Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight: highlights, February 2024<\/strong><\/h2>The crescent Moon next to a planet is always a pleasing sight.<\/p>
In February all five naked-eye planets have such encounters.<\/p>
On 8 February, low in the dawn sky the 27-day-old Moon has brilliant Venus 5\u00b0 to the lower left, with Mars 8\u00b0 below.<\/p>
The following morning, the Moon is 3\u00b0 to the upper-right of Mercury.<\/p>
The thin crescent Moon appears low in the evening twilight on 11 February, 4\u00b0 to the upper right of Saturn, then on 15 February, the six-day-old Moon is 4\u00b0 to the lower right of Jupiter.<\/p>
Stars and constellations<\/strong><\/h2>The Milky Way over Mt. Barney by Tom Bishton, Mt. Barney NP, Queensland, Australia. Equipment: Canon EOS 550D.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Look at the northern Milky Way. Many of the bright stars and nebulae are nearby, but some far further away.<\/p>
This includes the stars\u00a0 of Orion and Taurus, and the Hyades and Pleiades.<\/p>
So why do we see a jump for some objects in the same area to over 4,000 lightyears, such as M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga?<\/p>
It relates to the spiral structure of our Galaxy. The Sun and the closer objects belong to the Orion Arm, which share the night sky with these distant members of the Perseus Arm.<\/p>
Planets<\/strong><\/h2>![\"Dawn](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/02\/6real7th-6d70245.jpg\")
Dawn conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Pleiades by Jonathan Green, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand. Equipment: Canon 60Da, 28-80mm Canon lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Saturn and Neptune are immersed in the twilight glow and lost by month\u2019s end.<\/p>
The highlight of the evening is Jupiter, but is soon gone, departing around 23:00 (mid-month).<\/p>
Uranus now sets around 30 minutes after Jupiter.<\/p>
There is then an absence of planets until Venus, Mars and Mercury arrive in the predawn.<\/p>
February begins with Mars and Mercury close.<\/p>
As Mercury drops towards its solar conjunction at month\u2019s end, Mars draws close to Venus, being separated by only 0.6\u00b0 on the 23rd.\u00a0<\/p>
Deep-sky objects<\/strong><\/h2>![\"A](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2023\/09\/1.-GUM14-15_widefield-MAIN-PIC-1024x824.jpg?fit=800%2C644\")
A wide-field view of the the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex, a pair of neighbouring emission nebulae in the constellation of Vela. Credit: ShaRA Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>This month, we visit the constellation of Vela, the Sail.<\/p>
High in the southern evening sky is the False Cross asterism.<\/p>
One of its stars, Delta (\u03b4) Velorum, forms a brilliant binocular field with the open cluster IC 2391 (RA 8h 40.5m, dec. -53\u00b0 02\u2019), 2\u00b0 northward.<\/p>
The cluster, named after its dominant (third-magnitude) luminary, Omicron (\u03bf) Velorum, consists of around a dozen bright, hot, blue stars scattered across a 1\u00b0 circle, sitting on an impressive Milky Way field.<\/p>
Just 6 arcminutes south of Omicron lies the wide binocular double of HR3448 and NZ Velorum, mag. +5.5 and +5.2 respectively, 4 arcminutes apart.<\/p>
Only 19 arcminutes east is another impressive double star, HY and KT Velorum being mag. +4.8 and +5.5, separated by 1.3 arcminutes.<\/p>
Small telescopes reveal both HY and KT are wide doubles and that NZ has a ninth-magnitude companion 17 arcseconds to the northeast.\u00a0<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart February 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>
Look at the northern Milky Way. Many of the bright stars and nebulae are nearby, but some far further away.<\/p>
This includes the stars\u00a0 of Orion and Taurus, and the Hyades and Pleiades.<\/p>
So why do we see a jump for some objects in the same area to over 4,000 lightyears, such as M36, M37 and M38 in Auriga?<\/p>
It relates to the spiral structure of our Galaxy. The Sun and the closer objects belong to the Orion Arm, which share the night sky with these distant members of the Perseus Arm.<\/p>
Planets<\/strong><\/h2>Dawn conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and the Pleiades by Jonathan Green, North Shore, Auckland, New Zealand. Equipment: Canon 60Da, 28-80mm Canon lens.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Saturn and Neptune are immersed in the twilight glow and lost by month\u2019s end.<\/p>
The highlight of the evening is Jupiter, but is soon gone, departing around 23:00 (mid-month).<\/p>
Uranus now sets around 30 minutes after Jupiter.<\/p>
