OUR Australian skies are sparkling at the moment so why not get outside tonight under the stars from your own backyard.
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Sure it’s cool but you won’t be disappointed with so much on offer for July.
Remember, the starlight you see coming from all those stars tonight left there hundreds, and in most cases thousands of years ago, and it’s just arriving now.
When you stargaze you’re looking back in time. When you use a telescope you’re using a time machine – cool huh
If you’re new to astronomy the hardest part is learning all those stars. But relax, it’s a lot easier than you think, but you won’t do it sitting inside at your keyboard.
Some people say that we spend too much time indoors and not enough time observing the things around us, like the stars and planets.
But what if your screen, in this case your Smartphone or tablet, can actually help you appreciate the skies more?
Well they can and they’re amazingly simple to use! Here are some of my favourites. Sky View will identify almost everything above your head at night and it’s fantastic. MoonPhase for your lunar viewing, then download a free NASA app spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings to catch the space station passing over your area.
This one is a knockout. On your tablet or laptop download an app called Star Chart. It puts a virtual planetarium right in your pocket. It uses state of the art GPS technology that will show you the current location of every star and planet visible from earth. Now that’s technology.
And something else really cool – after sunset all this week, Jupiter , Mars and Saturn appear in the same part of the north- eastern sky. This is magic so get the family outside and just marvel at one of the best celestial sights you’ll see.
Mars steals the show this week because it looks like a brilliant red beacon. The red star below Mars is Antares, in the constellation Scorpius so don’t mix them up OK. Saturn is nearby with its rings wide open and the bright planet Jupiter can be found over in the north.
In real terms, the planets are millions of kilometres apart, but to us here on Earth they appear to fairly close together. They’ll be with us all week then, things change dramatically in August – more about that later.
Dave Reneke from Australasian Science magazine
