Mars is getting closer!
Mars is getting closer this year and will at it’s closest by the end of July. But don’t worry it’ll still be about 58 million kilometres away.
The Night Sky
What’s right now in the night sky
The sky of April – a rope of stars
April is the beginning of the season of the planets. Jupiter gets higher in the sky and Saturn and Mars start making an appearance. It’s also the month where we can start to fully appreciate the Milky Way as the Galactic Centre begins to rise.
The night sky 15 to 21 January 2018
Next week, Mars and Jupiter are better positioned in the early morning, before dawn, to get some good views and it might be the last chance to see Mercury for a while. With the moon taking a break the opportunity exists for some great views of some of the more fainter objects.
What is NOT in the January sky
I’ve been arguing that the Zodiacal Band is humankind’s first useful calendar. Like any calendar, it predicts the future. So for instance, when the Sun is in Sagittarius we cannot see Sagittarius.
The sky of January – Io
Another year is upon us and January offers a great opportunity to get out and observe the night sky after making the best of those long summer evenings.
The Sky of December
The stars in December as seen from Wellington New Zealand, an astrophotographer’s point of view.
The sky of June – The Rising of the Galaxy
Out I went and nothing prepared me for what I saw that night. On the pitch dark sky of Wairarapa, with luscious hills that hold the horizon in sweet curves that rest the eye, a luminous whirlpool of stars was erupting from the east. Silver river of stars, one of its arms was meandering the eastern horizon in oval arched loops like an octopus’s arm that passed a Southern Cross marking the 12 o’clock position on the celestial time keeper of the south. The galactic arm was thinning down towards the western horizon and righteously so as the further we go from Scorpius and Sagittarius, we are actually looking towards the outskirts of our galaxy, where fewer stars venture. I stood there in silence watching the slow rising of the Galaxy and I realised that it was for the first time in my life when I was truly seeing it with my eyes.
The sky of May – Tahi, Rua, Toru
In Maori, tahi, rua, toru means one, two, three. So Atu-tahi – One, Taku-rua – Two, Tau-toru – Three,
or you can count Sirius (1) / Canopus (2) / Alpha Centauri (3) / Arcturus (4) No matter what you prefer, these stars will be there in the evening of May.
The Sky of April – a rope of stars
This month is fantastic for viewing Jupiter, Saturn and Mars. Pluto is also in a good position to spot, though at a visual magnitude of 14.3 you’ll need a reasonable telescope. The other highlight for the month is that the Galactic Centre starts making a reappearance in the Southern Sky, rising about 10:30pm by the …