If you were hoping for a starry night in Launceston on Thursday, clouds would have rained on your parade.
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The Basin Cottage in Cataract Gorge was open for a once-a-year astronomy talk and walk, but budding astronomers resorted to a special program to view the night’s sky.
However Astronomical Society of Tasmania northern coordinator Michael Booth said usually there was plenty to see in Northern Tasmania.
Sagittarius and Scorpius Zodiac Constellations were sitting above Northern Tasmania in the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy, Mr Booth said.
The two zodiac constellations were shifting slowly towards the west and would eventually disappear, signalling summer was well on its way, he said.
Watching zodiac constellations was one of the ways people in ancient civilizations determined when to plant their crops, Mr Booth said.
“It’s a good time to look for globular clusters.”
The clusters are a concentration of hundreds, thousands or millions stars in a spherical ball.
For cloudy nights, he recommended using Stellarium, a free program which could show the night’s sky in Launceston and other parts of the world.