Astroblog

Northern Evening sky as seen from Adelaide at 18:32 ACST on Friday May 16. The Starlink train from launch G15-4 is passing north east. Simulated in Stellarium.Click to embiggen.	North-Western Evening sky as seen from Adelaide at 18:28 ACST on Saturday May 17. The Starlink train from launch G15-4 is passing north west. Simulated in Stellarium.Click to embiggen.
Whole sky map for Adelaide on Friday May 16 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.1 at brightest.	Whole sky map for Adelaide on Saturday May 17 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.6 at brightest.

Whole sky map for Alice Springs on Friday May 16 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite starting 18:28. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.2 at brightest.	Whole sky map for Alice Springs on Saturday May 17 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite starting 18:28. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.9 at brightest.

Whole sky map for Perth on Friday May 16 starting 18:32 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.2 at brightest.	Whole sky map for Perth on Saturday May 17 starting 18:32 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 3.3 at brightest.

Whole sky map for Melbourne on Friday May 16 starting 18:01 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 30 satellites on this path taking 2 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 3.4 at brightest.	Whole sky map for Melbourne on Saturday May 17 starting 17:52 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 28 satellites on this path taking 10 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 3.6 at brightest.

Whole sky map for Hobart on Saturday May 17 starting 17:52 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 30 satellites on this path taking 4 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.1 at brightest.	Whole sky map for Hobart on Sunday May 18 starting 18:00 showing the Starlink pass direction of a single satellite. there are 30 satellites on this path taking 4 minutes for start to finish. magnitude 2.1 at brightest.

While the Starlink satellites are the bane of astrophographers, the sight of a recently launched Starlink train is rather awesome.  Over the next few days two recent launches will give some Australians an awesome view. 

The Starlink train from launch G15-4 (13 May UT) will be visible in the early evening twilight of the 16-17th May from central and western states (not Darwin and for the eastern states they occur during bright twilight). When and what you will see is VERY location dependent, so you need to use  Heavens Above  to get site specific predictions for your location. Choose G15-4 (13 May UT) form the drop down menu in the starlink prediction dialog. 

The Starlink train from launch G6-67 (14 May UT) will be visible in the early evening twilight of the 16-19th May from Victoria and Tasmania. use  Heavens Above  to get site specific predictions for your location. Choose G6-67(14 May UT) form the drop down menu in the starlink prediction dialog.

Labels: Satellite, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:35 pm 0 comments

Tiangong as seen from Adelaide on the evening of Saturday 17 May at 18:38 ACST as it passes by Canopus. Simulated in Stellarium (the Tiangong will actually be a bright dot). Click to embiggen.	Tiangong as seen from Melbourne on the evening of Friday 16 May at 18:32 AEST as it passes by Canopus. Simulated in Stellarium (Tiangong will actually be a bright dot). Click to embiggen.	Tiangong as seen from Perth on the evening of  Saturday 17 May at at 18:41 AWST as it passes close to Alpha Centauri. Simulated in Stellarium (Tiangong will actually be a bright dot). Click to embiggen.
All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Friday 9 February for Adelaide.	All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Friday 9 February for Sydney.	All sky chart showing local times from Heavens Above for Saturday 17 May for Perth.

 Relatively bright passes of the Chinese space station Tiangong visible in the evening from Australia aren't that common. Over the next few days most of Australia will see bright evening twilight passes of the Tiangong space station (weather permitting). Many of these go very close to bight stars and will be rather dramatic. 

There are also some "bright Starlink trains from recent launches in the evening, I will d a separate post soon, after dinner.  If you can't wait go to Heavens Above and look at the dedicated pass times for your site for Starlink G15-4, launched 13 May.   Also some bright passes of Starlink G6-67 launched on the 14th, for Melbourne and Hobart.

The following tables are from data provided from Heavens Above. Particularly impressive passes are highlighted in yellow, passes entering the shadow in blue.
    

Adelaide (ACST): 

Brisbane (AEST):

Darwin (ACST): 

Hobart (AEST): 

Melbourne (AEST):

Perth (AWST): 

Sydney (AEST):

When and what you will see is VERY location dependent, so you need to use  Heavens Above  to get site specific predictions for your location, a small difference in location can mean the difference between Tiangong passing over a star or missing it completely. 

