Generate excitement
While the north pole faces outwards to the Universe beyond, the south pole points to the galactic centre of the Milky Way. This means more bright stars and more constellations containing more stunning objects. Plus, everything in the southern hemisphere sky will look upside down, if you're used to northern skies. It's a whole new night sky to learn and get familiar with, with incredibly dark skies under which to enjoy your southern astronomy adventure.
Astronomy targets to see in the southern hemisphere
The Milky Way's bright centre
Best time to see June - September
With the naked eye, find the Summer (or should that be Winter?) Triangle – which will be upside down compared to the view from the northern hemisphere – and trace the Milky Way from Deneb on the northern horizon up to Altair, across the zenith above you through Sagittarius and its Teapot asterism, and down to Alpha Centauri and the Southern Cross above the southern horizon. This is the Sagittarius Arm of our galaxy, and it's stunning.
Alpha Centauri
Best time to see March - September
To see the nearest star to our Sun is one of the reasons stargazers love to travel south. Sadly Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star just 4.24 light-years from us, is too small to see, but its much brighter companion Alpha Centauri is the third brightest star in the sky. Just 4.3 light-years from Earth, this double star (triple if you count Proxima Centauri) is also an anchor for southern stargazers.
The Southern Pointers
Best time to see March-September
Alpha Centauri has a close visual neighbour that's almost as bright, though Beta Centauri is 390 light years distant. It's actually two stars orbiting each other, 10,000 times brighter than our Sun. Together, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri are called the Southern Pointers because they point straight to Crux, also known as the Southern Cross. Once found, they're never forgotten.