Astronomy: Identify Constellations, Stars, Planets and how to navigate by night

Crusader said:

Nice link. A pity it's not really suitable for Southern hemisphere observers like us. The only constellation we'll get to see from there is Orion, and to us it will look upside down. Aside from that it gives you a reasonably good idea how to identify the constellations.

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Southern Constellations

If from 35 degrees south latitude we face south and look at the constellations surrounding the south celestial pole, some of the brightest stars in the sky will enter our view. Discounting bright stars near the equator, which are visible from both northern and southern hemispheres, proportionately many more bright stars are found in the southern circumpolar region than in the northern.

Begin with Crux, which introduces some unexpected aspects of southern circumpolar motion, and then survey the following important southern constellations.

1. Crux, the Southern Cross
2. Centaurus, the Centaur
3. Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts
4. Carina, the keel of the ship
5. Eridanus, the River
6. Pavo, the Peacock
7. Dorado, the Swordfish, and the Large Magellenic Cloud

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Nanfeishen said:

Orion is only visible in the summer months in the Southern hemisphere, in In Winter it "sits below the horizon, and then Scorpio becomes the main easily spotable constellation.

For night navigation, one simply establishes where the "Southern Cross" is and then one can tell.

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