The skies of the southern hemisphere are quite different to those of the north. While most constellations can be seen all over the world, a few are permanent fixtures of their hemispheres — the Big Dipper, or the Plough, can only ever be seen north of the equator, while the Southern Cross is unique to the south.

One highlight of the southern skies is the Large Magellanic Cloud — a galaxy sitting about 163,000 light years from Earth, orbiting the Milky Way. It’s easy to find for southern-hemisphere stargazers — just locate the south celestial pole, and look for the larger of two patches of cloudy luminosity just nearby.

The Large Magellanic Cloud // NASA

If you’ve got the equipment to zoom in a little further, you’ll see a bright notch at the north-eastern end of the bar of the galaxy. This is 30 Doradus, better known as the Tarantula Nebula — a large, low-density cloud of hydrogen which is in the process of giving birth to new stars.

When it was first discovered it was thought to be a star, but French astronomer Nicolas Louis de La Caille recognised its nebular nature in 1751. Conditions within are thought to be similar to those that existed during the early Universe.