What exciting events will we see in the southern sky in 2024? Meteor showers, Saturn covered by the Moon, close approaches of bright planets to each other, supermoons – and, if we’re lucky, a comet visible to the naked eye. Even if you live in a city surrounded by light pollution, these are all worth looking out for. Here are some of the highlights.
May – the Eta Aquarid meteors
- The first of the two main Southern Hemisphere meteor showers during the year is the Eta Aquariid or Eta Aquarid shower.
- It’s named after a star in the constellation of Aquarius, the Water Carrier, as the meteors appear to originate from there.
December – the Geminid meteors
The second of the two main meteor showers is the Geminid shower. This originates in the direction of the constellation of Gemini, the Twins. Unusually, they are associated not with a comet but with a rocky asteroid named Phaeton. In 2024, they are likely to be best seen early on the morning of Saturday 14 December. The peak time to view is during the short interval between the setting of the Moon and the start of dawn.
March, June and August – the planets
- On the evening of Friday 22 March, the brightest planet Venus is less than the width of the Moon away from the ringed planet Saturn.
- For people in the eastern part of Australia, the Moon covers the planet Saturn low in the eastern sky on the night of Thursday 27 June.
- From Sydney, Saturn disappears at the bright edge of the Moon at 10:55pm and reappears at its dark edge at 11:41pm.
Another close approach is in the early morning of Thursday 15 August, when the red planet Mars is less than a Moon-width from the giant planet Jupiter.
September and October – supermoons
- It’s best to look at moonrise, as an illusion in our brains makes the Moon appear larger when it’s near the horizon.
- The supermoons in 2024 are on Wednesday 18 September and Thursday 17 October.
October – Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS)
- A comet with the impressive name of Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), discovered in January 2023, is approaching the Sun and Earth, and may become bright enough to be easily seen.
- Read more:
Astronomers just discovered a comet that could be brighter than most stars when we see it next year.
- At a distance of 71 million kilometres, the comet will be closest to Earth on Sunday 13 October.
January and May – constellations
Not only these highlighted events can be seen in the sky. There are star pictures or constellations that still stand out in the sky of bright cities. Orion, the Hunter, is a favourite Southern Hemisphere summer constellation, high in the northern sky on January evenings. It consists of four bright stars in a rectangle with a line of three stars, representing Orion’s belt, in the middle.
According to Greek legend, Orion was a great hunter who vowed to kill all animals. To stop him carrying out his threat, one of the gods sent a scorpion to kill him. This ancient story with Scorpius, the Scorpion chasing Orion takes place above our heads each night.
- In January, people who are up at around 3 am can see Scorpius rising in the east, while its quarry Orion is sinking in the west.
- Alternatively, if you don’t like early mornings you can see the same scene on May evenings after dusk.
Nick Lomb received author fees from Powerhouse Publishing for writing the 2024 Australasian Sky Guide.
