This is the best time of year to search out Capricornus, the goat. It is most often represented on sky maps as the mythical sea-goat, a half-goat half-fish creature. Capricornus is one of the 12 zodiacal constellations, occupying its station between Sagittarius and Aquarius.
It is a faint constellation that can often be tricky to locate for the first time. Luckily, at the moment, there are two bright planets to point it out.
The chart shows the view looking due south from London at midnight tonight but the view will be almost identical throughout the week. Drawing a line through Jupiter and Saturn will guide you to Capricornus.
From mid-Northern latitudes, the constellation never rises very high in the sky. From the southern hemisphere, however, it appears much higher in the western sky, again pointed out by Jupiter and Saturn.
Capricornus may not be a spectacular sight, but it is one of the earliest constellations recognised, having appeared on Ptolemy’s 2nd century list of 48 constellations.
