Starry Starry Night Route 62 Montagu

stars to spot

The southern cross

All year round

The Southern Cross is composed of 5 stars and is the smallest constellation but is the most famous group of southern stars. It looks a kite (or a Cross obviously) and is constituted of four bright stars and a fifth one not as visible as the others.The Southern Cross was used by navigators to find South along with the Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri) .

The Southern Cross is on many national flags of countries such as New Zealand, Western Samoa, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. If you want to make sure you are looking at the right Cross, look for the presence of two bright stars called the Pointers.

Small and Large Magellanic Clouds

All year round

The Small Magellanic Cloud, or Nubecula Minor, is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a diameter of about 7,000 light-years, contains several hundred million stars, and has a total mass of approximately 7 billion solar masses.

You can find it next to the Large Magellanic Cloud.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs, the LMC is the second or third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal and the possible dwarf irregular galaxy known as the Canis Major Overdensity.

You can find it next to the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Canis major

November to April

Canis Major, the Greater Dog. Canis Major has since ancient times been the dog of Orion. Canis is forever in pursuit of the Hare (Lepus).

Sirius the Brightest Star in the entire Sky is located at the chest of Canis Major making it easier to find in the Night Sky.

Alpha Centauri

All year round

Alpha Centauri is the closest star system and closest planetary system to Earth's Solar System at 4.37 light-years from the Sun. The name is Latinized from α Centauri, and abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen.

Alpha Centauri being the Yellowish star on the left of the picture.

Found next to Beta Centauri and close to the Southern Cross.

COalsack

All year round

The Coalsack Nebula is the most prominent dark nebula in the skies, being easily visible to the naked eye as a dark patch of dust obscuring a brief section of Milky Way stars.

Situated near the Southern Cross, can be difficult to spot in area that are not dark enough, good thing Starry Starry Night does not suffer light pollution 😉

The Coalsack is the dark patch on the bottom left of the Southern Cross constellation.

Dark horse nebula

All year round

The Dark Horse Nebula or Great Dark Horse is a large dark nebula that, from Earth's perspective, obscures part of the upper central bulge of the Milky Way. The Dark Horse lies in the equatorial constellation Ophiuchus, near its borders with the more famous constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius.

Only visible on clear moonless nights and without light pollution good thing there is no light pollution at Starry Starry night !

Needs time to adapt the eye to darkness to finally be able to see it.

On the picture try to find a ''Horse'' shape in the upper part in the center.

ORION

November to March

Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky. It is named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. Its brightest stars are blue-white Rigel and red Betelgeuse. The 3 big stars in the center represent Orion's belt and the 3 under represent the sword attached to the belt.

Appears upside down in the Southern Hemisphere.

scorpius

March to October

In the Southern hemisphere Scorpius lies within the center of the Milky Way, appearing as a faint band stretching across the sky. At the heart of Scorpius is Antares, one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

In Greek mythology Scorpius represents a scorpion that was sent into the heavens after being killed by the great hunter Orion. The scorpion was sent to destroy Orion by Gaia the Goddess of Earth after the great hunter grew arrogant of his powers. Which is why you cannot see Orion and Scorpius at the same time in the Sky.

Bottom left is the tail, center of the picture is the body and upper-right are the scorpion claws.