Just north of mag. +3.9 Asellus Australis (Delta (δ) Cancri), you’ll spot a ‘little cloud’, which is what ‘Nephelion’, M44’s ancient Greek name, means. At only 577 lightyears away, M44 (also known as

When to use this chart 1 Feb 00:00 AEDT (31 Jan, 13:00 UT) 15 Feb 23:00 AEDT (12:00 UT) 28 Feb 22:00 AEDT (11:00 UT) The chart accurately matches the sky on the dates and times shown for Sydney, Austr

Our first target is the Little Pinwheel Galaxy, NGC 3184, positioned 48 arcminutes west of mag. +3.0 Tania Australis (Mu (μ) Ursae Majoris). This spiral galaxy has an apparent magnitude of +10.1 but i

1 Sunday Ganymede disappears into Jupiter’s shadow at 19:48 UT, reappearing again at 23:11 UT. 5 ◀ Thursday From now until 26 March is the optimum time for this month’s Deep-Sky Tour (page 56) of obje

It’s the question I’m asked more than any other whenever I give a talk on the history of the constellations: who invented the Southern Cross? The short answer is: no one did – or at least no individua

The spring sky is heavy with galaxies. As the stars of winter rotate westward, they drag the winter Milky Way with them, leaving us to gaze out into deep space at right angles to the plane of our home