TheSky (c) Astronomy Software 1984-1998 CAMELOPARDALIS CEPHEUS CASSIOPEIA Night sky map North December 2019 Capella STAR BRIGHTNESSAURIGA Deneb Zero or brighter LACERTA PERSEUS CYGNUS st NE 1 magnitude Andromeda Galaxy nd ANDROMEDA 2 NW rd 3 TRIANGULUM th M45 - Pleiades 4 ARIES VULPECULA PEGASUS TAURUS Hyades Aldebaran PISCES DELPHINUS SAGITTA EQUULEUS First Quarter Moon on the 4th Altair Betelgeuse ORION CETUS AQUARIUS Orion’s belt 1 ERIDANUS East Rigel AQUILA “The Saucepan” 0 SCULPTOR Fomalhaut FORNAX CAPRICORNUS 0 PISCIS AUSTRINUS LEPUS West SATURN PHOENIX GRUS MICROSCOPIUM SCUTUM CAELUM P Sirius HOROLOGIUM Achernar COLUMBA SAGITTARIUS CANIS MAJOR INDUS TUCANA VENUS RETICULUM P PICTOR Adhara SERPENS HYDRUS SMC DORADO TELESCOPIUM Canopus JUPITER LMC PAVO CORONA AUSTRALIS P Tarantula Nebula MENSA OCTANS PUPPIS Centre of the Galaxy False Cross South Celestial Pole VOLANS ARA CHAMAELEON APUS Chart Key CARINA SCORPIUS SE Bright star Diamond Cross TRIANGULUM AUSTRALE The Pointers PYXIS Faint star MUSCA SW Antares Ecliptic NORMA MOON PHASE Southern Cross CIRCINUS First quarter 4th Milky Way VELA Alpha Centauri Hadar Full Moon 12 th P Planet CRUX Mimosa Last quarter 19th LUPUS LMC or Large Magellanic Cloud th SMC or Small Magellanic Cloud New Moon 26 South ANTLIA HYDRA CENTAURUS THE CHART HIGHLIGHTS IN DECEMBER 2019 The star chart shows the stars and constellations 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. .