I love a good comet. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS has been in the news lately as it zooms its way around the sun, putting on a wonderful display.

It was visible to the naked eye in Australia in the pre-dawn light. Quite spectacular, according to those who spied it. I didn’t.

As it orbits the sun, it then appeared in the evening sky, just after sunset. I thought I would have an ideal chance to see it from Ocean Grove. Alas, I didn’t.

Every chance I had to look westward, it was cloudy.

Lex has come to visit us, and we love to star gaze. It was a clear night as we ventured down to the beach, but alas, the comet was no longer visible to the naked eye. I do have a very nice pair of binoculars; however, I’m unable to hold them steady in the crosswind to get a stable view.

The good thing about the night sky, is there are other things to wonder at. A rare planet to spot is Mercury. It’s so close to the sun that it can be difficult to find in its glare. However, tonight, there it was, just above the red sky of the setting sun. Further upwards was the bright light of Venus, quite spectacular to see.

Then looking southward is the Southern Cross and the Large Magellanic Cloud. The LMC looks like a star that has been smudged on the sky.

It always amazes me that I can see a whole other galaxy with the naked eye.

To help me find objects in the sky, I use Stellarium Mobile, the software is open source and has applications for mobile, Windows, Apple, and Linux.

Here’s a screenshot of the sky from the Stellarium app. You’ll notice three green satellites in view. They’re the Starlink satellites courtesy of Elon Musk. There are so many of these zipping around the night sky.

Lex managed to snap a photo of the LMC oh their phone.

You can find the LMC in Lex’s image by lining up Canopus, the bright star to the right of centre.

I love the photo, not only the stars, but the waves crashing on the shore and the lovely shade of blue of the night sky.

Image by Lex