Starry Splendour over Prince Albert

-Hans Daehne-

At the beginning of the New Year the whole celestial scene is repeating itself again with the beautiful summer constellations at their peak now in the zenith. With the warm evenings it is an ideal opportunity to welcome old friends like the "Seven Sisters" (Pleiades), the distinctive Belt of Orion, Sirius, the brightest star of all and reappearing from behind the Swartberg, the Southern Cross, the astronomical trade mark of the Southern Hemisphere.

Point your pair of binoculars at the fuzzy spot above the Three Kings or Belt of Orion ( in fact look at that spot, hold your head very still and place your pair of binoculars in front of your eyes, that way you will find any object spot-on) to admire the stuff that the universe is made of. Here in M42, the Orion Nebula, the building material of stars (Hydrogen gas and dust) is so dense that one can actually see it due to the illumination of the young, hot stars that were born out of it.
The year 2007 promises some excitement in the sky, with the highlight the total lunar eclipse in the night from the 3rd to the 4th of March.

Mercury will be in the evening sky at the end of January, beginning of February, low in the west after sun-set.

Venus will be the evening star from the beginning of the year to middle of August and brightest on the 12th of July.

Around Christmas 2007 Mars will be at its brightest when it will be only 88 mil. km away from us.

Jupiter starts the year in the morning sky and will become a splendid sight again in the middle of winter.

Saturn is moving into a more edge-on presentation towards us and will be beautiful to observe from February until August.

Keep the stars in your eyes!

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