Below Cancer is the very distinctive asterism of the ‘Head of Hydra’, consisting of five (or six) stars, that is the western end of the long constellation of Hydra, the largest constellation in the sky, that runs far towards the east, roughly parallel to the ecliptic. Alphard (α Hydrae) is south, and slightly to the west of Regulus in Leo and is relatively easy to recognize as it is the only fairly bright star in that region of the sky. North of Hydra and between it and the ecliptic and the constellation of Virgo are the two constellations of Crater and Corvus. Farther west, the small constellation of Sextans lies between Hydra and Leo.

Night Sky Almanac 2023 By Storm Dunlop, Wil Tirion, Royal

At some time or other, nearly everyone has seen a meteor – a ‘shooting star’ – as it flashed across the sky. The particles that cause meteors – known technically as ‘meteoroids’ – range in size from that of a grain of sand (or even smaller) to the size of a pea. On any night of the year there are occasional meteors, known as sporadics, that may travel in any direction. These occur at a rate that is normally between 3 and 8 in an hour. Far more important, however, are meteor showers, which occur at fixed periods of the year, when the Earth encounters a trail of particles left behind by a comet or, very occasionally, by a minor planet (asteroid). Meteors always appear to diverge from a single point on the sky, known as the radiant, and the radiants of major showers are shown on the charts. The southern meteor shower, the π-Puppids, begins in April. This shower starts to be active on April 15, two days after Last Quarter and lasts until April 28, one day after First Quarter, with maximum on the night of April 23–24 when the Moon is a waxing crescent. The shower was unknown until 1972. The rate seems to be variable, reaching a maximum of about 40 meteors per hour in 1977 and 1983. It is difficult to predict how many meteors will be seen. As with the Lyrids, maximum occurs just after New Moon. The parent comet is believed to be Comet 26P/Grigg–Skjellerup. January 3 • Mars is occulted by the Moon. Times of disappearance and reappearance are given for Durban and Pretoria (as seen from South Africa). The position of Crux, the Southern Cross, throughout the year, in relation to the southern horizon. It also shows the position of the two brightest stars in Centaurus. Cygnus lies along the line of the Milky Way, the disk of our own Galaxy, and provides a wealth of stars and clusters to observe. Just to the left of the line joining Deneb and Sadr, the star at the centre of the outstretched wings, you may, under very clear dark skys, see a region which is darker than the surroundings. This is called the Cygnus Rift and is caused by the obscuration of light from distant stars by a lane of dust in our local spiral arm. the dust comes from elements such as carbon which have been built up in stars and ejected into space in explosions that give rise to objects such as the planetary nebula M57 described above.Orion is now beginning to sink into the southwest, and the two brightest stars in the sky, Sirius and Canopus (α Carinae), are readily visible to observers at low northern latitudes and, of course, to those who are south of the equator. (Canopus is close to the zenith for those in the far south.)

NIGHT SKY ALMANAC 2023: A stargazer’s guide - Goodreads NIGHT SKY ALMANAC 2023: A stargazer’s guide - Goodreads

Sirius, α Canis Majoris (α Cma), in the southern celestial hemisphere, is the brightest star in the sky at magnitude -1.44.

The Moon and planets are to be found in a band of sky that extends 8° on either side of the ecliptic. This is because the orbits of the Moon and planets are inclined at various angles to the ecliptic (i.e., to the plane of the Earth’s orbit). This band of sky is known as the zodiac, and when originally devised, consisted of twelve constellations, all of which were considered to be exactly 30° wide. When the constellation boundaries were formally established by the International Astronomical Union in 1930, the exact extent of most constellations was altered, and nowadays the ecliptic passes through thirteen constellations. Because of the boundary changes, the Moon and planets may actually pass through several other constellations that are adjacent to the original twelve. August 28: Venus, having just moved from an evening to a morning star at mid-month, has now brightened to a dazzling magnitude -4.5 and is an eye-catching spectacle at 5:30 AM. (Remember, the lower the magnitude, the brighter thestar.) January 31 • Mars is occulted by the Moon. Times of disappearance and reappearance are given for Houston and Mexico City (as seen from central USA).