Signpost of summer

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With the nights getting shorter, stargazers in this part of the world have to wait until after 10pm for the sky to get suitably dark. The moon reaches the last quarter phase on Monday. It won’t rise until after 3am, which means the early part of the night is darkest and prime time for stargazing. Luckily there’s lots to see.

When the sun sets, Jupiter and Saturn are easily visible in the western sky. Jupiter is by far the brighter of the two planets, looking like a bright yellow-white star. Both planets are in the constellation of Sagittarius. They are presently separated by less than five degrees, standing roughly thirty degrees above the horizon at 10pm. Despite appearing close in the sky, this is just a line of sight effect; with a distance of more than 1.5billion kilometres from Earth, Saturn is almost twice as far away as Jupiter. Over the next few weeks, these gas giants are going to get closer and closer together in the sky; a few nights before Christmas, they will be separated by less than a tenth of a degree.

Try to spot the inverted teapot of Sagittarius which is to Jupiter’s left. Further to the left, the sting of Scorpius is low the southwest. Try to catch a glimpse of Antares before it sets just after 11pm.

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Source: https://www.odt.co.nz/lifestyle/magazine/signpost-summer

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