happening.
Mars is rising low on the horizon. You cant miss it’s bright orange. Although its only about half the diameter of earth, its only about 80 000 000 km away.
Just above Mars you can clearly see the Pleaides (7 sisters) and the head of Taurus ( marked by the bright orange star Aldebaran. To the right, and above Mars is the constellation of Orion, containing the well known belt and sword of Orion, and the red Supegiant star, Betelguese.
Further left (south) is the unmistakeable brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, the Dog star, with Canopus, the second brightest star further left (south). Due south you should be able to make out the smudges of the greater and lesser Magellanic clouds, dwarf galaxies attached to the Milky Way.
Finally, on the southern horizon, you should see the last pointer (Alpha Centaurus), setting.
The Southern Cross we have become accustomed to during winter and spring will be below the horizon during early/mid evening for the next few months.
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