Night sky map February 2020
North STAR BRIGHTNESS Zero or brighter st LYNX 1 magnitude Capella
rd ANDROMEDA 3 Gemini (The Twins) NW th 4 M45 (Pleiades or Seven Sisters) TRIANGULUM Pollux Hyades
GEMINI M44 TAURUS ARIES CANCER Aldebaran
First quarter Moon Betelgeuse on the 2nd ORION PISCES CANIS MINOR Procyon Orion’s belt The “Saucepan” Regulus M42 MONOCEROS Rigel
ERIDANUS Sirius LEPUS Canis Major CETUS (the Great Dog) East CANIS MAJOR Venus SEXTANS P Adhara COLUMBA FORNAX CAELUM Fomalhaut West
PUPPIS HYDRA PYXIS PICTOR SCULPTOR AQUARIUS Canopus HOROLOGIUM
RETICULUM CRATER ANTLIA DORADO PHOENIX Achernar VELA LMC CARINA False Cross VOLANS HYDRUS MENSA TUCANA PISCIS AUSTRINUS SMC GRUS
CHAMAELEON South Celestial Pole OCTANS
MUSCA CRUX INDUS Mimosa MICROSCOPIUM SE Southern Cross APUS Chart Key PAVO Pointers CENTAURUS SW Bright star Hadar Faint star TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE Alpha Centauri Ecliptic CIRCINUS MOON PHASE TELESCOPIUM Milky Way First quarter 02nd P Planet Full Moon 09th South ARA LMC or Large Magellanic Cloud NORMA Last quarter 16th SMC or Small Magellanic Cloud New Moon 24th
THE CHART HIGHLIGHTS IN FEBRUARY 2020 This star chart shows the stars and constellations visible in the The best time to view the Moon is a few days either night sky for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart in side of its first quarter phase on the 2nd February. February at about 8:30pm (Daylight Savings Time), or 7:30pm Venus is in the western sky after sunset and moves (Local Standard Time) for Perth and Brisbane. For Darwin and from the constellation Aquarius to Pisces at the similar northerly locations, the chart will still apply, but some start of the month. Prominent in the sky this month stars will be lost off the southern edge while extra stars will be are the constellations of Canis Major (the Great visible to the north. Stars down to a brightness or magnitude Dog) which includes Sirius – the brightest star in the limit of 4.5 are shown on the star chart. To use this star chart, sky, Orion (the Hunter), which includes the rotate the chart so that the direction you are facing (north, recognisable southern hemisphere asterism of the south, east or west) is shown at the bottom. The centre of the “Saucepan”. Crux (the Southern Cross) is low in the chart represents the point directly above your head, called the south-eastern sky although it can be easily zenith point, and the outer circular edge represents the confused with the false cross. Crux can be located horizon. by looking for the two adjacent Pointer stars in the constellation of Centaurus (the Centaur).
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 Melissa Hulbert. © 2020 Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney.