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Tuesday, July 04, 2017

 

The Sky This Week - Thursday July 6 to Thursday July 13

The Full Moon is Sunday, July 9. Mars is lost in the twilight. Mercury climbs higher in the evening sky. Jupiter and the bright star Spica are nearby in the evening sky. Saturn is visible all night in the heart of the Milky Way. The Moon is close to Saturn on the 7th. Venus dominates the morning sky between the Pleiades and the Hyades clusters and continues towards the bright star Aldebaran.

The Full Moon is Sunday, July 9.

Evening sky on Saturday July 8 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 18:00 ACST (45 minutes after sunset). Mercury is low above the western horizon.

Mercury climbs higher in the evening twilight sky. It is now readily visible above the western horizon half an hour after sunset, and is obvious at last 45 minutes after sunset if you have a reasonably level unobstructed horizon.




Evening sky on Saturday July 8 looking north as seen from Adelaide at 18:05 ACST (when Jupiter is highest in the sky). Jupiter is above the horizon between the bright star Spica and the relatively bright star Porrima. Jupiter is now closer to Porrima than Spica. The inset shows the telescopic view of Jupiter on Sunday July 9 at 21:42 ACST  as Io and its shadow transits Jupiter and europa is just about to be occulted..

Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time. (click to embiggen).

Jupiter is rising before sunset and is now high above the northern horizon in the early evening ju     before full dark. It is in between the bright star Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo, and the relatively bright star Porrima. Jupiter is now closer to Porrima than Spica.

Opposition, when Jupiter is biggest and brightest as seen from Earth, was on April the 8th. Jupiter is rising before the sun sets and is visible until jussssst . Jupiter is a good telescopic target from astronomical twilight on, and the dance of its Moons is visible even in binoculars. The following Jupiter events are in AEST.


Thu 6 Jul 18:31 Gan: Disappears into Eclipse 
Thu 6 Jul 20:43 Gan: Reappears from Eclipse 
Fri 7 Jul 22:03 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian 
Sat 8 Jul 17:55 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian 
Sat 8 Jul 23:15 Io : Disappears into Occultation 
Sun 9 Jul 20:28 Io : Transit Begins               T 
Sun 9 Jul 21:44 Io : Shadow Transit Begins        ST 
Sun 9 Jul 22:31 Eur: Disappears into Occultation  ST 
Sun 9 Jul 22:40 Io : Transit Ends                 S 
Sun 9 Jul 23:42 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian 
Sun 9 Jul 23:55 Io : Shadow Transit Ends 
Mon 10 Jul 17:44 Io : Disappears into Occultation 
Mon 10 Jul 19:34 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian 
Mon 10 Jul 21:13 Io : Reappears from Eclipse 
Tue 11 Jul 18:23 Io : Shadow Transit Ends          T 
Tue 11 Jul 19:49 Eur: Transit Ends 
Tue 11 Jul 19:57 Eur: Shadow Transit Begins        S 
Tue 11 Jul 22:21 Eur: Shadow Transit Ends 
Wed 12 Jul 21:13 GRS: Crosses Central Meridian 
Thu 13 Jul 19:46 Gan: Reappears from Occultation 
Thu 13 Jul 22:31 Gan: Disappears into Eclipse  
 

Evening sky on Friday July 7 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 18:44 ACST, an hour and a half after sunset. Saturn is reasonably high above the horizon and the waxing Moon is just below Saturn.

The inset shows the telescopic view of Saturn at this time. Similar views will be seen elsewhere in Australia at the equivalent local time, an hour and a half after sunset. (click to embiggen).

Saturn was  at opposition on the 15th, when it was biggest and brightest in the sky as seen from earth. Saturn is visible all night long. Saturn is a good telescopic target from 9 pm on. It is poised above the dark rifts in the Milky Way and is in a good area for binocular hunting. It continues to climb into the evening skies as the week progresses.  Saturn's rings are visible even in small telescopes and are always good to view. On the 7th the waxing Moon is just below Saturn.

The constellation of Scorpio is a good guide to locating Saturn. The distinctive curl of Scorpio is easy to see above the north-eastern horizon, locate the bright red star, Antares, and the look below that towards the horizon, the next bright object is Saturn.

Morning sky on Saturday July 8 looking east as seen from Adelaide at 6:24 ACST (60 minutes before sunrise). Venus is dazzling and moves towards the bright star Aldebaran during the week, Passing between the Pleiads and Hyades clusters. The inset shows the telescopic view of Venus at this time.

Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (that is 60 minutes before sunrise, click to embiggen).

Venus  climbs higher in the morning sky and is visible in telescopes as a "half-Moon".  During the Week Venus moves towards the bright star Aldebaran passing between the Pleiades and Hyades clusters.

 Mars is lost in 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.

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/

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