bright star in the northish

[Spacedout]

can someone tell me where I can find a star chart for this month? Is that Saturn North of Orion? Its yellowish

[Dave882]

I’d say it’s Mars.. :)

[RAJAH235]

Hi,

See if these sites suit your requirements...

> https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/interactive-sky-chart/

> https://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Scroll down the page above (^) for the Southern skies versions

[Startrek]

I can’t recommend enough to both beginner and seasoned Astronomer / Astrophotographer using the planetarium “Stellarium” for both identifying and navigating the night sky
It’s your road map to the night sky 24/7 , year after year
It’s open source so “free download” on your laptop or Home Desktop

https://stellarium.org/

Cheers
Martin

[ChrisV]

Yep Mars

[Eldest_Sibling]

I had just received this 76mm /9.2 Newtonian kit, a Carson "Red Planet" RP-100, its arrival coinciding with Mars' opposition...

299082

My first attempt at observing Mars with that kit was a bust, as Mars was nigh at the zenith, hence the telescope's position as shown. It's quite difficult to track. I caught only a glimpse that night. On a subsequent night, I managed an afocal shot of the planet...

299085

But Mars appears orange to reddish orange, to my eye.

[pmrid]

Or Aldebaran. Apparently Pioneer10 will reach it in 2 million years. 😁

[astro744]

That's not a bad capture for a 76mm telescope. I can see the lighter pole at the bottom with darker features just above it and some other darker features at the top. The phase is also visible. Mars does reach much higher in the sky this opposition in your hemisphere. It is not the most favourable opposition in terms of apparent size but OK. Well done for a fine capture.

As for the colour of Mars, the term 'red' is used loosely. It does look more orange very similar to the star Antares which means rival of Ares (Mars).

[Eldest_Sibling]

Thank you. All of that's extraordinary.

[astro744]

You’re welcome.

I did a search on declination vs apparent size for oppositions of Mars and found the following.

https://www.nakedeyeplanets.com/mars-oppositions.htm

Whilst the current opposition is not as favourable as it can be (4 years ago and every 15-17 years), it is perhaps more ‘favourable’ for northern hemisphere observers as Mars has a very much positive declination which means Mars is higher in the sky for northerners.

Very favourable oppositions (when Mars is closest and therefore appears larger) always have Mars with a very negative (southern) declination. This opposition for you at your location although not showing Mars at its largest apparent size does have Mars higher in the sky and in that sense could be considered favourable (at least for those further north of the Equator.

My most memorable oppositions were that of 1986, 1988 and 2003. I didn’t spend much time looking at Mars in 2018. It comes around every 2 years + 2 months and every 15-17 years is really close.

[Andrew_F]

I use the heavens above version as well - Stellarium is just as good .


https://heavens-above.com/skychart2.aspx?lat=-34&lng=154&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT