Remember, the starlight you see coming from all those stars tonight left there hundreds, and in most cases thousands of years ago, and it’s just arriving now! When you stargaze you’re looking back in time, writes Dave Reneke from Australasian Science magazine. When you use a telescope you’re using a time machine. 

If you’re new to astronomy the hardest part is learning all those stars. Relax! It’s a lot easier than you think, but you won’t do it sitting inside at your keyboard. Some people say that we spend too much time indoors and not enough time observing the things around us, like the stars and planets.

But, what if your screen, in this case your Smartphone or tablet, can actually help you appreciate the skies more? Well they can and they’re amazingly simple to use. Here are some of my favourites.

Sky View will identify almost everything above your head at night and its fantastic!

If you want an easy target try MoonPhase for your lunar viewing. Then download a free NASA app “spotthestation.nasa.gov/sightings” to catch the space station passing over your area.

This next one is a knockout. On your tablet or laptop download an app called Star Chart. It puts a virtual planetarium right in your pocket. It uses state-of-the-art GPS technology that will show you the current location of every star and planet visible from Earth. Now that’s technology.

Want to see something really cool? All this week the two stunners, Jupiter and Saturn appear in our winter skies all evening. This is magic. Get the family outside and just marvel at two of the best celestial sights you’ll see. They’ll be with us all week.Things change dramatically in August, but more on that later.  

Venus steals the show this week because it looks like a brilliant white beacon high overhead. In real terms, the planets are millions of kilometres apart, but here on Earth they appear fairly close together. It may be cold but winter skies are the clearest. Go look, you may surprise yourself.