As always, start looking several minutes before the pass is going to start to get yourself oriented and your eyes dark adapted. Be patient, there may be slight differences in the time of Tiangong appearing due to orbit changes not picked up by the predictions. Use the most recent prediction for your site.

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:43 pm 0 comments

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday May 20.  Jupiter and Mars are visible in the evening sky. Jupiter sets shortly after the sky is fully dark and Mars is lowering in the early evening sky. Look for the constellation Corona Borealis before midnight, the blaze star T Coronae Borealis (TCrB) may go Nova eventually.  Saturn, Venus and Mercury are visible in the morning twilight. Some good space station Tiangong passes in the early evening.

The Last Quarter Moon is Tuesday May 20. 

Eastern twilight sky on the morning of Saturday, May 17  as seen from Adelaide at 06:03 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is visible in the twilight above Venus with  Mercury on the horizon below. 

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise). 

 

If you look to the North just before midnight, you will see a prominent bright orange star, Arcturus, if you look northeast you will see a dainty circlet of stars. Corona Borealis, the northern crown. The blaze star T CrB is located on the right-hand side to the circlet, where the line of stars turns down, there are no other bright stars in the region, so when it erupts it will be easily visible. Viewing tips at my T CrB post. 

Just above this is the asteroid Vesta, it was at opposition on the 2nd and theoretically visible to the unaided eye. it is roughly between the bright red Star Antares and Arcturus, and two and a half  binocular widths from the bright star Beta Librae. See my opposition of Vesta page for more details and charts.  

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time.

 

North-western sky on Saturday, May 17 as seen from Adelaide at 18:38 ACST (80 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is low in the Northwest. The Tiangong Space station (boxed) is passing Canopus. Perth will see a similar pass at 18:41 AWST. Brisbane Sydney and Melbourne see bright passes on the 18th. For exact times see https://heavens-above.com/  

 

 

 

 

For local predictions for your site see the heavens above website https://heavens-above.com/.

 

North-western sky on Saturday, May 17 as seen from Adelaide at 18:47 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is low on the horizon in the Northwest. Mars forms a triangle with Procyon and Pollux.

 

 

  

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).

 

Whole sky on Saturday, May 17 as seen from Adelaide at 18:50 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is low in the north-west.  Mars is in the north. 

 

Orion the hunter is lowering in the north-west as Scorpius rises in the east.

 

The Southern Cross is rising in the Southern sky.  The moon is waning and the fainter clusters and nebula are becoming easier to see.      

 

 Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

 

 

Mercury is lowering in the morning twilight. 

Venus is high in the morning twilight. It is below Saturn.

Mars is lowering in the evening sky. 

Jupiter is low the the north-western horizon and is setting shortly after when the sky is fully dark. 

Saturn is rising in the morning the twilight. 

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.


 

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 7:37 pm 0 comments

The Full Moon is Tuesday May 13.  Jupiter and Mars are visible in the evening sky. Mars is high in the early evening sky. Look for the constellation Corona Borealis before midnight, the blaze star T Coronae Borealis (TCrB) may go Nova eventually.  Saturn, Venus and Mercury are visible in the morning twilight. The eta Aquariid meteor shower still has good rates on the 8th.

The Full Moon is Tuesday May 13.  The Moon is at apogee, when it is furthest from the earth, on the 11th. 

Eastern twilight sky on the morning of Saturday, May 10  as seen from Adelaide at 06:02 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is visible in the twilight near Venus with  the crescent moon close to Mercury below. 

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise). 

 

The north-eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am ACST on 8 May, the eta Aquariid radiant is marked with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen). 

The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, should peak on May 7 (strictly speaking May 6, 3UT). dark sky sites could expect to see meteor every 3-4 minutes. Good rates will also be seen on the 8th.

 

 For more details and rates see my Eta Aquariids page.

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time.

 

If you look to the North just before midnight, you will see a prominent bright orange star, Arcturus, if you look northeast you will see a dainty circlet of stars. Corona Borealis, the northern crown. The blaze star T CrB is located on the right-hand side to the circlet, where the line of stars turns down, there are no other bright stars in the region, so when it erupts it will be easily visible. Viewing tips at my T CrB post. 

