The Effect of Latitude on What You See

The Sky Views have been drawn for a latitude of approximately 33° south of the equator. This is reasonably central for the population distribution of Australia. However, we live in a large continent which covers a wide range of latitude. The further one goes north the more stars we see familiar to our northern hemisphere friends. As an example, let's take the Big Dipper. You may have first heard about this in books written in say England or America. This group of stars is part of a larger group known as the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear. From Darwin the group is clearly visible above the horizon (but upside down). However, from the southern states not all of it is visible. From the south we see very little of the constellation Draco. The Big Dipper is best placed in the northern sky in mid-May around 9pm (mid-June, 7pm). The diagram (above) is drawn to the same scale as a Sky View.