What’s up? The night sky August-September 2022
The winter months provide stunning evening views of the Milky Way, especially in the dark skies of the Murchison. This milky white stretch of stars is the plane of our galaxy and is high overhead with the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius prominent at the moment.
The bright red star in the centre of Scorpius is Antares, a red supergiant about 550 light years from us. In fact it is actually a binary star but appears as a single star due to the distance from us.
On nights when the Moon is not up or bright the dust lanes and dark patches of the Milky Way are clearly visible. The dark cloud in Crux, or the Southern Cross, is commonly called the Coalsack. It is a giant molecular cloud where cold dust grains block the visible light from young stars deep within it.
Most of the planets will still be morning objects over coming months. Mercury, as the planet closest to the Sun, is usually very difficult to see but will be visible in evening twilight skies in the second half of August. A thin crescent Moon will be below it in the western sky on August 29.
The western sky around 7pm on 29 August with Mercury and a thin crescent Moon. Made using the free software Stellarium: http://stellarium.org/
Rob Hollow, CSIRO