Venus, Antares and Saturn Form a Line

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Thu 27 Oct 2016 - Sat 29 Oct 2016

For people who love to turn their gaze skyward at night, one thing to look out for is when several bright objects form a line in the sky. In Late October it will be Venus, Saturn and the 15th brightest star in the sky, Antares, that line up.



Venus is most often visible just before dawn or around dusk. Other than the sun, it can be the brightest object in the sky and stands out as a clear bright white star.

Throughout October, you should have seen Venus in the night sky, but on October 28 it will move into position between Saturn and the star Antares. Venus will appear as a bright white star, while Saturn will be yellow and Antares will be red.

Venus will be close to Saturn and Antares for several days, but will only be in a line on October 28. So hopefully that day will be a clear night where you live in Australia.

As these are some of the brightest objects in the night sky you should be able to observe them easily from any suburban backyard on a clear night. They should be reasonably well above the horizon, but of course, you may need to find a spot with a clear view to the west.

The best time will be just after dusk, and in fac, Venus should be visible first just as the sun sets. As Venus will be setting at this time, look to the western skies. Saturn and Antares will become visible a little later, and should become visible just as the last light is fading.

While Venus is very easy to spot, to help locate Venus I recommend using an app on your phone. I currently use Sky Map, which allows me to point my phone at any point in the sky and look at the phone to see a map of prominent astronomical features.

Overall, this is an easy astronomical phenomena to look for, and you don't need to stay up late or get out of the city to see. Personally I often see this type of phenomenon while walking home at night from the bus stop.

It can be great for even young kids to look up at the night sky to marvel at the stars. You know, grab a picnic blanket and some food and head to your local park or beach, enjoy a meal as the sun sets and then turn your gaze to the heavens as night falls.

Photographing this event is fairly straight forward. You won't even need a fancy DSLR camera, just something that you can control both the aperture and exposure length. Put your camera on a tripod and take a long exposure. 10 seconds should be enough, but up to 30 seconds or longer can be used to capture more of the starfield.

#astronomy
#family
#free
#natural_attractions
#nature
#outdoor
#unusual_events
#october
!date 27/10/2016 -- 29/10/2016
%wnbrisbane