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Tuesday, April 02, 2013

 

The Sky This Week - Thursday April 4 to Thursday April 11

The New Moon is Wednesday April 10. Jupiter is prominent in the early evening sky. Saturn becomes more prominent in the late evening sky. Mercury is bright in the morning skies. On April 8 and 9 Mercury is visited by the crescent Moon.

Sky on Saturday April 6 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 23:00 local daylight saving time in South Australia. The inset shows a telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

The New Moon is Wednesday April 10. Daylight Savings Time ends on April 7

Saturn is now easily visible above the eastern horizon before midnight in the constellation of Libra. Saturn climbs higher in the evening sky during the week, becoming easier to see.

Saturn is now is a worthwhile (late) evening target for telescopes of any size.


Morning sky on Monday April 8 showing Mercury, looking east as seen from Adelaide at 5:30 am local time in South Australia. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local time (click to embiggen).

Mercury  is prominent in the morning skies this week. It is now easy to see as the brightest object above the eastern twilight sky an hour before dawn. On the mornings of the 8th and the 9th Mercury is visited by the crescent Moon.

Bright white Venus  is lost in the twilight.

Mars is lost in the twilight.


Evening sky looking North-west as seen from Adelaide at 20:00 pm local daylight saving time on Saturday April 6. The inset shows Jupiter's Moons at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere at the equivalent local times indicated here.  Click to embiggen.

Jupiter is visible in the early evening, and is the brightest object in the evening sky.



Jupiter is prominent low in the northern-western early evening sky, being quite visible in the twilight.  Jupiter is below the Hyades, near the red star Aldebaran.

Jupiter, Aldebaran and the red star Betelgeuse in Orion form a long triangle in the sky. With the Pleiades cluster and the constellation of Orion close by, this is a beautiful sight.

Now is still a good time to observe Jupiter with a telescope of any size in the early evening. Jupiter is setting progressively earlier, by 9 pm local time, so the giant world is harder to see in a telescope. Jupiters' Moons are easily seen in binoculars, and can be followed from night to night changing position.

There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. If you don't have a telescope, now is a good time to visit one of your local astronomical societies open nights or the local planetariums.


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.

Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.

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