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Winter Sky Tour Southern Cross 2 Coalsack 3 Scorpius

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Winter sky tour Welcome to our sky tour of the constellations that can be seen in the early evening sky in winter in the Southern Hemisphere. (please note neither Aquila or Lyra can be seen in June). If you’ve got a dark sky and you know roughly where south is, you can use the Milky Way to find the constellations and galaxies on our tour of the night sky. If you’re in a brightly lit area you probably won’t see the Milky Way, so you’ll have to rely on hand-span measurements and a couple of bright stars to guide you. You can also download our audio tour of the sky tour at (www.abc.net.au/science/starhunt/tour/outdoor/) and listen to astronomer Fred Watson take you on a guided tour of the night sky (please note Jupiter will not appear in the early evening night sky again until 2016). Mimosa Coalsack Start Southern Cross α Crucis rucis Face south and glance a couple of hand-spans to the right to where the Milky Way rises up from ε C the ground. Gazing up from the horizon a couple of hand-spans you’ll see the cross (Crux) lying on its side, with the pointers (α- and β-Centauri) almost directly above it. (You’ll have to tilt your head to the right to see the familiar cross shape). Alpha Crucis (α Crucis the brightest star) is at the foot of the cross. If you’re in a bright area you may not see the fifth star (ε Crucis), on the lower arm of the cross – welcome to the world of light pollution. 2 Coalsack If the sky is dark enough for you to see ε Crucis, you might also be able to see the Coalsack. This dark nebula looks like a black blob between the foot of the cross and Mimosa, the star on the left hand side of the cross. It also forms the head of the best known Indigenous constellation, the Emu in the Sky. If you’re well away from bright lights you can follow the dark patches from the Coalsack along the length of the Milky Way to see the Emu. Antares 3 Scorpius Follow the Milky Way up from the Southern Cross until you’re looking straight above you. (If you can’t see the Milky Way, just follow the short arm of the cross upwards). The hook of the scorpion’s tail curves near the point directly overhead, and a line of stars joins it to the bright red star Antares off to the west in the scorpion’s body. Scorpius is a big constellation, and once you’ve seen it a couple of times you’ll never have trouble finding that backwards question mark with an anchor on the end again! cont. 1 Outdoor sky tour 4 Lyra From Scorpius and the galactic centre, it’s time to give your neck and the southern part of the sky a rest and turn north. Looking just to the right of north, not far above the horizon you’ll see the bright star Vega, in the constellation Lyra. There are dozens of stars in Lyra, but the key ones are just Vega above and to the right of Vega. Four of them form a parallelogram that holds the strings of the lyre – the musical instrument on which the constellation is based. 5 Aquila From Lyra, look to the right about 1.5 hand-spans and follow the Milky Way up about 2.5 hand-spans. The bright star you’ll see is Altair, it’s on the far right of the Milky Way and forms a straight line with the two stars on either side. Altair is near the head of the eagle, Aquila as it flies down towards Earth. The eagle’s body follows the line of the Milky Way upwards for a couple of hand spans, and its wings are spread out for a hand span or so on either side. If you’re having Altair trouble seeing the eagle, look for a pterodactyl – it looks a lot more like that! And now, if you’re under a nice dark sky, it’s time to leave the galaxy! 6 Magellanic Clouds Go back to the Southern Cross, and follow the long line of the cross to the left (east) for about 2.5 hand-spans. If the sky is dark enough you’ll see a small whitish patch that looks like a stray splash of the Milky Way, with a larger splash a couple of hand-spans below it. You are in fact looking outside our galaxy at two small neighbouring galaxies – the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. When you look at the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), you’re looking 210,000 years back in time – at 210,000 light-years away it’s the furthest thing you’ll see on this night sky tour. Finish Stargazing tips • Cloudy skies make for lousy stargazing so check for local weather conditions on the Bureau of Meteorology website (www.bom.gov.au) • The darker the better, you don’t want to see the Southern triangle, so choose a location away from street lights. • Take 10 –15 minutes to let your eyes adjust to the dark • Use a red light to preserve your vision (you can make one by covering a torch with red cellophane). 