What’s up in Tuarangi

KNOW YOUR NIGHT SKIES : THE WEEK'S NIGHT SKY

OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

Enjoy the night sky each week, as we give you the latest on stargazing.

SEE WITH THE NAKED EYE 

  • The Sun is in the zodiacal constellation of Virgo.
  • The Moon’s current phase is a Waxing Gibbous. The next full Moon will be 29 September.
  • Mercury is in Leo. It is 160 million kilometres from Earth.
  • Venus is in Leo visually very close to the Sun. It is 73 million kilometres from Earth.
  • Mars is visually in the zodiacal constellation Virgo, at a distance of 80 million kilometres.
  • Jupiter is in the constellation of Aries at a distance of 624 million kilometres
  • Saturn is visually in Aquarius, very close to Jupiter and is 1.331 billion km away from Earth.
     
     

SEE WITH BINOCULARS AND TELESCOPE

  • Uranus is in Aries. It has a visual magnitude of +5.8. It’s 18 times further away from the Sun than the Earth. Light from Uranus travels for two and a half hours to reach our eyes here on Earth. 
  • Neptune is in Pisces It’s 29 times further away from the Sun than the Earth. Light takes approximately 4 hours to reach us from Neptune. At a visual magnitude of +7.8 you will need binoculars or telescopes to see it. From this distance, a telescope on Earth cannot see the details of the planet.
  • Pluto in Sagittarius is very close to Jupiter. We cannot see Pluto with the naked eye, as it has a magnitude of +16.5. 34 times further away from the Sun than the Earth, it takes light more than 4 hours and a half to reach us from Pluto. From this distance, a telescope on Earth cannot see details of the dwarf planet.

Of course, none of the planets make light of their own, what we see are the features of each planet illuminated by the light from the Sun that gets reflected by our Solar System companions.

After dark adaptation and under the very best observing conditions, the average limiting magnitude of the human eye is about magnitude 6.5.

RESOURCES

There are beautiful objects you can see in the night sky, some are circumpolar and some are seasonal.

  • An in-depth look at the area between the Southern Cross and the Magellanic Clouds here.
  • Binocular Objects between Southern Cross and the Diamond Cross here.
  • If you wish to see how would it be to fly through Matariki watch this video.

From Wellington it is always a great time to learn the main asterisms (groupings of stars) that make the main constellations since our light pollution does allow us to observe only the brightest stars.

You can also observe craters on the Moon – here is a comprehensive map of it by Google Moon.

THE MOON

On average, the Moon rises or, if it’s already in the sky, sets about 50 minutes later than the previous day, every day.

New Moon: 15 October, 6:55am

First Quarter: 23 October, 7:31am

Full Moon29 September, 10:57pm

Last Quarter: 7 October, 2:47am

LAST WORD FROM SPACE PLACE

Keep an eye out for our astronomy and space courses coming up, details are in our What’s On section.

At Space Place, we open our telescope for viewings every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night if the weather is on our side. Alternatively, the planetarium live shows is a great place to see our current night skies.  Let us know how it went, or if you have any questions by visiting our Facebook.

Clear skies from our team!

ADMISSION PRICES

Adult: $14

Gold Card Holder / NZ Student (NZ ID required): $12

Child (4-16 years): $9

Preschool Child (0-3 years): Free

Family (2 adults and up to 3 children): $45

Friends of Museum Wellington: Free

Please note that children under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Bookings are essential for all schools and tour groups.

PARKING

Parking is available at Skyline car park, located on Upland Road (charges apply). There are limited parking spaces outside Space Place reserved especially for mobility permit holders.

CONTACT US

HOW TO FIND US

40 Salamanca Rd, Kelburn, Wellington 6012 located at the top of the Cable Car, just a short stroll from the terminus.

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