Many of the sights that are visible from the northern hemisphere can also be seen from New Zealand. However, New Zealand is too far south to see Polaris, the pole star, or the Great Bear (Ursa Major).
Because the Southern Cross can be seen all year round, people use it for navigation. It is especially useful for finding the direction south.
Currently Polaris is at a declination of a bit over 89 degrees, which means that no one south of 1 degree south latitude can see Polaris. Polaris will thus be visible in 13000 years or so as a wintertime star to all of Africa, all of Australia, and most of South America, but none of Antarctica.
The stars of the Southern Cross – Acrux (Alpha Crucis), Mimosa (Beta Crucis), Gacrux (Gamma Crucis), Imai (Delta Crucis), and Ginan (Epsilon Crucis) – form an asterism that really looks more like a kite than a cross.
Since the Big Dipper is a circumpolar asterism (from our latitude of about 42° north), all of its stars are visible regardless of the time of night or time of year, assuming you have a clear northern horizon. People often mistake Sirius, or even a planet for the North Star.
The Big Dipper can actually be seen in the Southern Hemisphere at opportune times from about 26 degrees south latitude and all latitudes farther north.
For Southern Hemisphere dwellers who want to see the Big Dipper, you must go north of latitude 25 degrees South to see it in its entirety. They see the Dipper at a similar altitude above the northern horizon on early evenings in late November or early December — except the Dipper appears right-side up!
Crux can be found on the national flags of Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Brazil. The New Zealand flag depicts only the four brightest stars of the Cross, while the banners of the other nations also include the faintest fifth star (known as Epsilon Crucis).
5 Stargazing Sites in New Zealand
- Tekapo. In the heart of the Dark Sky Reserve, the view from Mt John is one of the top locations in the world to stargaze and see the Southern Lights.
- Twizel. By day, explore The Lord of the Rings scenery.
- Aoraki Mt Cook.
- Queenstown.
- Stonehenge Aotearoa.
In Māori mythology, Atutahi is the name of Canopus, (Alpha Carinae). Atutahi is the second brightest star in the night-time sky, second only to Sirius (Takurua). Aotahi, Autahi, and Atutahi, "First-light" or "Single-light", were equivalent names that also intimated the star's solitary or self-centered nature.
What is the star by the moon? The light isn't actually a star, it's the planet Venus. Venus is the second closest planet to the sun. It was at its brightest in 2020 on April 28, and it's not at its brightest in 2021 until December 7.
Use it to locate a
planet, the Moon, or the Sun and track their movements across the sky.
Visible tonight, Jun 2 – Jun 3, 2021.
| Mercury: | Until Wed 9:10 pm |
|---|
| Mars: | Until Wed 11:23 pm |
| Jupiter: | From Thu 1:02 am |
| Saturn: | From Thu 12:12 am |
| Uranus: | From Thu 3:51 am |
WHEN IS THE MILKY WAY VISIBLE? The galactic core of the Milky Way galaxy is visible from the months of February to October in the Southern hemisphere. During the mid-winter months of June and July, the core is at its brightest.
As a result, the plane of the Milky Way is tilted about 60 degrees relative to the rotational axis of Earth. The central region of the Milky Way is in the southern region of our sky, which means views in the southern hemisphere tend to be brighter and have more clear contrast between stars and dust clouds.
Canopus, the second
brightest star, is in the southwest. It is a truly
bright star, 310 light years away and 13,000 times brighter than the sun.
The Evening Sky in June 2021.
| Alan Gilmore | Phone: 03 680 6817 |
|---|
| P.O. Box 57 | Email: .nz |
| Lake Tekapo 7945 | |
| New Zealand | |
In the northern hemisphere, the galactic center is visible in the southern half of the sky while in the southern hemisphere, it can be positioned directly overhead, particularly in the peak of the “Milky Way Season” around the time of the June Solstice.
1) Night skiing at Coronet PeakThere are plenty of places along the floodlit trail to pause for a moment and take in the beautiful night sky. If you're feeling thirsty, stop at the Ice Bar midway down the M1 for a cold one and take a seat on a beanbag – the view of the Milky Way from here is pretty hard to beat.
So why can't you see the Southern Cross any further north, or all year round for that matter? The curvature of the Earth gets in the way. "Constellations move in the sky as your latitude changes, so you see different parts of the sky for different lengths of time," explains Watson.
When you look at Orion in the northern hemisphere, Orion always appears in the southern part of the sky. Hence, since you are oriented towards the south, Orion is "right side up". Likewise, when viewed in the southern hemisphere, Orion is always in the northern sky, and since you face north, Orion appears upside down.
The first step is to identify the Southern Cross – it is a compact group of bright stars close together in the sky with the two Pointer stars always pointing to them from nearby. Then extend the main axis of the Cross from and in the direction of its brightest star by four and a half times its length.
Our Star Gazing tours are conducted at Tekapo Springs which lies within the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve, the largest dark sky reserve in the world at over 4300 square kilometres. Tours are conducted on our dark sky viewing decks with telescopes and in our signature hot pools.
New Zealand is also known as Aotearoa - The Land of the Long White Cloud. The southern sky claims the three brightest stars (Sirius, Canopus, and Alpha Centauri) and the best examples of almost every type of astronomical object.
Jupiter is currently in the constellation of Aquarius.
New Zealand stargazers will be able to witness a once-in-a-lifetime celestial event. "Then if you point your telescope or even a pair of binoculars at that bright star you'll see there are two planets - Jupiter and Saturn with its wonderful rings.
Those looking to see the "star" will want to look above the southwestern or western horizon after sunset, experts said.
Where does Venus located?
RA 6h 10m 1s | Dec +24° 25′ 12″
Sirius is now rising in the southeast in the hours after midnight and can be found in the south at dawn. Notice that a line from Orion's Belt points to Sirius. View larger. | Brightest star Sirius on left, with constellation Orion.
