Wednesday, June 24, 2015
The Sky This Week - Thursday June 25 to Thursday July 2
The Full Moon is Thursday July 2. Venus
is prominent in
the twilight evening sky with bright Jupiter close by. The pair are closest on July 1. Saturn is in the
head of the Scorpion and is easily visible in the evening. The Moon is close to Saturn on June 28. Mercury is below the bright star Aldebaran.
The Full Moon is Thursday July 2.
Early morning sky on Saturday June 28 looking east as seen from
Adelaide
at 6:30 ACST showing Mercury below the Hyades and the bright star Aldebaran. The pair are just above the
horizon. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the
equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).
Mercury is at its highest in the morning skies this week on the 25th, after this it sinks back towards the horizon, but is still readily visible most of this week.
Early evening sky on Wednesday July 1 looking north-west as seen from
Adelaide
at 18:30 ACST showing Venus and Jupiter lose together.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).
Mars is lost in the twilight.
Venus is easy to see above the western horizon in the twilight. At nautical twilight, an hour after sunset, it is around two hand-spans above the horizon, and still visible at astronomical twilight. Venus is a distinct "half Moon" shape in even small telescopes.
Telescopic view of Jupiter and Venus on 1 July, simulated for a 6" Newtonian with a 10 mm eyepiece. (click to embiggen)
At the start of the week Venus, Jupiter and the star Regulus in Leo form a line. Venus continues to draws closer to Jupiter during the week, being spectacularly closer on the 30th June to 2 July, when they can be covered with an outstretched finger and will fit comfortably in a low power telescope field. They are closest on July 1, when the pair are less than a finger width apart.
On the 1st, they will fit in a medium power telescope field, where the crescent Venus and banded Jupiter will be obvious.
Jupiter is easily seen in the early evening sky near Venus in the north-western sky as the night goes on. It is between the bright star Regulus in the sickle of Leo (this forms the head of the constellation of the Lion) and Pollux in Cancer. It is also not far from the rather nice Beehive cluster in Cancer, and looks very good in binoculars. Jupiter and Venus are coming closer (see Venus description above).
Jupiter is visible in the early evening, setting just after 9 pm, and is high enough for telescopic observation once twilight is over. Jupiter's Moons will be putting on a good display in both binoculars and small telescopes.
Evening sky on Saturday June 20 looking east as seen from
Adelaide
at 19:00 ACST. Saturn is easily visible above the horizon near the
head of the Scorpion. The Moon is near Saturn at this time. The
inset shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).
Saturn is now easily visible from twilight near the head of the constellation of the Scorpion not far from the bright red star Antares. The sight of the distinctive constellation of the Scorpion curled above the horizon, with bright Saturn close to its head, is very nice indeed.
The waxing Moon is near Saturn on the 28th and 29th.
While Saturn is readily visible from the end of twilight, it is best for telescope observation from around 20:00 into the early morning hours. At 22:00 it is at it's highest above the northern horizon. This is also a good time to scan Scorpius and Sagittarius with binoculars to reveal the clusters in and around the Scorpions tail.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Jupiter, Venus and Saturn in the sky. 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 AEDST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
The Full Moon is Thursday July 2.
Mercury is at its highest in the morning skies this week on the 25th, after this it sinks back towards the horizon, but is still readily visible most of this week.
Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).
Mars is lost in the twilight.
Venus is easy to see above the western horizon in the twilight. At nautical twilight, an hour after sunset, it is around two hand-spans above the horizon, and still visible at astronomical twilight. Venus is a distinct "half Moon" shape in even small telescopes.
At the start of the week Venus, Jupiter and the star Regulus in Leo form a line. Venus continues to draws closer to Jupiter during the week, being spectacularly closer on the 30th June to 2 July, when they can be covered with an outstretched finger and will fit comfortably in a low power telescope field. They are closest on July 1, when the pair are less than a finger width apart.
On the 1st, they will fit in a medium power telescope field, where the crescent Venus and banded Jupiter will be obvious.
Jupiter is easily seen in the early evening sky near Venus in the north-western sky as the night goes on. It is between the bright star Regulus in the sickle of Leo (this forms the head of the constellation of the Lion) and Pollux in Cancer. It is also not far from the rather nice Beehive cluster in Cancer, and looks very good in binoculars. Jupiter and Venus are coming closer (see Venus description above).
Jupiter is visible in the early evening, setting just after 9 pm, and is high enough for telescopic observation once twilight is over. Jupiter's Moons will be putting on a good display in both binoculars and small telescopes.
Saturn is now easily visible from twilight near the head of the constellation of the Scorpion not far from the bright red star Antares. The sight of the distinctive constellation of the Scorpion curled above the horizon, with bright Saturn close to its head, is very nice indeed.
The waxing Moon is near Saturn on the 28th and 29th.
While Saturn is readily visible from the end of twilight, it is best for telescope observation from around 20:00 into the early morning hours. At 22:00 it is at it's highest above the northern horizon. This is also a good time to scan Scorpius and Sagittarius with binoculars to reveal the clusters in and around the Scorpions tail.
There are lots of interesting things in the sky to view with a telescope. Especially with Jupiter, Venus and Saturn in the sky. 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 AEDST. For further details and more information on what's up in the sky, see Southern Skywatch.
Cloud cover predictions can be found at SkippySky.
Labels: weekly sky
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 12:41 am 
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