As I headed to the car the other morning around 5.45am on my may to work, I could not miss the early morning westerly view; I stood for 10 minutes in awe.
There, sitting 20 deg. above the WSW was the unmistakable bright red star Antares in the constellation of Scorpio, the Scorpion. I quickly dropped my gaze down to find the 3 stars below, the left and right are the Scorpions pincers. With Australia’s multicultural nature, if you are of Asian descendancy, you, or your parents/grandparents may know it as the Fishhook, Swan or even…… The Coconut Tree. Back to Antares, now imagine a scorpions carapace (body) heading SW and upwards 10 deg. before arching around again towards the west and down to 40 deg. where its stinger would be; if you do quiz nights, the pincers are the ‘chelae’, the stinger a ‘telson’.
At the end of the Tonkin Highway by 6.15am, I pulled over and looked north, I still had time before work and sunrise, I sipped my travel mug full of warming tea and …….. high in the NNE (60 deg.) I could still see Saturn, yet lower to seek out the reddish Mars 30 deg. above the NE to ENE, and Mercury was embracing the ENE horizon; by the time I got to work in Rockingham, the glory of a WA sunrise was upon me.
If you ever get the chance to be in City of Rockingham – Local Government , its a great place to view from, what’s more, you can support the locals with several cafe’s open by 6am and others not closing till 8pm…..here and Busselton are my viewing spots for evening glances of my favorite visible planet Mercury….just a FYI, mu favorite planet is Pluto, always was a planet, always will be !
This week in history…..On May 28, 1958, space monkeys Able & Baker were the first to be retrieved from a space mission; Baker lived to 27 and is buried in Huntsville, Alabama – visitors sometimes leave bananas on her grave. Able on the other hand, ‘stuffed’, I think, still sits in the National Air and Space Museum’s National Mall building; I love a happy animal ending.
Dr Craig Bowers MP8138.
All night sky screenshots are courtesy of Stellarium planetarium
Zotti, G., Hoffmann, S. M., Wolf, A., Chéreau, F., & Chéreau, G. (2021). The Simulated Sky: Stellarium for Cultural Astronomy Research. Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 6(2), 221–258. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsa.17822
Astronomy West 
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