Saturn, Venus, star patterns and the deep-sky. Best things to see in the Southern Hemisphere sky this month

Find out what’s in the night sky tonight from your Southern Hemisphere location.

By Glenn Dawes

Published: Monday, 02 September 2024 at 10:25 AM

If you’re based in the Southern Hemisphere and want to know what you can see in the night sky tonight, this page is for you.

Our monthly-updated night-sky guide will show you what you can see in the Southern Hemisphere over the coming weeks.

We’ll include monthly highlights, stars, constellations, planets and deep-sky objects.

For more advice, read our guides to Southern Hemipshere stargazing and the best night-sky targets to see in Australia.

Saturn photographed by Tom Bishton, Brisbane, Australia.

Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight: highlights, September 2024

Saturn reaches opposition on 8 September 2024, presenting its largest angular size for the year.

It’s also approaching a ring plane crossing in 2025, so the rings are now nearly edge-on.

Its bright moons’ orbits are close to the ring plane, so at each interaction they currently pass close to the poles or go behind (or in front of) Saturn.

Saturn’s brightest moon, Titan, easily visible in a small scope, presently moves close at interactions.

These moments are best seen on 1st, 10th, 18th and 26th.

Asterisms

For urban dwellers who can’t see our Galaxy, there are still distinctive star patterns (asterisms) to help you navigate the evening sky.

Close to the northern horizon is the Summer Triangle of Altair, Deneb and Vega.

Low in the northeast, you’ll find three bright stars from Pegasus and Andromeda that form the Great Square of Pegasus.

Looking southwest, the Teapot in Sagittarius is pouring a drink as it prepares to set, as Scorpius dives headfirst towards the western horizon.

Planets

Venus is now a prominent beacon low in the early evening western sky.

The planet has a close conjunction with the crescent Moon on the evening of 5 September, a sight not to miss! Uranus has entered the evening sky, rising around 23:00 mid-month.

Being at opposition this month, Saturn and Neptune are up all night, both transiting due north around midnight.

Turning to the morning, Jupiter and Mars are conspicuous, rising about 01:00 and 02:00 respectively, and are best seen just before dawn.

Galaxy NCG 7041. Credit: Legacy Surveys / D.Lang (Perimeter Institute) & Meli thev / Wiki

Deep-sky

High in the southern evening sky, next to Grus, is the lesser-known constellation Indus.

Move 5° north from the naked-eye (fourth-magnitude) double star Theta (θ) Indi to find galaxy NGC 7049 (RA 21h 19.0m, dec. –48° 34’).

This mag. +10.7 spiral has a prominent, slightly oval core surrounded by a faint narrow halo.

Only 0.4° west-northwest lies another spiral, NGC 7041, with an obvious oval core circled by a faint, spindle-shaped halo.

Immediately southwest is Pavo. From naked-eye (mag. +1.9) star Peacock (Alpha (α) Pavonis), travel 10° southwest to NGC 6752 (19h 10.8m, dec. –59° 59’), fifth-brightest of the globular star clusters (at mag. +5.3) and readily visible through binoculars.

A 15cm telescope easily resolves the brighter members, looking like a diffuse open cluster overlaying the globular’s haze, which has a condensed, bright centre.