Become an astronomer

1 Our Moonwatch target (see page 52), the walled plain Flammarion, is well placed this evening and tomorrow evening. You can also catch it on the waning Moon on the morning of 16 August. 2 This evenin

BEST TIME TO SEE: From 03:30 BST (02:30 UT) all month. Closest approach on 12 August Venus is the brightest planet that can be seen from Earth. At its peak brightness, when 22% illuminated, Venus appr

The faint, rather indistinct constellation Camelopardalis is supposed to represent a giraffe. It sits between Polaris (Alpha (α) Ursae Minoris) and Capella (Alpha (α) Aurigae). Our first target is loc

1 Jul 00:00 AEST (30 Jun, 14:00 UT) 15 Jul 23:00 AEST (13:00 UT) 31 Jul 22:00 AEST (12:00 UT) The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Australia. The sky is differ

1 NGC 6624 We’ll start with globular cluster NGC 6624 located in the northwest corner of the Teapot, 0.8° southeast of mag. +2.7 Kaus Media (Delta (δ) Sagittarii). Shining with an integrated magnitude

BEST TIME TO SEE: Nights of 9/10, 10/11 and 11/12 July A full Moon occurs when the Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky or, in other words, when its ecliptic longitude is 180° from the Sun. The eclipti