The night sky this week will see the reappearance of the Moon and the Planets will be in a more favourable position for viewing.

The night sky this week will see the reappearance of the Moon and the Planets will be in a more favourable position for viewing.
It looks like NASA is going to get a good amount of funding in a bill set to fly through the US Congress and Senate. This is great news for programmes such as Europa Clipper that have dependencies on the SLS programme.
NASA’s plans to get to Mars are a bit slower than Elon Musk’s. They have many more steps and have plans to achieve some quite impressive things such as space station orbiting the Moon and capturing an asteroid.
This little video will show you how to find the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as M83.
The night sky this week is looking great to view a few of the brightest galaxies in the Southern Sky. It’s also going to be awesome to get some views of Jupiter, Mars and Saturn.
We are getting a better and better at understanding how planetary systems are formed. This article tracks the historic development of the heliocentric model and how that relates to understanding the formation of our own Solar System.
We are understanding a little more about the Super Massive Black Hole at the centre of our galaxy and observations are also revealing that Einstein was right about his theory of general relativity.
This short video shows how to find the beautiful double star called 145 Canis Majoris, or sometimes known as the Winter Albireo.
Being able to describe where to find stuff in the sky is a very handy way of learning the night sky. You don’t need an expensive piece of equipment, just your arm and the hand at the end of it.
This article looks at the basics of the positioning system used to describe the night sky.
Here’s some hints on how to survive a Stardate without harming yourself or other astronomers.
In this article in the Beginner Series we look at the size of the universe and our place in it to give some context to the amazing sights available to the budding astronomer.
This article looks at a few of the amazing objects in the universe and some of their attributes that make them truly mind boggling.
The Stardate in the South Island over the weekend was a fantastic opportunity to learn about some objects that we haven’t seen before.
This short video shows how to find the galaxy, Centaurus A, which is also known as NGC 5128. This galaxy is very bright and should be easy to spot.
Here’s an article to help you see faint stuff in the night sky using a range of techniques such as averted vision, movement and looking out for subtle changes in background contrast.
Over the last couple of weeks Milky-Way.kiwi has made a few videos of how to find some interesting night sky objects. This article summarises them to build a whole evening of astronomy.
This short video shows how to find the fantastic globular cluster, NGC 2808. This glob is one of the most massive surrounding our galaxy.
This short video will help you find the Blue Planetary Nebula, NGC 3918, which is near the Southern Cross.
This short video will help you find NGC 3242, also known as the Ghost of Jupiter Nebula.
Getting to know the southern sky is for ever a wonderfully strange experience. In any new place that I visit I always feel grateful for landmarks. On Earth, I am looking for trees and buildings and mountains, in the sky I always look for the brightest stars. Here in New Zealand, there are places and times when the light of the individual stars is lost in the haze of the Milky Way as if a blanket of tiny lights is covering the Earth at night.