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TheSky (c) Astronomy Software 1984-1998

CAMELOPARDALIS

CEPHEUS

CASSIOPEIA North December 2019 Night sky map

Capella BRIGHTNESS Deneb Zero or brighter

PERSEUS st NE 1 magnitude Andromeda

nd ANDROMEDA 2 NW rd 3 th M45 - 4

ARIES Hyades Aldebaran

DELPHINUS

EQUULEUS First Quarter Moon on the 4th Betelgeuse

Orion’s belt 1

East Rigel “The Saucepan” 0 Fomalhaut 0 West P HOROLOGIUM Achernar SAGITTARIUS VENUS P Adhara SMC Canopus LMC P Tarantula Centre of the Galaxy False Cross South Celestial Pole Chart Key SE Diamond Cross Bright star The Pointers Faint star SW Antares Ecliptic MOON PHASE Southern Cross First quarter 4th Alpha Centauri Hadar Full Moon 12 th P Planet Mimosa th Last quarter 19 LMC or Large Magellanic Cloud th New Moon 26 SMC or Small Magellanic Cloud South

HYDRA

THE CHART HIGHLIGHTS IN DECEMBER 2019

The star chart shows the and visible in The summer solstice is on the 22nd, when the Sun the night sky for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart reaches its highest point in the sky for the year, and and Adelaide for December at about 8.30pm (local this day has the most hours of daylight. The best time daylight saving time) or about 7.30pm (local standard to look at the Moon with a small telescope or time) for Perth and Brisbane. For Darwin and similar binoculars is a few days either side of its first quarter northerly locations the chart will still apply, but some stars phase, which falls on the 15th of December. Saturn is will be lost off the southern edge while extra stars will be low in the west in Sagittarius (the Archer) but vanishes visible to the north. Stars down to a brightness or in the twilight mid-month. Mars is high in the northern magnitude limit of 4.5 are shown on the star chart. To use sky in Aquarius (the Water Carrier). Crux (the this star chart, rotate the chart so that the direction you are Southern Cross) is located to the south, near the facing (north, south, east or west) is shown at the bottom. horizon, making it difficult to see at this time of year. The centre of the chart represents the point directly above The summer constellations of Orion (the Hunter) and your head, called the zenith point, and the outer circular Taurus (the Bull) are in the northeast. Sirius, the edge represents the horizon. brightest night-time star, is low in the southeast.

Sydney Observatory is part of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. The Sydney Observatory night sky map was created by Dr M. Anderson using the TheSky software. This month’s edition was prepared by Geoffrey Wyatt © 2019 Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney.