Dec's Guide to the Night Sky for Amateur Astromomers - including Melbourne weather

[Owlunar]

Hi @outlander, @Former-Member and @utopia

Hi Utopia - I tagged you for this one because I recollect you are interested in Astronomy - and this is a little thread I will run because I love this stuff and will enjoy sharing it with others

I have a book I get for Christmas every year which tells me when anything interesting is happening - I can't see everything from my place - the Melbourne weather - pollution in the atmosphere and my low horizon is not good for starters - but I can tell you what you could see easily right now - weather being clear of course

The moon is past half and is visible in the afternoon sky and after dark it's near the bright planet Jupiter for a few days - so those two are easy to find

And following that the Moon will pass Antares which is a red star in the middle of the constellation Scorpio - and then Saturn which is the ringed planet and the furthest away of the planets we can see with the naked eye

Also - early in the evening - the the South West of Jupiter you can see Sirius or the Wolf-Star that follows the constellation Orion which is harder to see at this time of year - you may know The Saucepan or know the three bright stars in Orion's Belt

In the morning you can easily see Venus - the planet that is sometimes in the east and sometimes in the west - called the Morning Star or The Evening Star as it moves around the sun - it appears in our morning or evening sky - it's the brighest planet and sometimes it is visible after sunrise or before sunset and it very easy to see - actually - very hard to miss if it's there

Mercury is the smallest planet of the visible 5 and is closest to the sun and the hardest to find - and it's rising before sunrise and I have not seen it lately but I know it's there. You might be lucky to find it - but when then moon is in the last quarter it will be much easier to find

I am up for questions but need to take a break from the computer for a while - but unless I decide to go out - I will be back if anyone has any questions

I get very maternal about a thread when I open it - so I will be looking for this one

Dec

And if I can get suitable pics I will post them to show what I mean - I love all of this

[Owlunar]

Sorry @Former-Member

I forgot to tag you - here we are

Dec

[outlander]

Yay @Owlunar i love astronomy !! Awesome thread! !

[Shaz51]

WOW @Owlunar, love this thread , looking forward to hearing more xx

Hello @outlander

[outlander]

hiya @Shaz51

[soul]

Hi @Owlunar, I'm a very visual learner so pics would be very much appreciated. Went to NT once and the night sky around Uluru was amazing due to lack of visual pollution. 

[Shaz51]

The night sky is totally amazing in the N.T. @soul, @Owlunar, @outlander

I agree , went there for a holiday xx

[utopia]

Thank you @Owlunar. I am interested and will follow this thread when I get home and look up my sons Astrology book - so I know what I'm looking at.
Thanks so much for including me.

[Former-Member]

@Owlunar

Wonderful need to print your first post so much to learn already

have knowledge of them great to know where to look

thank you for taking the time and sharing xx

[Former-Member]

@Owlunar This is a wonderful thread! 🙂 I saw the Saucepan (have I got it right that that is the Big dipper? - but I couldn't seem to find the Little dipper?) and I noticed it seemed to have a reddish coloured star to the right of it, and a white or maybe bluish coloured star to the left - does any of that make any sense to you?

I had to put this picture in, it just blew me away - it's Earths supercluster, 100 000 galaxies! Our entire galaxy the Milky Way is just one little red dot! WOW! Way to make any amount of troubles seem smaller for me! 🙂

I'm still not quite sure where to look for Sirius, I'll have to look through your information again and go back to the internet site. Fabulous stuff 🙂

I'm off to bed now, Good night Dec, sleep well and peace be with you.

Niqua