There is then an absence of planets until Venus, Mars and Mercury arrive in the predawn.<\/p>
February begins with Mars and Mercury close.<\/p>
As Mercury drops towards its solar conjunction at month\u2019s end, Mars draws close to Venus, being separated by only 0.6\u00b0 on the 23rd.\u00a0<\/p>
Deep-sky objects<\/strong><\/h2>A wide-field view of the the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex, a pair of neighbouring emission nebulae in the constellation of Vela. Credit: ShaRA Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>This month, we visit the constellation of Vela, the Sail.<\/p>
High in the southern evening sky is the False Cross asterism.<\/p>
One of its stars, Delta (\u03b4) Velorum, forms a brilliant binocular field with the open cluster IC 2391 (RA 8h 40.5m, dec. -53\u00b0 02\u2019), 2\u00b0 northward.<\/p>
The cluster, named after its dominant (third-magnitude) luminary, Omicron (\u03bf) Velorum, consists of around a dozen bright, hot, blue stars scattered across a 1\u00b0 circle, sitting on an impressive Milky Way field.<\/p>
Just 6 arcminutes south of Omicron lies the wide binocular double of HR3448 and NZ Velorum, mag. +5.5 and +5.2 respectively, 4 arcminutes apart.<\/p>
Only 19 arcminutes east is another impressive double star, HY and KT Velorum being mag. +4.8 and +5.5, separated by 1.3 arcminutes.<\/p>
Small telescopes reveal both HY and KT are wide doubles and that NZ has a ninth-magnitude companion 17 arcseconds to the northeast.\u00a0<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart February 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>
Saturn and Neptune are immersed in the twilight glow and lost by month\u2019s end.<\/p>
The highlight of the evening is Jupiter, but is soon gone, departing around 23:00 (mid-month).<\/p>
Uranus now sets around 30 minutes after Jupiter.<\/p>
There is then an absence of planets until Venus, Mars and Mercury arrive in the predawn.<\/p>
February begins with Mars and Mercury close.<\/p>
As Mercury drops towards its solar conjunction at month\u2019s end, Mars draws close to Venus, being separated by only 0.6\u00b0 on the 23rd.\u00a0<\/p>
Deep-sky objects<\/strong><\/h2>A wide-field view of the the Gum 14\/15 nebula complex, a pair of neighbouring emission nebulae in the constellation of Vela. Credit: ShaRA Team<\/figcaption><\/figure>This month, we visit the constellation of Vela, the Sail.<\/p>
High in the southern evening sky is the False Cross asterism.<\/p>
One of its stars, Delta (\u03b4) Velorum, forms a brilliant binocular field with the open cluster IC 2391 (RA 8h 40.5m, dec. -53\u00b0 02\u2019), 2\u00b0 northward.<\/p>
The cluster, named after its dominant (third-magnitude) luminary, Omicron (\u03bf) Velorum, consists of around a dozen bright, hot, blue stars scattered across a 1\u00b0 circle, sitting on an impressive Milky Way field.<\/p>
Just 6 arcminutes south of Omicron lies the wide binocular double of HR3448 and NZ Velorum, mag. +5.5 and +5.2 respectively, 4 arcminutes apart.<\/p>
Only 19 arcminutes east is another impressive double star, HY and KT Velorum being mag. +4.8 and +5.5, separated by 1.3 arcminutes.<\/p>
Small telescopes reveal both HY and KT are wide doubles and that NZ has a ninth-magnitude companion 17 arcseconds to the northeast.\u00a0<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart February 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>
This month, we visit the constellation of Vela, the Sail.<\/p>
High in the southern evening sky is the False Cross asterism.<\/p>
One of its stars, Delta (\u03b4) Velorum, forms a brilliant binocular field with the open cluster IC 2391 (RA 8h 40.5m, dec. -53\u00b0 02\u2019), 2\u00b0 northward.<\/p>
The cluster, named after its dominant (third-magnitude) luminary, Omicron (\u03bf) Velorum, consists of around a dozen bright, hot, blue stars scattered across a 1\u00b0 circle, sitting on an impressive Milky Way field.<\/p>
Just 6 arcminutes south of Omicron lies the wide binocular double of HR3448 and NZ Velorum, mag. +5.5 and +5.2 respectively, 4 arcminutes apart.<\/p>
Only 19 arcminutes east is another impressive double star, HY and KT Velorum being mag. +4.8 and +5.5, separated by 1.3 arcminutes.<\/p>
Small telescopes reveal both HY and KT are wide doubles and that NZ has a ninth-magnitude companion 17 arcseconds to the northeast.\u00a0<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart February 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>
Southern Hemisphere Star Chart January 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart December 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart November 2023 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>