Night sky map February 2017
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 First quarter GEMINI Moon on the 4th M44 TAURUS ARIES CANCER Aldebaran
Betelgeuse ORION PISCES CANIS MINOR Procyon Orion’s belt The “Saucepan” Regulus M42 MONOCEROS Rigel MARS P ERIDANUS Sirius LEPUS P Canis Major CETUS (the Great Dog) VENUS East CANIS MAJOR SEXTANS 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 PAVO Pointers Chart Key CENTAURUS SW Bright star Hadar TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE Faint star Alpha Centauri CIRCINUS MOON PHASE Ecliptic TELESCOPIUM First quarter 04th Milky Way Full Moon 11th P Planet South ARA NORMA Last quarter 19th LMC or Large Magellanic Cloud New Moon 27th SMC or Small Magellanic Cloud
THE CHART HIGHLIGHTS IN FEBRUARY 2017
This star chart shows the stars and constellations visible in the The best time to view the Moon with a small night sky for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart in telescope or pair of binoculars is a few days either February at about 8:30pm (Daylight Savings Time), or 7:30pm side of its First quarter phase on the 4th. The (Local Standard Time) for Perth and Brisbane. For Darwin and planets Venus and Mars are be visible low in the similar northerly locations the chart will still apply, but some west just after sunset. Prominent in the sky this stars will be lost off the southern edge while extra stars will be month are the constellations of Canis Major (the visible to the north. Stars down to a brightness or magnitude Great Dog) which includes Sirius – the brightest limit of 4.5 are shown on the star chart. To use this star chart, star in the sky, Orion (the Hunter), which includes rotate the chart so that the direction you are facing (north, the recognisable southern hemisphere asterism of south, east or west) is shown at the bottom. The centre of the the “Saucepan”. Crux (the Southern Cross) is low chart represents the point directly above your head, called the in 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 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 Brenan Dew. © 2017 Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney.