How and when to see Alpha Centauri, southern star patterns such as the Southern Cross, and many other celestial sights on a trip south of the equator.

If you regularly spend time with the night sky in the Northern Hemisphere but you've never travelled south of the equator, you only know half the story.

Visiting the Southern Hemisphere just to go stargazing isn’t something most of us have the resources to do very often. Yet the southern sky is disorientating, surprising, and utterly transfixing — well worth the trip if you can make it. You’ll see arguably some of the greatest celestial sights: the nearest stars to our solar system, two close dwarf galaxies, and some drop-dead gorgeous clusters.

Here are a few reasons why you should visit southerly latitudes at least once in your life.

Stargazing "Upside-down"

The first thing you'll notice after dusk south of the equator is that the northern constellations appear upside down. The North Star, Polaris, isn’t visible and the circumpolar northern constellations, such as the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Draco, and Cepheus become seasonal.

Finding the constellations and asterisms you thought you knew so well can be difficult: The Summer Triangle becomes the Winter Triangle down south, with Altair on top, and Deneb and Vega sinking as the night wears on. Low on the northern horizon in the southern hemisphere summer, Orion's sword points up toward Rigel, while brilliant Sirius is overhead at zenith. Around 35° from Sirius is the second brightest star, Canopus, the Great Star of the South. To southerners, it's a near-constant companion of Sirius, seen from October through May.


Here's a helpful tip: Take Sky & Telescope's 30°S planisphere with you in your travels to help you identify constellations.


The Nearest Star System

One reason to visit the Southern Hemisphere is to see the star system closest to us. The third brightest star in the night sky, Alpha Centauri is just 4.37 light-years away. It's more than one star — Alpha Centauri A, a Sun-like star, and its companion, the slightly less massive Alpha Centauri B, actually form a triple with Proxima Centauri (technically the nearest at just 4.22 light-years). All three stars appear as a single point to the naked eye, but a 3-inch telescope with 100× magnification can split Alpha Centauri A and B.

Alpha Centauri is circumpolar, so it’s visible year-round south of the equator, but it’s at its highest from March to September. You might also see it north of the equator: If you're at latitude 29°N at most (think Texas or northern Florida), Alpha Centauri can sometimes be visible a few degrees above the southern horizon in May.

The Alpha Centauri systems lies in the Southern Hemisphere constellation of Centaurus.
ESO / IAU and Sky & Telescope

Finding the Southern Cross

Once you've found Alpha Centauri, the next challenge is the Southern Cross, an asterism in the constellation Crux. This circumpolar constellation is easiest to find using a tried-and-tested star-hop because there’s also a False Cross nearby. Alpha Centauri and the dimmer blue-white Beta Centauri act as the Pointers: Hop from Alpha Centauri to Beta Centauri then continue three times the distance between them, and you'll arrive at Gacrux at the tip of the Southern Cross. The constellation is easiest to see between March and June (upside down in the spring, rightside up in the fall).

This wide-field image shows a stretch of the Milky Way visible from the Southern Hemisphere. At center is the Southern Cross in the constellation Crux. The bright yellow-white star at far left is Alpha Centauri, which is actually a three-star system. The Carina Nebula (NGC 3372) glows in red at the right of the image.
A. Fujii

Its small size may initially disappoint, but that impression will dissipate once you realize what's in its vicinity. The jaw-dropping Jewel Box cluster (NGC 4755) is best seen through a small telescope, which can reveal more than a hundred sparkling blue jewels around a single red star. Nearby is the Coalsack, a dark nebula best viewed with the naked eye or binoculars.

Jewel Box Star Cluster
This 20-arcminute field of view shows the Jewel Box star cluster.
ESO

A Naked-eye Globular Cluster

If you never tire of glimpsing the Andromeda Galaxy with the naked eye under dark country skies from the Northern Hemisphere, you'll love seeing a 13 billion-year old globular cluster with zero equipment. Most easily seen from April through September, Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) contains 10 million stars and possibly even a black hole at its center. It’s the most massive and most luminous globular cluster visible from anywhere on the planet. Because of its distinct properties, astronomers think it might be the nucleus of a dwarf galaxy that long ago collided with the Milky Way. Found deep in the constellation of Centaurus, Omega Centauri looks like a blob almost as large as the full Moon in dark skies, and appears as a speckled glow in amateur telescopes.

Now that you've seen the brightest globular cluster in the Milky Way, find the second brightest — 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) — which is highest in the sky from October through February.

Omega Centauri
A view of the iconic Omega Centauri globular cluster.
ESO / INAF-VST / OmegaCAM; Acknowledgement: A. Grado, L. Limatola / INAF-Capodimonte Observatory

Milky Way’s Largest Satellites

If you make it to clear, dark skies and let your eyes adjust, the sight of two unexpected clouds might surprise you. Many astronomers travel specifically to see the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC), the largest dwarf galaxies in the Milky Way’s retinue.

These two galaxies offer up dense star fields ideal for sweeping binoculars. Named after Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, who spotted them in 1519 while circumnavigating the globe for the first time, the LMC contains the Tarantula Nebula, also called 30 Doradus. It’s a massive star nursery, much like the Orion Nebula (M42), but on an entirely different scale. About 100 times the size of Orion Nebula, 30 Doradus is the largest star-forming region in the Local Group of galaxies, and so luminous that if it were as close to us as the Orion Nebula is (about 1,300 light-years), it would cast shadows.

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, pictured here, are dwarf galaxies easy to spot from a dark, Southern Hemisphere sky.
ESO / S. Brunier

Galactic & Planetary Sights

Saturn on September 17, 2017, imaged remotely with the 1-meter Chilescope by Damian Peach and the Chilescope team.

These are just a few of the arresting sights in the Southern Hemisphere sky, but there are many more. Galactic delights include Centaurus A (NGC 5128), the fifth-brightest galaxy crossed by a distinctive dust lane, and the Great Rift in the Milky Way, a dark lane that divides the Milky Way’s bright band lengthwise. In addition, the Southern Hemisphere offers the planet's best view of galactic center and all its glories — it's at its best between July and September.

Even Saturn looks better from the south. The ringed planet is moving through Scorpius, Ophiuchus, Sagittarius, and Capricorn until the mid 2020s, all of which are much higher in the sky in the Southern Hemisphere.

Need a reason to venture south? A total solar eclipse will roll through Chile and Argentina on July 2, 2019, centered on the Elqui Valley, home to professional telescopes and dozens of boutique observatories. It’ll be the perfect excuse to visit the Southern Hemisphere for its unique view of the universe.


Comments


Image of Andrew James

Andrew James

March 3, 2018 at 4:08 am

"Alpha Centauri is circumpolar, so it’s visible year-round south of the equator," It is circumpolar from 31 degrees south, actually based on the declination.

"Its small size may initially disappoint, but that impression will dissipate once you realize what's in its vicinity. The jaw-dropping Jewel Box cluster (NGC 4755) is best seen through a small telescope, " It is slight disappointing in small and much better in medium to large telescopes, where the star colors are better seen and so is the number of stars. [1].

"You’ll see arguably some of the greatest celestial sights' The Coalsack, Eta Carinae Nebula, Acrux, the Football Cluster (NGC3532), the Southern Pleiades, NGC 2516 and globular 47 Tucanae, etc. Might tip the scale IMO.

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Image of NGC4945

NGC4945

March 3, 2018 at 11:01 pm

As someone who lives in Sydney it's a bit ridiculous to describe the southern hemisphere viewing experience as 'upside down'. They are of course the right way up and I'm not even trying to be funny. To say the Northern hemisphere is 'up' by convention is equally ridiculous. In fact the South Pole rotates clockwise as viewed by a fixed observer above the pole. Which way would you intuitively say is up then? Having said that, it is still ridiculous to say there is any 'up' when you are dealing with a spherical (or spheroidal) object.

The earth is a sphere. To say a sphere has an up and down is like asking someone in a round room to sit in a corner. Also from when an object rises to when they set the orientation is 'inverted' from horizon to horizon no matter where you live. Things aren't exactly completely inverted between the northern and southern Hemisphere in the mid latitudes - they may appear to be orientated differently to what are you are used to - that's about all.

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Oxeye

April 7, 2020 at 10:48 pm

The article is written for residents of the northern hemisphere. It simply meant that they would be upside-down relative to the way we normally see them.

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Image of Willeau

Willeau

March 3, 2018 at 11:43 pm

I may have missed it within the article, but I did not see what time of year the Megallanic Clouds are visible. Are they always visible? Are there times of the year when they are visible north of the equator? When are they highest in the sky for optimal viewing? Sorry if I missed this.

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Image of Monica Young

Monica Young

March 5, 2018 at 10:25 am

Great question: Look for the Large Magellanic Cloud in the evening from December to April; the Small Magellanic Cloud can be seen in the evening from late October through January.

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Image of Kevan Hubbard

Kevan Hubbard

February 13, 2019 at 12:38 pm

47 tucana is easy naked eye and there's another globular close by ngc 362 which you can easily see with binoculars.although born in the northern hemisphere I spent 10 years of my boyhood under the skies of southern Africa.infact it's where I developed my interest in astronomy armed with a white Japanese 3"refractor, manufacturer unknown but looked like the unitron brand,and a red tasco 4.5"reflector.

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Image of Caldwell 76

Caldwell 76

June 5, 2021 at 8:39 am

I live in centre of Sydney and have a little 85mm Televue. 600mm and use a 20mm 100 degree for 30 mag which makes stuff easier to find manually. Around 7pm go onto the back balcony, now I start with C92 Carina. Move up to C91 pincushion which is really good with one bright star along an edge. Then across to NGS 3114 Hand open cluster it looks like a hand. Down to C102 Southern Pleiades. Pass C100 a little cluster that trails reminiscent of a meteor, Down to Crux where there are bright doubles and Jewel Box C94.
Wait till 9pm Scorpio’s rises over the massive fig tree to the East. First Antares, then a little wiggle and it’s touch and go if I can see a shimmer of M4 globular. If a miss that whizz down to M19 that’s always there and up a bit and M62 is usually on show. Track back for C76, great cluster with stars trailing away, this is the most underrated object in the Southern sky, I love it Track towards the sting of Scorpio’s and guess what it’s NGC 6281 a nice little dim cluster. Track down past Lesath and Shaula and it’s the bright M7 Ptolemy that is real easy to see. Next M6 is next door. If Sagittarius tea pot there follow the two diagonals to M8 Lagoon.
Orion is too low in West will need to wait till October to see M42 around 1830 in the East. Canis Major above so find Sirius and go up a bit to see M41, I call it heart of dog but no one else does. Follow Sirius past Procyon and there will be Bee Hive cluster.
Don’t forget to check out Omega Centauri before finishing.
I’m feeling pretty good, never changed the eyepiece, saw that lot in about 45 minutes, didn’t need to put a coat on but got bitten by two mosquitoes.
Tomorrow morning at 0545 Saturn and Jupiter will be high in the sky close to zenith.
That’s all from a place within sight of Opera House and Harbour Bridge.
Yes, showing off but with skies like this and an 85mm refractor on a manual mount it’s just too easy.

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