2 June Sky Map Latitude 30 o south between 7 and 8pm Star OVERHEAD Symbols Magnitudes Galaxy –1 Double star HYDRA 0 R Variable star 1 Diffuse nebula 2 Planetary nebula CORVUS 3 Spica Open star cluster 4 CRATER Globular star cluster LIBRA VIRGO C T I I P L SEXTANS C E Vindemiatrix E M5 Alphard H T Denebola Arcturus Mel 111 BOÖTES SERPENS (CAPUT) M12 Regulus M10 LEO COMA BERENICES M3 OPHIUCHUS Sickle M48 Cor Caroli MONOCEROS LEO CANES CANCER VENATICI CORONA MINOR BOREALIS α IC 4665 HERCULES Procyon M44 URSA CANIS MAJOR MINOR M13 LYNX Mizar 6633 & Alcor WEST NORTH EAST LOOKING NORTH OVERHEAD HYDRA CENTAURUS ω CRUX LUPUS ANTLIA M4 4755 3532 β Antares Coalsack 3293 α 3372 VELA THE MILKY WAY CIRCINUS IC 2602 3114 6231 NORMA MUSCA 6025 CARINA SCORPIUS R ARA 2808 IC 2391 PYXIS TRIANGULUM OPHIUCHUS AUSTRALE APUS 2547 M6 6397 2516 2477 M7 CHAMAELEON PUPPIS SCP 2451 M8 TELESCOPIUM κ VOLANS 2 6752 L CORONA MENSA AUSTRALIS OCTANS PAVO M46 M25 M22 Canopus M47 Nunki LMC SMC HYDRUS SCUTUM DORADO PICTOR SAGITTARIUS 47 Tuc CANIS INDUS MAJOR Sirius RETICULUM M41 TUCANA COLUMBA M50 MONOCEROS β HOROLOGIUM EAST SOUTH WEST LOOKING SOUTH How to use this map Facing either south or north, look at the appropriate star map. Your view of the sky should roughly match the major stars and constellations shown. You’ll see more stars as your eyes get accustomed to the dark, so wait for 10-15 minutes if you’re having trouble spotting the constellations. (These half-sky maps cover most of the sky, but for constellations that are directly above you, use the full sky map over the page). Copyright Kym Thalassoudis, Skymaps.com 3 July Sky Map Latitude 30 o south between 7 and 8pm Star OVERHEAD Symbols Magnitudes Galaxy –1 M4 Double star 0 Variable star 1 Antares R Diffuse nebula 2 SCORPIUS Planetary nebula 3 Open star cluster 4 Spica LIBRA Globular star cluster CORVUS M10 SERPENS M5 (CAUDA) C M12 I VIRGO CRATER T P I L SERPENS OPHIUCHUS C E (CAPUT) E H SCUTUM T Arcturus THE MILKY WAY Vindemiatrix IC 4665 BOÖTES CORONA α BOREALIS Denebola 6633 COMA HERCULES BERENICES M3 SEXTANS Mel 111 AQUILA η Cor Caroli M13 LEO CANES VENATICI Regulus Altair M92 LYRA Cr 399 SAGITTA HYDRA Mizar Vega URSA & Alcor MAJOR ε VULPECULA WEST NORTH EAST LOOKING NORTH LUPUS SCORPIUS 6231 CENTAURUS ω M6 NORMA CIRCINUS M8 M7 ARA α 6025 β 4755 THE MILKY WAY M25 6397 CRATER M22 Coalsack TELESCOPIUM CRUX CORONA TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE AUSTRALIS MUSCA 3532 3372 HYDRA SAGITTARIUS 6752 κ APUS IC 2602 3293 PAVO OCTANS ANTLIA 3114 2808 R SCP VELA CHAMAELEON IC 2391 CAPRICORNUS INDUS VOLANS MICROSCOPIUM 2516 MENSA CARINA SMC 2547 TUCANA 47 Tuc PYXIS HYDRUS LMC Alphard PICTOR PUPPIS RETICULUM 2477 GRUS β PISCIS DORADO L2 2451 AUSTRINUS Canopus EAST SOUTH WEST LOOKING SOUTH How to use this map Facing either south or north, look at the appropriate star map. Your view of the sky should roughly match the major stars and constellations shown. You’ll see more stars as your eyes get accustomed to the dark, so wait for 10-15 minutes if you’re having trouble spotting the constellations. (These half-sky maps cover most of the sky, but for constellations that are directly above you, use the full sky map over the page). Copyright Kym Thalassoudis, Skymaps.com 4 August Sky Map Latitude 30 o south between 7 and 8pm Star OVERHEAD Symbols Magnitudes Galaxy M4 SCORPIUS –1 Antares Double star 0 Variable star M8 1 Diffuse nebula M22 2 Planetary nebula 3 SERPENS M25 Open star cluster (CAUDA) 4 SAGITTARIUS Globular star cluster LIBRA OPHIUCHUS C I THE MILKYSCUTUM WAY T M10 I P L C M12 E E H T M5 IC 4665 Spica SERPENS 6633 CAPRICORNUS (CAPUT) AQUILA α η HERCULES Altair VIRGO VULPECULA Arcturus Cr 399 SAGITTA CORONA BOREALIS M2 Vindemiatrix M13 LYRA DELPHINUS AQUARIUS BOÖTES EQUULEUS Vega M3 M92 ε χ M15 COMA Enif BERENICES R CYGNUS DRACO PEGASUS Cor Caroli ν Denebola Mel 111 WEST NORTH EAST LOOKING NORTH M6 SCORPIUS M7 6231 THE MILKY WAY CORONA LUPUS AUSTRALIS SAGITTARIUS NORMA TELESCOPIUM 6397 ARA CIRCINUS 6025 CENTAURUS CAPRICORNUS R 6752 α ω HYDRA κ TRIANGULUM β AUSTRALE MICROSCOPIUM INDUS PAVO 4755 APUS Coalsack CRUX OCTANS MUSCA CORVUS SCP CARINA PISCIS 3532 AUSTRINUS TUCANA 47 Tuc IC 2602 3293 GRUS 3372 SMC CHAMAELEON CRATER 3114 Fomalhaut R β HYDRUS 2808 AQUARIUS MENSA VOLANS VELA PHOENIX LMC SCULPTOR ζ RETICULUM Achernar 2516 ANTLIA IC 2391 ERIDANUS DORADO EAST SOUTH WEST LOOKING SOUTH How to use this map Facing either south or north, look at the appropriate star map.
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