All About Space Astronomer Book - 2014 UK

AUTUMN (SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE)

Autumn skies are brilliant in the southern hemisphere. Centaurus, with

the Southern Cross is very close to the zenith. Adjoining the Centaur we

have first of all the Scorpion, with its long line of bright stars, including

Antares, and then in the east are the star clouds of Sagittarius. On a dark

autumn night these clouds are truly superb, and the shadows they can

cast from really dark sky sites are quite distinctive.

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part of the sky Carina dominates with Canopus still at a respectable altitude,

though we have lost Sirius.

This is a particularly good time to look at the two best double stars in

the sky – Alpha Centauri and Alpha Crucis. Do not forget the erratic variable

Eta Carinae, which could flare up again at any moment and so this is

always worth following. One prominent feature of the autumn sky is Corvus,

the Crow or Raven. Its four main stars are little brighter than the third

Of course these clouds mask our view of the centre of the Galaxy, an

intensely interesting region which has to be studied by indirect means.

Sweeping round Sagittarius with a pair of binoculars or a wide-field

telescope is very rewarding, and this is arguably the richest area in the whole

of the sky. Very low in the west Achenar can probably be made out, but it

is not far above the horizon and any mist will obscure it. This makes the

location of the south celestial pole considerably more difficult. In the western

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