The Southern Hemisphere T

R O T H N δ LYNX Capella α β Kids THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE T S E N W O With Glenn Dawes H R T AURIGA T PERSEUS R H O E M36 Sirius and Canopus are prominent in the sky, A N S T α α and Mars and Jupiter are bright near the Moon Almach Castor M37 β Pollux GEMINI M35 ANDROMEDA When to use this chart β TAURUS The chart accurately matches the sky on the 12th Pleiades 1 Jan at 24:00 AEDT (13:00 UT) Sickle M44 γ dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. δ LEO 9th 15 Jan at 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) Hamal The sky is different at other times as the stars ARIES V Betelgeuse crossing it set four minutes earlier each night. 31 Jan at 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) α δ δ γ δ Aldebaran γ δ 6th γ α CANIS MINOR CANIS ORION Christmas Tree Cluster Tree Christmas CANCER α β JANUARY HIGHLIGHTS STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS Hyades γ α β Ecliptic α The brighter planets have attractive The two brightest stars, Sirius (Alpha γ Rosette δ Nebula Triangle Procyon Alpheratz Regulus conjunctions with the crescent Moon ( ) Canis Majoris) and Canopus α a Winter W β δ M78 in January. As our satellite moves towards (Alpha (a) Carinae), are prominent in Uranus Alnitak ‘New’, the eastern predawn sky on the January evening skies. Although Sirius VIRGO NGC 2024 NGC α MONOCEROS M50 21st sees Mars 3° to the upper right of the is the hotter of the two, the star is only β M48 PISCES γ 25-day old Moon. Two days later finds the top dog because it’s close by. Equator Celestial β HYDRA NGC 2539 NGC α Melotte 71 Melotte Alrescha M42 Menkar brilliant Jupiter, 4° to the lower right of the Canopus is 35 times more distant, but δ Rigel 19 Sirius γ α Moon, low in the eastern sky. The Moon a rare supergiant star with a luminosity Alphard α M47 α δ β 15th 31st β then moves into the western evening 16,000 times greater than the Sun and an Mira δ twilight, meeting up with Venus on the extraordinarily large surface area. Sirius β γ 3rd γ MAJOR LEPUS M41 28th. This inner world will be only 3.5° to is only 26 times the luminosity and δ Wesen CANIS E the lower right of the three-day old Moon. twice the size of the Sun. T A S PUPPIS E S δ δ T α Ghost of Jupiter γ CRATER α W PYXIS α γ ERIDANUS Adhara β THE PLANETS CETUS β α ANTLIA γ β Canopus Evenings are now a little slow with one evening only object, setting around FORNAX β α bright exception – Venus continues midnight mid-January. Turning to the δ γ COLUMBA α β to dominate the western sky. Neptune is morning, Mars is low in the predawn α γ CAELUM Omicron Velorum Cluster δ α getting lower but before dropping into the eastern sky. Jupiter and Saturn return β CARINA PICTOR NGC 1851 θ γ twilight glow it passes Venus, being closest in January’s last week, with Saturn 10° VELA δ β CORVUS α δ DORADO γ α EQUULEUS on 27th, only 0.5° apart. Uranus is now an below Jupiter in early dawn skies. False Cross HOROLOGIUM NGC 253 NGC β β β R α VOLANS NGC 1261 RETICULUM DEEP-SKY OBJECTS α δ α δ δ β γ R γ 300 NGC In the northeast corner