Nearly all the objects visible in the northern hemisphere can be seen from Pakistan provided they appear during the night. Nowadays the following objects are visible in the night sky in Pakistan.
A differentiating feature between planets and stars is that the planets do not twinkle while most of the stars do so.
Three planets are visible nowadays:
1. Venus: visible from 7:30 pm to 8:15 pm (It will be visible till the end of May)
Venus is the brightest object visible in the sky following the sun and moon (mag -4.35), that is why it can be seen before any other planet or star and even before sunset!! Venus is either visible at dawn or dusk. It will be observable at dusk till the end of May in our part of the world.
2. Mars: visible from sunset to 12 am.
Also known as the Red Planet, Mars gives an orange red hue and so is easily distinguishable in the night sky.
3. Saturn: visible from sunset to 3 am.
Planets:
Beginners should first try to observe planets as they are easily visible and interesting. The planets always appear along the ecliptic line ( the line of the path of the sun and the moon, the red dashed line in the astroviewer software).
A differentiating feature between planets and stars is that the planets do not twinkle while most of the stars do so.
Three planets are visible nowadays:
1. Venus: visible from 7:30 pm to 8:15 pm (It will be visible till the end of May)
Venus is the brightest object visible in the sky following the sun and moon (mag -4.35), that is why it can be seen before any other planet or star and even before sunset!! Venus is either visible at dawn or dusk. It will be observable at dusk till the end of May in our part of the world.
2. Mars: visible from sunset to 12 am.
Also known as the Red Planet, Mars gives an orange red hue and so is easily distinguishable in the night sky.
3. Saturn: visible from sunset to 3 am.
Bright Stars:
After you have seen some of the planets and are able to navigate through the night sky, you should see some of these easily observable stars (the following stars are visible nowadays) :
1. Arcturus
2. Vega
3. Antares
4. Altair
5. Spica
6. Regulus Constellations:
After viewing some of the planets and some bright stars, next up are constellations. Viewing constellations can be a bit tricky. The astroviewer software will be a great help in this. Following is a list of some of the constellations visible at this time of the year in Pakistan.
1.Big Dipper Asterism
This asterism is in the Big Bear (Ursa Major) constellation and is one of the most important in the night sky. It can be used to find other stars like Polaris etc. We will discuss this in a future post.
2. Maiden (Virgo)
3. Herdsman (Bootes)
4. Great Bear (Ursa Major)
5. Lyre (Lyra)
6. Lion (Leo)
7. Strongman (Hercules)
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