Constellations!

[Son of Kradus]

Went to bed at 5 yesterday to prepare for night shift and mrs woke me at 7.30 to say works canned due a thunderstorm coming. I went back to sleep and woke at 2am, so a great rest, I played some fortnite and caught up on here, about 4.30am I went outside to look for satellites and viewed a couple, I also thought of you guys in the northern hemishpere who dont get to view the southern cross, which is depicted on the NZ and Australian flags, well it was beaming tonight so I managed to get a pic for you guys who might just be interested!
Its in the center of the screen and is tilting way over to the right! if you could imagine a crucifix thats fallen to the right and is sitting on its right cross beam.

 

[Kevin B]

Thanks for that picture. I would love to view the Southern Cross in person. I've read it can sometimes be seen on the horizon in the Florida Keys. It seems like it is only in May.

 

[Oak Tree]

I’m not a star guy. I’m not one of those guys that can name and find constellations. Just not my thing.
But when I was in Australia, I could tell the sky looked different. Again, I wasn’t all into learning the southern patterns and all. But whenever the stars were bright, it was like “whoa, all stars look different “.
I also saw the southern cross tattooed on Aussie skin probably more than I saw it in the sky.
Fond memories and thanks for the pic.

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

thanks for this. Am I looking at it correctly?

Jupiter and Venus were very bright and close to each other in my area recently. They looked amazing in the early dusk sky. I miss conversations about this stuff with my dad.

 

[Son of Kradus]

thanks for this. Am I looking at it correctly?

View attachment 226543

Jupiter and Venus were very bright and close to each other in my area recently. They looked amazing in the early dusk sky. I miss conversations about this stuff with my dad.

Yes.... from our location on australia's east coast, theres times of the year it will be upside down and it almost never leaves the sky , only sunlight blocks it out, always very low and to the south,it was used to navigate the seas with sextant's many yrs ago as it was only visible once you crossed or got near the Equator which made a very good anchor point in the sky for global sea farer's using only stars as a guide!
Pleased you saw Jupiter and Venus hanging out together, they do come together quite a bit , in fact my very first telescope back in 2000 (cheap but cool) I was lucky to be viewing Venus,Jupiter,Saturn and Mars along with the moon all lined up in a row over the sky! was a great event! and to look out and see the 4 big moons of Jupiter in my own scope was quite special!
Thanks for the interest! its a funny thing the stars, everyone knows they are there, weve seen them since we first opened our eyes , at the end of the day when you look through the cosmos you are looking at the building blocks of existence itself!
P.s if anyone didnt know already you can see satellites on any morning or evening if the sky is clear, it has to be about 15-20 minutes before dawn or after dusk, as the sunlight flattens out across the globe anything....and I mean anything in the upper atmosphere or in orbit thats floating around in space will send reflections down to us,
All you do is watch...and watch and eventually you'll notice a star moving quickly across the heavens, could be going in any direction could be really bright or very faint maybe flickering as the space junk rotates in space it sends only shimmers of light! but always in a straight line, A chair helps coz you can get a sore neck for looking up too much! you can see them for about 20 minuites but each satellite will only be visible for a total of 10-20 seconds before it dips out of the sunlight!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I got myself a cheap scope and a book a few years back. I like looking at the moon. This summer, I'm thinking about taking it with us when we go camping, without light pollution, the sky is incredible

 

[ifitsfreeitsforme]

satellites are cool to watch. the kids and i watch them regularly. i have an app that lists what is visible from where i live on any given evening.

where I live, there is much light pollution, so stars are mostly visible straight up above. In the mid 90s I was driving at night between CO and NM and pulled over, laid in a field and looked at the sky. It was round like a bowl and the stars were bright all the way to the horizon. It was amazing.

 

[Son of Kradus]

Also Im really excited about Sagittarius... I just found out that if you can find the constellation Sagittarius and the pin point the star in it "Sagittarius A" well look at it...and remember it for this particlular star is the black hole at the centre of the milky way! thats right the very centre of our very own Galaxy!
Now thats something to look at!

 

[Son of Kradus]

Shift Work has its ups n down, woke early again, same same...Fortnite..Check on here then star gazing, Saw this beauty racing across the heavens ,was about 25 mins before sun up! note the trajectory, rising at the start and falling away at the end!
Im really bad at typing whats running through my head and it just occurred to me that this is so bright it could very well be the Space Station... I checked, there was a sighting opportunity posted by NASA that its flying overhead 03/18 05.04am....their maths dont lie...thats what it was... so there ya have it, if you havnt seen the ISS flying in all its glory you did today !
it was only visible to this part of australia because eveything happened at the right time, where it was, the timing of the sunlight at the correct angle, everything has to be just right....add to this clouds and its quite special to even view from earths surface! NASA regularly post's events like this and Sky Link when and where its due to occur