Southern Hemisphere night sky tonight: highlights, March 2024<\/strong><\/h2>Crater Grimaldi. Credit: Steve Marsh<\/figcaption><\/figure>The Moon slowly wobbles on its axis, allowing us to see slightly more than half of its surface. This is known as lunar libration<\/a>.<\/p>However, those revealed areas are often still in shadow.<\/p>
The two maximum librations in March are both visible.<\/p>
One occurs during the last quarter Moon on 5 March, where the western limb shows the dark crater Grimaldi<\/a> more face-on.<\/p>The other, on 17 March, has the first quarter Moon displaying great views of Mare Crisium<\/a>, with Mare Marginis now peeking over the eastern limb.<\/p>Stars and constellations<\/strong><\/h2>![\"The](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2016\/04\/GettyImages-1134057088-48e57fb.jpg\")
The region of the Milky Way in Puppis and Vela, captured from Coonabaran, Australia. Bright star Canopus in Carina can be seen at the bottom. Photo by: VW Pics\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>Argo, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts fame, and one of Ptolemy\u2019s original 48 constellations, today exists as Vela, Puppis and Carina.<\/p>
They retain many links to Argo, including Arabic star names, but Gamma Velorum (in Vela) is also known as \u2018Regor\u2019, which is Roger backwards.<\/p>
Gus Grissom inserted this into NASA\u2019s star charts as a joke on his fellow astronaut Roger Chaffee.<\/p>
When they were both killed in the Apollo 1 fire, the name remained to honour their memory.<\/p>
Planets<\/strong><\/h2>![\"Conjunction](\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/02\/brisbaneconjunctioncrop-201741b.jpg\")
Conjunction of (from left) Jupiter, the crescent Moon and Venus over the city of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Equipment: Canon 600D, 18-55mm lens <\/figcaption><\/figure>You need to start early to see planets this month, for Jupiter and Uranus are setting around 21:00 (mid-month).<\/p>
A drought then sets in until Mars arrives in the predawn.<\/p>
This is followed by brilliant Venus, which quickly moves away from the Red Planet, as it drops into the dawn glow heading towards conjunction.<\/p>
By month\u2019s end this \u2018Morning Star<\/a>\u2019 is a dawn object only.<\/p>Saturn returns to the morning, rising out of the Sun\u2019s glow, and passes Venus, being closest on 22nd, only 0.6\u00b0 apart.<\/p>
Deep-sky objects<\/strong><\/h2>This month, a trip to the Pictor constellation, just west of Canopus, home to impressive double stars such as Eta (\u03b7) Pictoris (RA 5h 02.8m, dec. -49\u00b0 09\u2019).<\/p>
Binoculars show a colourful wide pair, with mag. +5.4 white Eta1 <\/sup>(\u03b71<\/sup>) making a great contrast to mag. +5.0 orange Eta2 <\/sup>(\u03b72<\/sup>) 0.5\u00b0 away.<\/p>Here\u2019s a real challenge requiring dark skies and large aperture (20cm+): in the same field with Eta2<\/sup> (0.1\u00b0 east) is the faint (12th-magnitude) galaxy NGC 1803, showing an oval halo (1.0 x 0.5 arcminutes) with a stellar nucleus.<\/p>Just 0.6\u00b0 west of Eta2<\/sup> lies double star HD 32278, with mag. +7.3 and +9.0 yellow companions 10 arcseconds apart.<\/p>A true showpiece is Theta (\u03b8) Pictoris (RA 5h 24.8m, dec. -52\u00b0 19\u2019). With matched mag. +6.8 stars a comfortable 38 arcseconds apart, Theta stands out in the field of view like brilliant white headlights.\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 March 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/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>
The Moon slowly wobbles on its axis, allowing us to see slightly more than half of its surface. This is known as lunar libration<\/a>.<\/p> However, those revealed areas are often still in shadow.<\/p> The two maximum librations in March are both visible.<\/p> One occurs during the last quarter Moon on 5 March, where the western limb shows the dark crater Grimaldi<\/a> more face-on.<\/p> The other, on 17 March, has the first quarter Moon displaying great views of Mare Crisium<\/a>, with Mare Marginis now peeking over the eastern limb.<\/p> Argo, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts fame, and one of Ptolemy\u2019s original 48 constellations, today exists as Vela, Puppis and Carina.<\/p> They retain many links to Argo, including Arabic star names, but Gamma Velorum (in Vela) is also known as \u2018Regor\u2019, which is Roger backwards.<\/p> Gus Grissom inserted this into NASA\u2019s star charts as a joke on his fellow astronaut Roger Chaffee.<\/p> When they were both killed in the Apollo 1 fire, the name remained to honour their memory.<\/p> You need to start early to see planets this month, for Jupiter and Uranus are setting around 21:00 (mid-month).<\/p> A drought then sets in until Mars arrives in the predawn.<\/p> This is followed by brilliant Venus, which quickly moves away from the Red Planet, as it drops into the dawn glow heading towards conjunction.<\/p> By month\u2019s end this \u2018Morning Star<\/a>\u2019 is a dawn object only.<\/p> Saturn returns to the morning, rising out of the Sun\u2019s glow, and passes Venus, being closest on 22nd, only 0.6\u00b0 apart.<\/p> This month, a trip to the Pictor constellation, just west of Canopus, home to impressive double stars such as Eta (\u03b7) Pictoris (RA 5h 02.8m, dec. -49\u00b0 09\u2019).<\/p> Binoculars show a colourful wide pair, with mag. +5.4 white Eta1 <\/sup>(\u03b71<\/sup>) making a great contrast to mag. +5.0 orange Eta2 <\/sup>(\u03b72<\/sup>) 0.5\u00b0 away.<\/p> Here\u2019s a real challenge requiring dark skies and large aperture (20cm+): in the same field with Eta2<\/sup> (0.1\u00b0 east) is the faint (12th-magnitude) galaxy NGC 1803, showing an oval halo (1.0 x 0.5 arcminutes) with a stellar nucleus.<\/p> Just 0.6\u00b0 west of Eta2<\/sup> lies double star HD 32278, with mag. +7.3 and +9.0 yellow companions 10 arcseconds apart.<\/p> A true showpiece is Theta (\u03b8) Pictoris (RA 5h 24.8m, dec. -52\u00b0 19\u2019). With matched mag. +6.8 stars a comfortable 38 arcseconds apart, Theta stands out in the field of view like brilliant white headlights.\u00a0<\/p> Access this month’s and all previous star charts for the Southern Hemisphere by clicking on the links below.<\/p> Southern Hemisphere Star Chart March 2024 (PDF)<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/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>Stars and constellations<\/strong><\/h2>
Planets<\/strong><\/h2>
Deep-sky objects<\/strong><\/h2>
Southern Hemisphere Star Charts<\/strong><\/h2>