of Puppis magnitude stars arranged in curved lines γ Kaitos Deneb Eta Carina Nebula α LMC γ β β β lies an isolated, mag. +4.7 yellow with scattered clumps – impressive! β α δ δ star, 19 Puppis (RA 8hr 11.3m, dec. –12° 56’). γ α α PHOENIX Tarantula Nebula β This is an attractive multiple star Move 8° west to another open cluster, Acrux MENSA γ α M83 CENTAURUS δ CHAMAELEON with two other obvious members, Melotte 71 (RA 7hr 37.5m, dec. -12° δ γ γ α approximately 1 arcminute from 19 04’). In contrast to NGC 2539, the stars are γ δ CRUX Coal Sack HYDRUS α Achernar Puppis. These nearly matched 9th fainter (11th magnitude) and more evenly β MUSCA α δ γ β magnitude companions are only a few dispersed with a slight concentration SMC SCULPTOR β arcseconds apart. The star is on the edge towards the centre. There is a scattering β South Celestial Poleβ δ δ 47 Tucanae of a bright (mag. +6.5) open star cluster, of brighter members at the edges as it β Jewel Box NGC 2539, showing around 80 9th blends into a star-rich Milky Way field. Hadar α β S δ O γ T β APUS OCTANS S U TUCANA E T α δ γ H Rigel KentCIRCINUS W E γ GRUS H A α β T Chart key S α δ U T LUPUS O α S STAR β ASTEROID TRIANGULUM GALAXY DIFFUSE BRIGHTNESS: β β γ TRACK γ α AUSTRALE NEBULOSITY MAG. 0 β δ OPEN CLUSTER & BRIGHTER METEOR δ β α DOUBLE STAR MAG. +1 RADIANT INDUS GLOBULAR δ CLUSTER MAG. +2 β VARIABLE STAR QUASAR MAG. +3 PLANETARY PAVO MAG. +4 CORONAAUSTRALIS NEBULA COMET TRACK PLANET & FAINTER δ CHART: PETECHART: LAWRENCE ARA BBC Sky at Night Magazine January 2020 SOUTH N O R T H H T E R A O S N T LYNX δ α δ LEO Sickle Capella β α α Castor γ β 12th Pollux Kids γ M44 β VIRGO AURIGA M36 α δ GEMINI M37 M35 δ α Regulus CANCER β T S 15th E β β PERSEUS 9th CANIS MINOR CANIS δ W E A H γ T S β Betelgeuse R T Christmas Tree Cluster Tree Christmas Procyon HYDRA O TAURUS α N Triangle α Pleiades Almach Winter Rosette α M48 Nebula Alphard V Aldebaran ORION CRATER NGC 2539 NGC δ α γ δ γ MONOCEROS M78 19 Melotte 71 Melotte M50 δ ANDROMEDA α Alnitak Hyades 6th NGC 2024 NGC W M47 Ghost of Jupiter of Ghost γ δ γ δ ARIES γ Sirius Hamal CORVUS β α β β M42 α β ANTLIA PYXIS Ecliptic α δ α PUPPIS δ α α Rigel M41 Wesen β MAJOR β γ α β γ CANIS γ Omicron Velorum Cluster δ Equator Celestial β Adhara LEPUS δ Uranus VELA γ γ γ γ Menkar α β δ Canopus M83 γ Alpheratz Alrescha β δ ERIDANUS PISCES COLUMBA α Eta Carina Nebula CARINA CENTAURUS False Cross α Mira δ PICTOR β α δ δ NGC 1851 31st CAELUM α α γ γ R VOLANS DORADO S α Acrux β γ O γ δ α β α CRUX δ 3rd U FORNAX β T γ δ θ β β CETUS H Coal Sack RETICULUM E α α Tarantula Nebula A α α LMC γ δ HOROLOGIUM T S β αMUSCA γ 1261 NGC T S β γ R E Jewel Box CHAMAELEON γ MENSA β Hadar W δ γ β α δ β β β LUPUS δ Rigel Kent δ α α HYDRUS α α CIRCINUS South Celestial Pole α γ δ β 253 NGC APUS 300 NGC α γ β β SMC β δ γ γ OCTANS β Tucanae 47 Achernar PHOENIX β β β TRIANGULUM EQUULEUS α δ Deneb Kaitos α AUSTRALE TUCANA γ δ δ SCULPTOR γ δ β α ARA δ β GRUS PAVO δ INDUS δ β β ST E S HW O α UT UT SO H CORONAAUSTRALIS BBC Sky at Night Magazine January 2020.

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