Why not organise a ‘star party’ for your friends, school or youth group? A star party gives a chance to everyone (adults included!) to look at the Moon and planets through a telescope. The best nights to hold a star party each month in 2024 are listed in the table at the bottom of this article.
Remember that you don’t actually need to have a telescope to run a star party. Amateur astronomical societies are generally happy to assist schools by running a star party. This means that they will bring telescopes and volunteers to your school so that your students or youth group members can look through them at the night sky. Usually they will ask for a donation to cover the cost of their public liability insurance. My local society asks for a gold coin donation per participant but each society will be different.
One of the tricks with running a star party is knowing when to hold it. The best dates vary each month and are determined by the phases of the Moon. Based on my experience, I would avoid the night of First Quarter Moon and the prior day. There are multiple reasons. Firstly, you need to avoid a bright Moon. Its light overpowers the visibility of fainter night sky objects. The Moon is a ‘must see’ celestial object with its amazing craters. Ideally, you also want to be able to show students some of the brighter planets. These are not always visible due to the fact that all planets (including the Earth) are constantly moving in their orbits around the Sun.
The ‘when’ to hold a star party is also determined by when the sky gets dark. For instance, I don’t hold astronomy nights for my primary school students in Summer because the sky doesn’t get dark until after some of their bedtimes. To assist you with choosing the best time for a star party, I have also included twilight times in the table. The twilight times are listed for Wollongong, New South Wales. The further South you are located in Australia, the longer the twilight period will be. For instance, Tasmania has dramatically longer twilight periods compared to Wollongong. If you are not in Wollongong, websites such as HeavenAbove.com and TimeandDate.com can be used to generate customised astronomy information for your locations.
Using this criteria, the best nights therefore for 2024 are:
| Best Dates by Month | Planets visible to unaided eye Visibility information is for the end of Nautical Twilight for Wollongong, New South Wales. Information about nautical twilight can be found here: https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/nautical-twilight.html | End of Nautical twilight Wollongong, New South Wales | First Quarter Moon |
| 15 – 16 January 2024 | Jupiter, Saturn and the crescent Moon are located above the West – North/West horizon at the end of nautical twilight. Both planets are easily visible to the unaided eye. At this time, Saturn will be 15 degrees above the horizon and Jupiter will be 37 degrees high above the North West horizon. Typical warm Summer atmospheric conditions will drastically impact the fine detail visible on the planets through a telescope. | 9.15 pm AEDT (15 January 2024) | 18 January 2024 |
| 14 – 15 February 2024 | Jupiter and the crescent Moon are located above the North West horizon. Jupiter will appear like a brilliant white star to the unaided eye. On 14 February 2024, Jupiter will be 25 degrees above the horizon at the end of Nautical twilight. Typical warm Summer atmospheric conditions will drastically impact the fine detail visible on the planet through a telescope. From the Illawara region, Jupiter sets at 11.12 pm AEDT | 8.49 pm AEDT (14 February 2024) | 17 February 2024 |
| 14 – 16 March 2024 | Jupiter and the crescent Moon are located low above the North West horizon. Jupiter will appear like a bright white star to the unaided eye. On 14 March 2024, Jupiter will only be 15 degrees above the horizon at the end of Nautical twilight. This meaning that little detail on the planet will be visible. From the Illawara region, Jupiter sets at 9.32 pm AEDT | 8.10 pm AEDT (14 March 2024) | 17 March 2024 |
| 13 – 14 April 2024 | Jupiter is just visible very low above the North Western horizon as nautical twilight ends. It will set shortly aftwards. | 6.29 pm AEST (13 April 2024) | 16 April 2024 |
| 13 – 14 May 2024 | No planets are visible at the end of nautical twilight. | 6.00 pm AEST (13 May 2024) | 15 May 2024 |
| 11 – 12 June 2024 | No planets are visible at the end of nautical twilight. | 5.51 pm AEST (11 June 2024) | 14 June 2024 |
| 11 – 12 July 2024 | No planets are visible at the end of nautical twilight. | 6.31 pm AEST (11 July 2024) | 14 July 2024 |
| 10 – 11 August 2024 | No planets are visible at the end of nautical twilight. Saturn rises at 7.37 pm AEST. Plan to look at Saturn after 8.30 pm AEST before you get and sort of decent view through a telescope. The later you look the better. | 6.47 pm AEST (10 August 2024) | 13 August 2024 |
| 9 – 10 September 2024 | Venus will be located low on the Western horizon below the crescent Moon. Saturn is visible low above the Eastern horizon. Expect the view of Saturn to improve as it rises higher in the sky. | 7.07 pm AEST (9 September 2024) | 11 September 2024 |
| 8 – 9 October 2024 | Venus will be located above the Western horizon, and below the crescent Moon. Saturn is visible above the Eastern horizon. | 8 pm AEDT (8 October 2024) | 11 October 2024 |
| 6 – 7 November 2024 | Venus and the crescent Moon are located above the Western horizon. Below both is the planet Mercury. Saturn is located high above the Northern horizon. Jupiter rises at 10.11 pm AEDT. | 8.29 pm AEDT (6 November 2024) | 9 November 2024 |
| 6 – 7 December 2024 | Venus, the crescent Moon and Saturn are lined up above the Western horizon at a 45 degree angle. Jupiter is located above the North Eastern horizon. | 9.03 pm AEDT (6 December 2024) | 9 December 2024 |