It’s summer in Australia and that means many of us head out of the city and off to a remote camping site, where the night sky shines bright with stars. Australian First Nations astronomers have built knowledge around the stars for about 65,000 years. But what should the beginner look for? This five-step guide will have you navigating the sky in no time – no telescope or star chart needed.
Step 1: orient yourself using the stars
The best way to orient yourself when looking at the night sky is to work out where south is. First, find the Southern Cross (tip: in summer it is low to the horizon at sunset), then draw an imaginary line about three-and-a-half times up the length of the major axis of the cross, in the same direction as the major axis – where this imaginary line ends is approximately due south.
The two bright stars next to the Southern Cross are the “pointers” or Alpha and Beta Centauri. Alpha Centauri is the outer star and is a triplet star system, containing the nearest star to us outside our solar system, Proxima Centauri. It takes light 4.25 years to get from this star to Earth.
Switch your attention to the north and you’ll see three bright stars in a row – these form the belt of Orion, or the base of the saucepan. There are three nearby bright stars at about a 45-degree angle above the belt – this is Orion’s Sword (or the handle of the saucepan). The middle “star” looks fuzzy because it is actually a nebula containing newly forming stars.
If you follow the line of the belt to the right, you’ll see the brightest star in the southern sky, Sirius, in the constellation of Canis Major (the large dog – which is upside down in the southern hemisphere). Continue to the right and you’ll find the star Canopus – the second-brightest star in the night sky.
Step 2: find the planets
The easiest planet to find in the sky right now is Venus – it’s just above the setting sun and will be the first and brightest “star” to appear in the night sky. I look at this planet every night – sometimes it is near the setting crescent moon, which provides a beautiful sight.
Saturn is slightly above and to the right of Venus – not quite as bright but easily visible as the first bright “star” near Venus. Next, we can find Jupiter: head back to Orion and follow the belt to the left – you’ll get to a bright red star which is Aldebaran in the constellation of Taurus. Just near Aldebaran is a very bright “star” – this is the planet Jupiter.
Step 3: find the galaxies
There are three galaxies you can easily find in the southern night sky. A galaxy is a group of stars, gas, dust and dark matter – all held together by gravity. Astronomers think there are more than 100bn of them in the universe.
Firstly our own Milky Way galaxy stretches across the sky. It’s a spiral galaxy which is approximately shaped like two dinner plates placed face-side together. We are looking edge-on to the galaxy so it appears snake-like across the sky. The dark patches are thick dust clouds that are blocking out the light of the background stars – Australian First Nations astronomers see an emu in these dark clouds, using its position to signify the emu life cycle during the year.
The other two visible galaxies are the Magellanic Clouds. The Large Magellanic Cloud is about halfway up the sky above the Southern Cross, to the right of Canopus – and looks like a faint cloud. The Small Magellanic Cloud is to the right of the Large Magellanic Cloud. These are dwarf galaxies that are interacting with the Milky Way, eventually to merge with our own galaxy.
Step 4: look for shooting stars
If you spend more than 10 minutes looking at the night sky, you’re likely to see a shooting star or meteor. These are caused by (usually) small pieces of cosmic rock – or meteoroids – burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. If you’re lucky you might see a brighter shooting star – a fireball, maybe breaking up as it travels through our atmosphere. These are usually larger meteoroids which can glow different colours depending on what they are made from – or it might be space junk burning up in the atmosphere, which is happening more frequently.
Step 5: look out for auroras
Astronomers expect 2025 to provide more of these light shows as the sun is at solar maximum, part of an 11-year cycle of activity related to the sun’s complex magnetic fields. The sun sometimes loses some of its outer plasma layer, which can head towards Earth. Luckily we are protected by the Earth’s magnetic field, which directs the plasma to the north and south poles – the interaction of the plasma with oxygen and nitrogen in the Earth’s atmosphere causes the different colours in an aurora.
The colours of an aurora are best seen through photos from a modern phone – especially if your phone has night mode. But you can see a strong aurora with your eyes if it’s dark with a good view of the southern sky. The telltale signs are “beams” of light coming down from the sky – they move around the sky on a timescale of a few minutes, and if you are lucky you’ll see the faint pink and greens. A great trick is to take a photo every 30 seconds or so and then flick through the sequence of photos to see the aurora swirling across the sky.
As the Earth rotates, the orientation of the stars will change over the night but by using these tips you should always be able to find your way, guided by the stars.
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Virginia Kilborn is a professor of astrophysics and chief scientist at Swinburne University of Technology. She is the chair of the National Committee for Astronomy for the Australian Academy of Science