Powerhouse Museum. - 2016 Australasian Sky Guide

Published annually since 1991 by Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Media (formerly Powerhouse Publishing)

Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences 500 Harris Street, Ultimo NSW 2007

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PUBLICATION MANAGER

Judith Matheson

EDITOR Jo Lyons

DESKTOP PUBLISHING Anne Slam

DIAGRAMS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Andy Chong/Picture This

COVER DESIGN i2i Design

PRINTING Ligare

ISBN 978 1 86317 164 9

ISSN 22011765

2015 Trustees of the Powerhouse Museum.

The Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences is an executive agency of the NSW Government.

This book is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, or as otherwise permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Inquiries should be made to the publisher.

The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance and contributions made by staff at Sydney Observatory. The original monthly sky maps were prepared by Rod Somerville using the program Skymap.

All material is supplied in good faith and is believed to be correct. It is supplied on the condition that no warranty is given in relation thereto and no responsibility or liability for error or omission is, or will be, accepted.

At the time of publication, Daylight Saving Time ends in NSW, ACT, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand at 3:00 am on Sunday 3 April 2016, when clocks should be turned back to 2:00 am. Daylight Saving Time begins again at 2:00 am on Sunday 25 September 2016 in New Zealand and at 2:00 am on Sunday 2 October 2016 in the relevant Australian states ( for more details). The information in this publication has been adjusted for summer time using the above times and dates.

The tide predictions for Sydney (Fort Denison) have been formatted by Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Media from material supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology. The Bureau of Meteorology gives no warranty of any kind whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise in respect to the availability, accuracy, currency, completeness, quality or reliability of the information or that the information will be fit for any particular purpose or will not infringe any third party Intellectual Property rights. The Bureaus liability for any loss, damage, cost or expense resulting from use of, or reliance on, the information is entirely excluded.

About the cover image

SOUTH ALONG BUCKLANDS LANE

This photograph by Phil Hart shows the Southern Cross as it points the way along Bucklands Lane in Central Goldfields Shire, Victoria. It was the winner of the Southern Cross theme in the David Malin Awards 2015.

Photo courtesy Phil Hart

HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

Most of the astronomical information provided in this book is suitable for the whole of Australia and New Zealand. The descriptions of celestial events each month, such as the positions and movements of the planets, apply anywhere in the two countries. For local times of lunar eclipses and phases of the Moon in different time zones, just add or subtract the time difference; eg for New Zealand add two hours and for Western Australia subtract two or three (depending on daylight saving in eastern Australia).

Rise and set times

The rise and set times for the Sun, Moon and planets have been calculated for Sydney, but with suitable adjustments they can provide approximate times elsewhere. If you are close to the 34 latitude of Sydney you can adjust the times very simply for your location: take the difference between Sydneys longitude of 151.2 East and the longitude of your location (you can find this on most maps), multiply by 4 and add the result in minutes. The tide tables apply to Sydney only.

Capital cities

The following corrections are based on longitude differences and allow for daylight saving. For Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Auckland the possible errors with these adjustments will only be a few minutes. The errors will be somewhat larger for the other cities.

HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2016

9 JANUARY Venus near Saturn. The brightest planet in the sky and the ringed planet are one moon-width apart ().

6 MAY Eta Aquariid meteor shower. One of the years best meteor showers is especially favourable this year as there is no interference from the Moon ().

14 MAY Mercury near Venus. The two innermost planets are in close conjunction ().

22 MAY Mars at opposition. The red planet Mars is at its brightest as it is exactly opposite the Sun to the Earth ().

17 JULY Mercury near Venus. For the second time this year the two innermost planets are close to each other ().

131 AUGUST Five planets visible. All five planets visible to the unaided eye can be seen in the evening sky ().

24 AUGUST Mars near Antares. It is always a spectacle when the red planet passes by the bright red star in Scorpius. This time the ringed planet Saturn is nearby as well ().

28 AUGUST Venus near Jupiter. The two brightest planets are less than the width of the full Moon apart ().

28 OCTOBER Venus near Saturn. For the second time this year the brightest planet in the sky appears close to the ringed planet. This time the reddish star Antares is also close ().

22 NOVEMBER Mercury near Saturn. The elusive innermost planet passes by the ringed giant ().

Venus and Jupiter were near each other in the western sky on 18 July 2015 when they were joined by the crescent Moon. There is another opportunity to view the two bright planets near each other in late August 2016. Photo Nick Lomb

MAY 2016: OPPOSITION OF MARS

As the Earth travels on its yearly circuit of the Sun it catches up with slower moving Mars every 780 days. When it does, Mars is at opposition; ie on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun. Oppositions provide opportunities to view the polar caps and other features of Mars.

The distance between Mars and the Earth changes with each opposition due to the outer planets oval-shaped path around the Sun. As shown on the diagram, the following opposition in 2018 () is more favourable than this years when Mars is 75.3 million km away. This years is still worth watching.

The dates of opposition between those of the two favourable ones in 2003 and 2018 are shown with the middle of each month indicated. Diagram Nick Lomb

Spacecraft

Space agencies take advantage of the relative closeness of Mars at oppositions to send spacecraft there. Two launches are planned for 2016.

Using a Russian rocket, the European Space Agency plans to launch the first of two ExoMars missions in January, with the second to follow at the 2018 opposition. This years mission is made up of an orbiter to sample trace gases that could have biological significance, especially methane, and a lander module. The lander will test the landing techniques on the planets surface that will be used on the next mission. Arrival of both the orbiter and lander is expected in October 2016.