Just above this is the asteroid Vesta, it was at opposition on the 2nd and theoretically visible to the unaided eye. it is roughly between the bright red Star Antares and Arcturus, two binocular widths from the bright star Beta Librae. See my opposition of Vesta page for more details and charts. 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time.

 

North-western sky on Saturday, May 10 as seen from Adelaide at 18:52 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is low in the Northwest. Mars forms a triangle with Procyon and Pollux.

 

 

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset).

 

Whole sky on Saturday, May 10 as seen from Adelaide at 18:52 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is low in the north-west.  Mars is in the north. 

 

Orion the hunter is lowering in the north-west as Scorpius rises in the east.

 

The Southern Cross is rising in the Southern sky.  The moon is waxing and the fainter clusters and nebula are becoming harder to see.      

 

 Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

 

 

Mercury begins sinking in the morning twilight. 

Venus climbs higher in the morning twilight. It is below Saturn.

Mars is high in the evening sky. 

Jupiter is sinking in the the north-western evening sky when the sky is fully dark. 

Saturn is rising in the morning the twilight. 

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.


 

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 1:04 am 0 comments

The north-eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am ACST, the eta Aquariid radiant is marked with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen). 

People in the suburbs should see a meteor around once every 6 minutes, and in the country about once every 3-4 minutes. The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon, and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The radiant is close to Saturn, with Venus below, which makes a good reference point.

Weather prediction looks okay.

You may have read that this year the eta Aquariids have a predicted ZHR of 50 meteors. The figure ZHR is zenithal hourly rate. This is the number of meteors that a single observer would see per hour if the shower's "point of origin", or radiant, were at the zenith and the sky was dark enough for 6.5-magnitude stars to be visible to the naked eye.

In practice, you will never see this many meteors as the radiant will be some distance below the zenith. Also, unless you are out deep in the countryside, the darkness will be less than ideal. How many are you likely to see in reality? 

The table below gives predictions below for various towns, but they are only predictions and while based on average steam density there may be some differences year to year, but good rates were seen in previous years, and dark sky sites may possibly see one meteor every 3-4 minutes or so. There were many bright ones reported with persistent trains in 2014. People in the suburbs maybe will see less, but at least one every 6 minutes should be possible. 

Predicted meteor rates for selected towns (taken from NASA shower Flux estimator below). If your city is not on the list you can expect a meteor rate similar to the closest city to you in latitude.

Town	Morning May 6	Morning May 7	Morning May8
Adelaide	15 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr	19 meteors/hr
Brisbane	16 meteors/hr	19 meteors/hr	21 meteors/hr
Darwin	17 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr	22 meteors/hr
Perth	16 meteors/hr	19 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr
Melbourne	15 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr
Hobart	14 meteors/hr	17 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr
Sydney	15 meteors/hr	18 meteors/hr	20 meteors/hr

The radiant of the shower is about five hand-spans up from the eastern horizon and three hand-spans to the left of due east at 4 am (see above for a spotter chart at 5 am). When looking, be sure to let your eyes adjust for at least 5 minutes so your eyes can be properly adapted to the dark.

Don't look directly at the radiant site, because the meteors will often start their "burn" some distance from it, but around a hand-span up or to the side. The best way to watch the Eta Aquariids is to let your eye rove around the entire patch of the sky above the north-east horizon, between the only two obvious bright stars in the northeast, Altair and Fomalhaut, and Saturn as the center of your field (again, see the spotter chart at 5:00 am above). The meteors are fast, with few fireballs and persistent trains.

Be patient, although you should see an average of a meteor every 3 to 4 minutes, a whole stretch of time can go by without a meteor, then a whole bunch turn up one after the other.

Make yourself comfortable, choose an observing site that has little to obstruct the eastern horizon, have a comfortable chair to sit in (a banana lounger is best), or blankets and pillows. Rug up against the cold.  A hot Thermos of something to drink and plenty of mosquito protection will complete your observing preparations. As well as meteors, keep an eye out for satellites (see Heavens Above for predictions from your site).  The Milky way will arch above you, with Saturn and Venus just below the radiant.

