Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The Sky This Week - Thursday June 30 to Thursday July 7
The New Moon is Monday July 4. Earth at aphelion July 5. Jupiter
is visible most of the
evening.
Mars and Saturn are visible all night long. Saturn is close to the red
star Antares and forms a triangle
with Mars.
Mercury and Venus are
lost in the twilight. Comet C/2013 X1 PanSTARRS is visible in good binoculars
in the evening sky.
The New Moon is Monday July 4. The Earth is at aphelion, when it is furthest from the Sun, on July 5.
Evening sky on Saturday July 2 looking west as seen from
Adelaide
at 21:00 ACST. The inset is the telescopic view of Jupiter at this time. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).
Jupiter was at opposition on the March 8th, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. Jupiter will be an excellent telescopic target but s rapidly coming too close to the horizon.
Jupiter is in the north-western evening sky as the sun sets, and is good for telescopic observation from around 18:00 on until around 9:30 pm when it will be a little too close to the horizon. Jupiter's Moons will be an excellent sight all evening.
The early evening is also graced by the constellation of Canis Major with bright Sirius, the dog star, above the western horizon.
Evening sky on Saturday July 2 looking east as seen from
Adelaide
at 22:00 ACST. Mars, Saturn and Antares form a triangle. Comet C/2013 X1
is now visible in the evening, close to the tail of the Scorpion. The
inset shows telescopic views of Mars and Saturn. Similar views
will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click
to embiggen).
Mars is high in the evening skies near the head of the Scorpion in Libra.
Mars comes to a stand still this week, before reversing direction. Mars forms a line with the star Dschubba in the head of the Scorpion and Anatres. As well Mars forms a triangle with Saturn and the red star Antares. Mars was at opposition on May 22, but Mars will still be big and bright for this week. It is visible all night long. In even small telescopes Mars will be a visible disk, and you should see its markings.
Mars is also within half finger-width from the magnitude 8.4 globular cluster NGC 5897. This is visible in binoculars only under dark sky conditions, but both Mars and the cluster will fit within a telescope eye-piece view this week and should be interesting together.
Saturn was at opposition on the 3rd. However, Saturn's change in size and brightness is nowhere near as spectacular as Mars's, and Saturn will be a reasonable telescopic object for many weeks. Saturn is reasonably high in the evening sky and is readily visible below Scorpius. Saturn forms a triangle with Mars and the red star Antares. It is now high enough for good telescopic observation in the evening. In even small telescopes its distinctive rings are obvious.
Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS) rises around 4:00 pm local time, and is clear the of horizon murk from around 9 pm. It is currently around magnitude 6.5. The comet will be close to the tail of the Scorpion for much of this week. Detailed maps and guides are here.
Venus is lost in the twilight.
Mercury is lost in the twilight.
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.
Here is the near-real time satellite view of the clouds (day and night) http://satview.bom.gov.au/
The New Moon is Monday July 4. The Earth is at aphelion, when it is furthest from the Sun, on July 5.
Jupiter was at opposition on the March 8th, when it was biggest and brightest as seen from Earth. Jupiter will be an excellent telescopic target but s rapidly coming too close to the horizon.
Jupiter is in the north-western evening sky as the sun sets, and is good for telescopic observation from around 18:00 on until around 9:30 pm when it will be a little too close to the horizon. Jupiter's Moons will be an excellent sight all evening.
The early evening is also graced by the constellation of Canis Major with bright Sirius, the dog star, above the western horizon.
Mars is high in the evening skies near the head of the Scorpion in Libra.
Mars comes to a stand still this week, before reversing direction. Mars forms a line with the star Dschubba in the head of the Scorpion and Anatres. As well Mars forms a triangle with Saturn and the red star Antares. Mars was at opposition on May 22, but Mars will still be big and bright for this week. It is visible all night long. In even small telescopes Mars will be a visible disk, and you should see its markings.
Mars is also within half finger-width from the magnitude 8.4 globular cluster NGC 5897. This is visible in binoculars only under dark sky conditions, but both Mars and the cluster will fit within a telescope eye-piece view this week and should be interesting together.
Saturn was at opposition on the 3rd. However, Saturn's change in size and brightness is nowhere near as spectacular as Mars's, and Saturn will be a reasonable telescopic object for many weeks. Saturn is reasonably high in the evening sky and is readily visible below Scorpius. Saturn forms a triangle with Mars and the red star Antares. It is now high enough for good telescopic observation in the evening. In even small telescopes its distinctive rings are obvious.
Comet C/2013 X1 (PANSTARRS) rises around 4:00 pm local time, and is clear the of horizon murk from around 9 pm. It is currently around magnitude 6.5. The comet will be close to the tail of the Scorpion for much of this week. Detailed maps and guides are here.
Venus is lost in the twilight.
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.
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 @ 10:59 pm 
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