The Sky This Week - Thursday June 7 to Thursday June 14

The New Moon is Thursday, June 14.  Venus is high in the early evening sky and forms a line with the bright stars Pollux and Castor. Jupiter is past opposition, but is still big and bright in telescopes. Jupiter is still close to the bright star alpha Librae all this week. Venus is setting as Saturn is rising. Mars and Saturn are visible in the late evening skies.  Asteroid Vesta heads towards  open cluster M23 and is potentially visible to the unaided eye.

The New Moon is Thursday, June 14. 

Evening twilight sky on Saturday June 9 looking west as seen from Adelaide at 18:00 ACST (45 minutes after sunset). Venus forms a line with the  stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini. The inset shows a simulated telescopic view of Venus.

 Similar views will be seen throughout Australia at the equivalent local time (45 minutes after sunset, click to embiggen).

Venus is now visible in the early evening. Venus is visible to the unaided eye from sunset, easy to see 30-60 minutes after sunset and can viewed  at least 90 minutes after sunset.

Evening sky on Saturday June 9 looking east  as seen from Adelaide at 18:42 ACST (90 minutes after sunset). Jupiter is  well above the horizon, close to the bright star alpha Librae. Saturn is just rising.

The inset is a simulated telescopic view of Jupiter and its moons at 19:36 ACST, on the 10th with Europa and its shadow passing across the face of Jupiter.

Similar views will be seen throughout Australia 90 minutes after sunset (click to embiggen).

Evening sky on Saturday June 9 looking east  as seen from Adelaide at 22:00 ACST. Saturn is high above the horizon and Mars is clearly visible. The Asteroid Vesta is visible in binoculars near Saturn. The inset is a simulated telescopic view of Saturn and its moons.


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

Simulated binocular view of the region near Saturn showing the open clusters M24, M23 and Vesta on Saturday June 9 looking east  as seen from Adelaide at 21:00 ACST.

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


Vesta is now bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye from dark sky sites. It is also easily seen in binoculars. It is travelling above the open cluster M24 heading towards the open cluster M23. It is brighter than most of the stars in the cluster, but you may need to watch over several nights to watch it move. Vesta forms a straight line with Saturn and Polis (Mu Sagittarii) at this time.

 Venus  is  readily visible above the horizon. It is over two hand-spans above the horizon 60 minutes after sunset. It is bright enough to be visible just after sunset and easy to see up to 90 minutes after sunset, especially if you have a flat, unobstructed horizon. Vens heads towards the bright star Pollux and forms a line with the  stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini on the 9th.

Mercury is no longer visible will return to the evening skies mid June.

Jupiter  is rising in the early evening as Venus is setting. It was at Opposition on the 9th, and is still visible most of the night. It is  a good telescopic object in the mid to  late evening. There are some good Jovian Moon events this week. This week Jupiter is still within a finger-width of  the bright star alpha Librae (Zubenelgenubi).

 Mars is in Capricornius and is now rising in the late evening. Mars is brightening ahead of opposition later this year.

Saturn is climbing higher the evening sky, and is now a worthwhile telescopic object in the late eening sky. It is within binocular range of several attractive clusters and nebula. It is close to the bright globular cluster M22 and the pair are visible in binoculars and wide field telescope eyepieces.

Vesta is now bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye from dark sky sites. It is also easily seen in binoculars. It is travelling above the open cluster M24 heading towards the open cluster M23. It is brighter than most of the stars in the cluster, but you may need to watch over several nights to watch it move. Vesta forms a straight line with Saturn and Polis (Mu Sagittarii) at this time.Printable spotters chars are here.

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/