Fillable Printable 2015 Star Chart

2015 Star Chart

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SPACE STATION SIGHTINGS

As the space station orbits the Earth, sunlight reflects off of its giant solar arrays.

From Earth, it appears as a bright object moving high across the night sky.

Visit www.heavens-above.com to find out when the space station will pass over

your community.

THE PLANETS

MERCURY reaches its greatest

elongation west of the Sun, placing

it at its highest point in our eastern

morning sky on October 15 as seen

from North America.

VENUS

is at its most brilliant on

September 21, shining brightly in the

eastern dawn sky at a magnitude of -4.8.

MARS

appears as a reddish “star” very

low on the eastern horizon in the dawn sky.

JUPITER reappears in the morning sky,

low on the eastern horizon, in the

constellation Leo. It will shine brightly

at a magnitude of -1.7.

SATURN

remains visible at dusk, very

low in the southwest sky. It will soon

disappear from our night-time sky

entirely as its orbit moves it behind

the Sun.

*FREE ASTRONOMY EVENTS AT THE OSC*

These programs are offered in collaboration with the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada: Toronto Centre.

September 12th, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes. TELUSCAPE

October 3rd, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Solar Observing: Spot sunspots and solar flares through specially filtered telescopes. TELUSCAPE

Check our calendar for more details: www.ontariosciencecentre.ca

OBSERVING TIP:

Need a night-sky friendly flashlight?

Cover a flashlight's lamp with brown

or red paper to dim its light and

preserve your night vision.

The star groups linked by lines are the constellations

created by our ancestors thousands of years ago as a

way of mapping the night sky. Modern astronomers still

use the traditional names, which give today’s stargazers

a permanent link to the sky myths and legends of the

past. This autumn, look for the ‘W’ shaped constellation

of Cassiopeia high in the North Eastern sky. According to

the ancient Greeks, the five bright stars represented an

Ethiopian Queen seated in her chair. Midway between

Cassiopeia and the Big Dipper, you can find the North

Star, a helpful tool for orientation in the sky.

THE CONSTELLATIONS

OBSERVING HIGHLIGHTS

SEPT 18

Crescent Moon and Saturn within 1.5° in the

southwest evening sky

SEPT 23

Autumnal equinox, autumn officially begins

SEPT 27

* Full Moon, 10:51 p.m., EDT; total lunar eclipse; also, a

“supermoon” (Moon is at its closest to Earth in 2015) and

Harvest Moon (the full Moon closest to the autumnal equinox).

The largest full Moon of the year will look spectacular as it passes

through the Earth’s shadow.

OCT 9

* Crescent Moon in tight triangle with Mars and Jupiter in the eastern morning sky

OCT 17

Mars appears very close to Jupiter in the morning sky

OCT 23

* Planetary conjunction of Venus, Mars, and Jupiter in the dawn sky, with Mercury below

OCT 25

* Venus and Jupiter appear 1° apart in the morning sky

*Impressive or rare event

SEPT 27 (10:51 p.m.),

OCT 27 (8:05 a.m.)

MOON PHASES

SEPT 13 (2:41 a.m.),

OCT 12 (8:06 p.m.)

Full

New

S T A R

CHART

FOR EARLY AUTUMN

September/October

2015

EAST

WEST

SOUTH

NORTH

Download our most recent star chart:

www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/tour/default.asp?demoid=75

Prepared for the Ontario Science Centre by SkyNews,

the Canadian Magazine of Astronomy & Stargazing. SkyNews.ca

SkyNews.ca 1-866-759-0005

Cartography and design by

Roberta Cooke. Base chart data derived from maps drawn by Roy Bishop for the Observer’s

Handbook, published by The Royal

Astronomical Society of Canada.

ROTATING NIGHT SKY: During the night, the Earth’s rotation on its axis slowly

shifts the entire sky. This is the same motion that swings the Sun on its daily east-

to-west trek. The rotational hub is Polaris, the North Star, located almost exactly

above the Earth’s North Pole. Everything majestically marches counter-clockwise

around it, a motion that becomes evident after about half an hour.

TO USE THIS CHART: Hold the chart in front of you and rotate it so the direction

you are facing (N,S,E,W) is at the bottom of the chart. The edge of the chart

represents the horizon; the overhead point is at centre. On a moonless night in the

country, you will see more stars than are shown here; deep in the city, you will see

fewer. The ecliptic line is the celestial pathway of the Moon and planets. The star

groups straddling this line are known as the zodiac constellations. The Moon is

shown for selected dates.

OUR CHART SHOWS the major stars, planets and constellations visible

from Canada and the northern United States within one hour of these times:

EARLY SEPTEMBER: 11:30 P.M.; LATE SEPTEMBER: 10:30 P.M.

EARLY OCTOBER: 9:30 P.M.; LATE OCTOBER: 8:30 P.M.