The below notes outline predictable astronomical and space events visible from Canberra, Australia during the period 26 January to 1 February 2020. In most cases, the events will be visible to the unaided eye. Times are given in Australian Eastern Daylight Time.
Finder charts for a selected range of events can be found elsewhere on this website.
All week
Venus is visible in the evening twilight all week. Uranus and Neptune are also in the evening sky. However, a telescope will be required to locate and resolve their tiny featureless discs.
Mars is easily visible in the morning predawn sky. At present, it is located close enough to Antares (the brightest star in the ancient Greek constellation Scorpius ‘The Scorpion’) that you can compare the colour of the two. The name Antares is derived from a Greek word that translates approximately as ‘rival of Mars’. Comparing the colour of the two objects shows you how that name came about. Jupiter is also visible in the morning dawn sky low on the Eastern horizon.
Don’t forget to look for the Summer Milky Way high overhead once evening twilight has ended. It is very easy to spot the group of stars referred to as the ‘Summer Saucepan’ (part of the ancient Greek constellation Orion ‘The Hunter’).
From a location away from Canberra street lights without binoculars you can see our Milky Way’s two largest satellite galaxies (the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds). They are so large they can be mistaken for faint Earthbound clouds. If you have binoculars or a telescope, this week is a fantastic time to look out into deep space. A couple of brighter favourites of mine are the star forming region (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula) in the ‘handle’ of the ‘Saucepan’ of the ancient Greek constellation Orion ‘The Hunter’ or the bright globular cluster 47 Tucanae (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/47_Tucanae).
As a starting point to exploring the ‘deep’ sky I would recommend downloading the free (and fantastic) monthly ‘The Evening Sky Map’ (http://skymaps.com/downloads.html). Print that, take it outside and start familiarising yourself with the night sky. Once you are ready to look for objects that require binoculars or a telescope, you will need a more detailed star chart. I highly recommend an app like Sky Safari rather than a printed star chart (which I have lots of and don’t use anymore). The advantage with Sky Safari is that you can select how faint you want to look. It makes it much easier to find objects. Just remember to switch on the ‘red screen/observing’ mode to save your night vision.
Satellites
The International Space Station is visible from Canberra in the morning pre-dawn or twilight sky during the period 25 – 30 January 2020. The Space Station is usually bright enough to see without binoculars on its passes over Canberra. In some cases, sunlight reflecting off the Stations solar panel produces a flare brighter than the planet Venus.
Space X’s Starlink satellites (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlink_(satellite_constellation)) pass over Canberra in both the evening twilight sky and morning twilight skies of the period this article covers. There are now too many of them to provide prediction information for. Observers have reported that binoculars are usually required to observe them.
To generate finder charts and visibility information for any satellite for your Canberra location, go here on my website: http://nightskyonline.info/customised-astronomy-satellite-viewing-information-for-your-location/customised-astronomy-satellite-viewing-information-for-your-canberra-suburb/. Select your suburb then select the page ‘Daily predictions for brighter satellites’. If the International Space Station or Starlink satellites are visible for that particular day, there will be a link to a page with a finder chart. The chart will also list when the pass will occur.
Tuesday 28 January 2020
Early evening twilight. Slim crescent Moon located above and to the left of dazzling Venus.
Early evening twilight. Neptune and Venus only one Moon width apart. Neptune will only be visible in large binoculars or a telescope. It is currently at magnitude +7.9.
Thursday 30 January 2020
Moon at apogee at 8 am AEST (furthest point in its orbit from the Earth).
Saturday 1 February 2020
Early evening sky. Moon located above the planet Uranus. You will need a minimum of a large pair of binoculars to see Uranus appearing as a star like object. Uranus is approximately three degrees or six Moon widths below the Moon.
Want to know more?
Further information about astronomy and space events can be found on this website. Alternative excellent sources of information are the annual astronomy yearbook published by Quasar Publishing (http://www.quasarastronomy.com.au/) or the fantastic astronomy apps in the Sky Safari family (go to the app store on your phone or tablet). A fantastic free astronomy computer program is Stellarium (https://stellarium.org/).
