Fomalhaut - Visibility

Visibility

At a declination of -29.6°, Fomalhaut is located south of the celestial equator, and hence is best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. It passes virtually overhead from places just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, for example Brisbane, Johannesburg and Easter Island. However, its southerly declination is not as great as that of stars such as Acrux, Alpha Centauri and Canopus, meaning that, unlike them, Fomalhaut is visible from a large part of the Northern Hemisphere as well. Its declination is lower than that of Sirius and similar to that of Antares. South of latitude 40˚ north it can be viewed on autumn evenings; further north it is low on the southern horizon. It reaches a maximum altitude of only 9˚ from London, 4˚ from Edinburgh or Copenhagen, and it just barely rises from around latitude 60˚ north; Oslo, Helsinki or southern Alaska. Fomalhaut can be located in these northern latitudes by the fact that the western (right-hand) side of the Square of Pegasus points to it. Continue the line from Beta to Alpha Pegasi towards the southern horizon: Fomalhaut is about 45˚ south of Alpha Pegasi, with no bright stars in between.