Use the NASA  meteor shower flux estimator for an estimate of what the shower will be like from your location (you may need to enter your longitude and latitude, surprisingly, while Adelaide and Brisbane are hard-wired in, Sydney and Melbourne are not). See the image to the left for typical output. The peak is rather sharp.

 

Labels: eta aquarid, Meteors, unaided eye

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:53 pm 0 comments

The First Quarter Moon is Sunday May 4.  Jupiter and Mars are visible in the evening sky. Jupiter is close to the crescent moon on the 1st. Mars is high in the early evening sky and on the 4th and 5th Mars is close to the Beehive cluster. On the 4th Mars is also close to the first quarter Moon. Look for the constellation Corona Borealis before midnight, the blaze star T Coronae Borealis (TCrB) may go Nova eventually.  The asteroid Vesta is visible nearby and is at opposition on the 2nd. Saturn, Venus and Mercury are visible in the morning twilight. The eta Aquariid meteor shower peaks on the 7th.

The First Quarter Moon is Sunday May 4.   

Eastern twilight sky on the morning of Saturday, May 3 as seen from Adelaide at 05:52 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Saturn is visible in the twilight near Venus with  the crescent moon close to Mercury below. 

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes before sunrise). 

 

The north-eastern horizon as seen from Adelaide at 5:00 am ACST on 7 May, the eta Aquariid radiant is marked with a starburst. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen). 

The eta Aquariid meteor shower, which is produced by the debris from Halley’s Comet, will peak on May 7 (strictly speaking May 6, 3UT). dark sky sites could expect to see meteor every 3-4 minutes. Good rates will also be seen on the 8th.

 

 For more details and rates see my Eta Aquariids page.

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time.

If you look to the North just before midnight, you will see a prominent bright orange star, Arcturus, if you look northeast you will see a dainty circlet of stars. Corona Borealis, the northern crown. The blaze star T CrB is located on the right-hand side to the circlet, where the line of stars turns down, there are no other bright stars in the region, so when it erupts it will be easily visible. Viewing tips at my T CrB post. 

Just above this is the asteroid Vesta, at opposition on the 2nd and theoretically visible to the unaided eye. it is roughly between the bright red Star Antares and Arcturus, two binocular widths from the bright star Beta Librae. The inset shows the approximate binocular view of Vesta, near the star 16 Librae. See my opposition of Vesta page for more details and charts. 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time.

 

North-western sky on Thursday, May 1 as seen from Adelaide at 18:30 ACST (60 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Jupiter is in the north-west forming a line with the star Aldebaran and the crescent Moon. Mars forms a crooked line with Castor and Pollux.

 

 

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (60 minutes after sunset). 

 

North-western sky on Sunday, May 4 as seen from Adelaide at 18:56 ACST (90 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen). Mars is close to the First Quarter Moon and the Beehive cluster (M44).

 

The inset is the binocular view of Mars and the Beehive cluster on the 5th when the Moon has moved away.  (click to embiggen).   

 

 

 

 

Similar views will be seen from the rest of Australia at roughly the equivalent local time (90 minutes after sunset). 

 

Whole sky on Saturday, May 3 as seen from Adelaide at 18:57 ACST, 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is low in the north-west.  Mars is in the north. 

 

Orion the hunter is lowering in the north-west as Scorpius rises in the east.

 

The Southern Cross is rising in the Southern sky.  The moon is almost new and the fainter clusters and nebula are becoming easier to see.      

 

 Elsewhere in Australia will see a similar view at the equivalent time (90 minutes after sunset).

 

 

Mercury begins sinking in the morning twilight. 

Venus climbs higher in the morning twilight. It forms a pair with Saturn.

Mars is high in the evening sky. Mars is close to the First Quarter Moon and the Beehive cluster (M44) on the 4th.

Jupiter is sinking in the the north-western evening sky when the sky is fully dark. Jupiter forms a line with the crescent moon on May 1. 

Saturn is rising in the morning the twilight. It forms a pair with Venus.

Printable PDF maps of the Eastern sky at 10 pm AEST, Western sky at 10 pm AEST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.


 

Star Map via Virtual sky. Use your mouse to scroll around and press 8 when your pointer is in the map to set to the current time.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/

Labels: weekly sky

# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 11:43 pm 0 comments